In a message dated 9/8/01 1:39:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << Has anyone heard of this? I've heard a couple people mention they "know of" people who insist their children are "allergic" to milk *fat*, and that their child needs to have skim milk, if they're given whole milk, they become constipated. As soon as the child is switched to skim, the problems resolve. Of course, this is also given as the reason why the mom couldn't breastfeed {rolls eyes}. I'm wondering if skimming the milk also removes some or most of the milk protein? I don't have any milk in our fridge to compare labels and see if skim milk has less protein than whole milk. Anyone know, or have heard of this? >> Actually, skim milk has a little more protein per serving than whole milk. As you remove the fat, it displaces some over the overall volume, and the extra protein comes in when you make up the difference. Certainly, if whole milk constipates a child, we KNOW that breastmilk isnt' consitpating! And skim milk is inadequate to meet a young child's fat needs, unless the rest of the diet is carefully constructed to provide that fat. There are some cases in the literature of failure to thrive in infants/children given a primarily skim milk diet. (I'm sorry, I don't have the references anymore) The best way to resolve a childs constipation is to breastfeed them!! June Rychlik, BS, M.Ed. Lawrence, Massachusetts WIC Program *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html