The secret to making your kid drink milk

It’s always a tough battle between moms and their kids when it comes to food—especially when it involves a glass of milk.

A 2015 Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) survey on Filipino children and adolescents’ beverage consumption shows a decline in milk intake among school-aged children (those belonging in the six- to 12-year-old age bracket) and adolescents (those aged 13 to 19 years old), compared to pre-school children.

Milk intake among school-aged children and adolescents decreased in 2015, an FNRI survey showed.

GMA News Online spoke to NESTLÉ in-house nutritionist Neth San Valentin to know why kids tend to veer away from milk as they grow up. San Valentin puts it into context, “Yung dislike nila for milk, nangyayari yan when new food items are introduced into their diet… and this is also the time na yung mga bata, nagkakaroon na ng preference for certain food items. And even beverages, in that case.”

The importance of milk

Low consumption of milk can be countered by giving your child a balanced diet, but there are many essential nutrients that the body can absorb better with the regular intake of milk.

Take for example, calcium. It has become general knowledge that milk is rich in calcium—and though this is true, San Valentin explains that it’s the form in which such nutrients are present that does the work.

Those nutrients won’t make its way into your kid’s body by themselves though. That’s why the government, through the FNRI’s Pinggang Pinoy for Children, recommends parents to have their children drink a glass of milk daily.

But for those who are having a hard time giving their kids milk, they can introduce it in a delicious new taste. Complement your children’s growing preferences with NESTLÉ Bear Brand Choco Milk Drink! It’s a great alternative to your plain milk, since it has the same nutrients as Bear Brand Powdered Milk Drink. Both are fortified with Tibay Resistensya nutrients such as iron, which contributes to normal cognitive function, essential zinc for growth and immunity, and 100% vitamin C to help strengthen your child’s body resistance.

A great alternative to plain milk, NESTLE Bear Brand Choco Milk Drink has the same nutrients as Bear Brand Powdered Milk Drink.

This means that aside from having a tasty chocolate flavor that kids love, Bear Brand Choco Milk Drink has the same nutritional value as Bear Brand Powdered Milk Drink. “The base is still milk… some of the parents will have a negative connotation na may chocolate diba, but chocolate by itself has good properties as well,” San Valentin explains. “If you consume it in the right amount, it’s not bad.”

Aside from offering flavored milk to your kids, San Valentin suggests that moms be more creative when serving it to their children—even if it’s chocolate milk.

One way of doing it is to put milk in a glass with a lid and let your child drink it with colorful, loopy, or bendy straws for them to enjoy every sip. You can even serve milk this way whenever your child’s friends are around, to give them the impression that they are in a party.

With Bear Brand Choco Milk Drink and a little creativity, mommies can make sure their children get the right nutrition in a way they will enjoy. And we just might see a change in numbers of milk consumption surveys yet to come, which means more kids get to grow up healthier. Now that’s a battle worth winning!