Goat's Milk Is for Kids: How About Cow's Milk?

Abstract

I read with growing dismay the recent letter by Oski and Paige 1 and the response by Finberg 2 in the January issue of theArchivesthat has further exacerbated the controversy about whether to virtually exclude cow's milk from the diets of children after weaning. If such eminent and distinguished pediatricians are so diametrically opposed about such an important subject (and to make matters worse, two of the three are friends of mine), what position should I, as a practicing pediatrician, take? What advice should I give to the parents of my patients? Both sides agree that all children require a minimum of 800 mg of calcium per day. They also agree that this amount of calcium can easily be achieved if the child drinks milk and consumes milk products and that daily calcium requirements are much more difficult but not impossible to achieve for a child on a