Is it ok to let a 1 year old child drink green tea instead of milk?

Question

I noticed my cousins wife giving her 1 year old boy a bottle of Green tea instead of a cup of milk. When I told her I had milk for him to drink she said no he doesn't like milk! I've allways heard a child needs milk for brain development, and good health all together. Am I wrong? Should I not worry? Doesn't seem like lots of tea would be good for a growing child. Should I say something to her? She is very young.

Answer 1

As long as he has a healthy, well balanced diet, I wouldn't worry about it.  Green tea has some good health benefits - it's also a lot better than soda or sugar laced juice.

Don't discredit mom just because she's young.  

Answer 2

well, milk is good for a child, but some children do not like milk or can't have milk....but green tea isnt bad for them either. when my son was 2 he was introduced to green tea and he loves it. but she should also give him other things to drink too, not just green tea all the time.  she could try giving him Pediasure to give him the nutrients he needs too if he doesnt like milk. you could suggest that.  

Answer 3

Not all green tea has caffine.  However it doesn't have fat and amino acids that are needed for brain development in small children and milk does.  Green tea isn't bad for a baby however it should not be the only thing the child is getting...the child should be getting milk or if lactose intolerant/allergic a non-dairy milk product.  

Answer 4

There are a lot of factors that you didn't include. Did the child receive formula or breastmilk for the entire first year, does he get calcium from other sources, was the green tea processed (sweetenend and w/added chemicals) does he get other drinks besides the tea......in general, green tea on occasion wouldn't be terrible (black tea would be) but he certainly shouldn't get it often.

Answer 5

You're correlating the wrong variables.  She isn't giving tea instead of milk; she's giving foods instead of milk and  tea as a drink.  That's perfectly fine.  Milk is not essential for a healthy diet, even for toddlers.

We drink milk for really only 4 things: vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, and fat.

Good food sources of vitamin A include carrots, mangoes, fortified cereals and oatmeals, apricots, cantaloupe, mandarin oranges, nectarines, plums, watermelon, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato, squash, spinach, and tons more. http://www.hoptechno.com/book29a.htm

Our bodies can process sunlight to make vitamin D, and can do so with about 30 minutes of sun exposure a day. Food sources of vitamin D include fortified juices and grains, egg yolks, and fish.

http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles...

Calcium can be obtained through other diary products, but also from beans (lentil beans, not vegetable beans), almonds, sesame seeds, oats, cabbage, broccoli, oranges, and even brown sugar

http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles...

Sources of fats, well, are butter and margarine, olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, not so lean meats, and avocados. Fat is the biggest reason milk is suggested for toddlers since 8 ounces of whole cows milk provides about 8 grams of fat. That's great, but 1 tbsp of vegetable oil provides 14 grams and 1 tbsp of margarine provides 11 grams. That means you can sautee some veggies and grill chicken in half a table spoon of either and get the same amount of fat.

I'm guessing that the toddler you're talking about eats a strong diet of solid foods to get more than adequate nutrition, which means that he doesn't need anything to drink besides water.  

Answer 6

Green Tea is ok in small amounts but it does have caffine in it so it is never a good idea to use that in replacement for water and milk.  She needs to find some way to get something else in him.  He should be drinking water (even flavored water works) or she could try flavored milk, pediasure, soy milk.....the list goes on.  There are plenty of other options besides giving him a caffine product like Tea.