And unfortunately, despite all we know about nutrition, too many children are still living on fried chicken nuggets and french fries. Lanou takes a more extreme view and says parents can do away with cow's milk altogether, replacing it with soy milk and calcium-fortified juices. She suggests relying on fats from heart-healthy oils, such as olive and flax seed, nut butters, sesame seeds and avocado to help a toddler meet his daily fat requirements. This is done every day, she notes, by families who are strict vegetarians or have children who are allergic to cow's milk. But you should be focusing on giving them the healthiest fats possible.
Kids can be so fussy that parents rely on milk to pack in a lot of nutrition.
Children who almost certainly could benefit from lowering the fat in their diets are the offspring of parents who are have a family history of profound obesity or an inherited tendency to have extremely high cholesterol, Carobene says. They are extreme cases, but you can have some kids with outrageous cholesterol levels simply because it's part of the family history. Even parents of children who have normal family histories need to be careful about the amount of fats they serve in table foods, Frank says. Parents tend to introduce them at a young age and they can just be loaded with fat. We have a tendency to want to 'adulterate' our babies' taste buds and it's not necessary.