For context, I have worked at 2 daycare/preschool/kindergarten schools in Japan for about 5 years now.
I have taught 2-5 year old classes as well as the baby classes (1 year old) and they are not once given milk, at least in the schools I worked at.
The babies (some can’t even walk or crawl yet) stay there from 8am to 5pm everyday and are only given tea and water throughout the day. It’s really strange to me because I believe that at that age, they should still be drinking mostly milk and water. I have asked the Japanese staff about this and why they aren’t given any kind of milk as this is essential for their age and was told that daycares in Japan generally don’t allow it due to the risk of contamination or that it is too difficult to prepare or something like that and that the kids drink milk at home so it’s fine. The 2 year olds are old enough to go without it I guess, but I think a 1 year old is still too young to go for hours with just tea and water.
Maybe I am being weird about this but is it really okay for the baby class kids to be deprived milk at this age during that duration? In my country, we don’t even give kids tea until they are a lot older so I have always wondered about this.
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Milk is not necessary.
The idea that kids *must* drink milk is literally the result of campaigning by the dairy industry.
“It turns out the case for milk is fairly weak. Although milk is a good source of protein, calcium and vitamin D, other food sources also provide these nutrients. What’s more, there’s no evidence that drinking milk reduces bone fractures, and drinking too much can lead to anemia and may contribute to obesity, experts now say.
“”Do kids really need milk? No, of course they don’t,” said Amy Lanou, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Most people in the world do not drink milk after they are weaned from breast milk, and yet still get adequate nutrition, she added.”
livescience.com/49551-should-kids-drink-milk.html
Perhaps it could be that a lot of Japanese have lactose intolerance.
Milk is gross. If you have a healthy balanced diet you don’t need to drink anything except water.
Weaning starts pretty early now in Japan, if the magazines for mothers are anything to go by. Our son stopped drinking milk entirely by the end of his first year. However, we are very careful to give him a well balanced diet.
The tea given to kids is not actually tea (no tea leaf), it’s made from cereal, so there is no health issue here either.
I heard that milk was given at school in elementary school and possibly above, but that was before and may have changed.
By tea I am assuming barley tea (mugicha)? If so then this is fine. Kids don’t need to drink milk, especially in a country where 73% of the population is lactose intolerant (compared to e.g. 36% in the US and France, and 16% in Germany).
https://milk.procon.org/lactose-intolerance-by-country/
Do you mean breast milk for the babies? Or cow milk?
Yea 100% you’re being weird.
> In my country, we don’t even give kids tea until they are a lot older so I have always wondered about this.
It’s not caffeinated tea. It’s most likely barley tea (mugi cha) which is roasted barley steeped in water.
My babies got formula at nursery school when needed and they are also given whole milk as well. Maybe it’s an area thing? I live in the countryside with lots of dairy cows.
Edit: they are also offered mugicha and water as well.
Yes.
Milk offered daily where I work to the kids.
They are getting solid food though, right? Not getting milk during the day at that age is totally fine because at that point they are getting calories and nutrients from solid food, but you make it sound like they are surviving solely on water/tea for 8 hours.
Bit of both.
I don’t think you’re weird at all because 1 year olds drink milk as it fills them up and has a lot of nutriants they need. Some people here are saying milk is gross but they’re just being idiots.
However they are right that technically it’s not needed to survive so I guess to prevent allergic reactions or something they don’t offer it and it won’t harm the baby??
I would want my 1 year old to be drinking milk personally.
1- milk spoils 2- a lot of Asia is lactose intolerant and also just not a dairy based culture. I mean… dessert cheese … you’re being wierd and Eurocentric
Cows milk is made for cows, not babies. I’m not saying it’s bad or anything but it’s not vital for human growth and development. Babies can be fully weaned from 1 anyway.
Milk made me really sick as a kid and shit my guts out. Fuck milk.
They get mugicha which is a barley tea and not caffeinated. A lot of the Japanese population is lactose intolerant, so it’s better for the kids to not drink milk. Besides, no one wants a glass of milk on a hot summer’s day.
Milk formula was used at a daycare I used.
As others have said, kids don’t need to drink milk. Until around the 4-6 month mark kids need breast milk or formula, but after that they can eat anything that’s ok for kids. Of course kids CAN drink milk, but cow’s milk isn’t necessary for kids the way breast milk is, and at 1 years old they don’t need that anymore.
Where I’m from, we used to give wine for kindergarten kids, a few decades ago. But Japan, lol, never seen wine served to kids. What a backward country. Am right or am I right?
Are they’re eating baby food? If they’re given food, I don’t get why you’d be so hung over from the babies not drinking milk. Do you have to drink milk every day to be healthy?
White people = milk
Japanese people = tea
Different bodies different foods
This is very much a North American thing.. scary when you think about how effective their advertising campaigns were in the 80s/90s. Ew.. Peddle your cow puss elsewhere
“But I always drink plenty of… malk?!”
Milk is just good for calories for a baby. If they’re eating food they will get the nutrients they need from that. My daughter has milk every breakfast and dinner anyway. I imagine other parents are the same.