[dgrant]

First of all he's talking about a 4 year old. Whole milk is highly recommended under 2 years of age. The doctor is not an idiot for suggesting a 4 year old that is drinking a modest amount of whole milk switch to skim milk. There are lots of good things in skim milk, vitamin D and calcium for one and if a kid drinks skim, 1%, or 2% milk he/she will be getting more of those things because he/she will drink more of it as it is less filling than whole milk. It could be there was some concern that the child was getting enough calcium. One way to increase calcium intake is to switch to a lower fat milk.

Also, some people may call 1% or 2% "skim milk". In Canada the labels on these milk products are called "partly skimmed milk".