Apart from high levels of energy, proteins, micro-and macronutrients, milk contains calcium and the insulin-like growth factor-1 that are of major relevance for children's development and growth. Using Demographic and Health Survey data between 1990 and 2017 with information on milk consumption and anthropometric measurements from all low-and middle-income countries available, we investigate whether milk consumption in childhood is associated with stunting, wasting, and underweight. We specify logistic regression models and adjust for a range of covariates and fixed effects on the primary sampling unit level. We analyze heterogeneity in the association by wealth quintiles and age groups and present country-specific estimates. The final samples for wasting, underweight and stunting include 668.463, 693.376, and 673.177 observations of children aged 6 to 59 months, respectively. Our results suggest that milk consumption is associated with a reduced probability of being underweight of 1.4 percentage points (95% confidence interval −0.02, −0.01) and a reduced probability of being stunted of 1.9 percentage points (95% confidence interval −0.02, −0.01). The association for wasting is not robust. the association is stronger for children from wealthier households, which might indicate that milk consumption is a proxy for better overall nutrition or socioeconomic status. Milk consumption in childhood has long been assumed to be beneficial for growth, resulting in the "milk hypothesis" suggested by Bogin 1. While children are ideally exclusively breastfed during the first six months of life, consumption of nonhuman milk after the age of six months may stimulate growth in the following years 2-4. This association may be due to the nutritious content of milk. Apart from high levels of energy, proteins and microand macronutrients, milk contains calcium and the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) that are of major relevance for children's development and growth 3,5. In one of the first studies on milk consumption and growth in 1928, Boyd Orr estimated an increase of 20% in height and weight for Scottish children aged 5 to 14 years who consumed milk in addition to their normal diet for seven months in comparison to children who did not 6. For low-and middle-income countries, few studies focusing on milk consumption and growth are available. Early studies from 1970 and 1977 found significant increases in weight and height for children consuming milk compared to a control group in a school milk intervention in New Guinea 7,8. More recent evidence comes from a number of RCTs in Kenya and Vietnam 9,10 and cross-sectional studies in Cambodia and Uganda 11,12. Recent studies that look at livestock ownership in Bangladesh and Kenya also assess the association between milk consumption and child growth 13,14. Although results in general point towards a positive effect of milk consumption on child growth, evidence remains mixed when looking at different indicators. For example, while Grillenberger et al. found significant changes for th...