my son is one year and i give him homemade almond milk ....can anyone help me in telling how to make almond milk?can i add coconut oil into it is it good for him?and how to make cashews added in his recipes
nuts should not be given until at least 2 and even longer then that if there is history of allergies. I suggest you give rice milk if you do not want to give dairy or soy. you can get rice dream that is fortified with calcium and vitamin D.
I absolutely agree with the 2 other posters so far on this issue...please speak to your pediatrician before doing this. 1) for the potential of dangerous nut allergy at his young age, and 2) for the lack of calcium and vitamin D from not having milk right now.
I think I'm going to disagree with most of these posters - in 2008 there was a study which demonstrated holding off on eggs, nuts, etc. until a child was older could CAUSE allergies - the September issue of PARENTING Magazine the Early Years just had an article on allergies which is where I'm getting my info from. The best thing to do is speak to your doctor.
because of his young age you may want to buy coconut milk that has great fats and no sugar. it is delicious BTW! He needs to be getting Vit D especially living up here. When you buy the commercially made stuff its enriched with D as cows milk is. Giving a multivitamin is also not necessarily the safest bet either. making your own is a great idea but its hard to make sure you are giving him all the nutrients he needs. Are you still nursing? that would change things a bit
I agree with the others. You should wait until your child is at least 2 yrs. of age before giving nuts. I once read if you introduce children to nuts too early it can cause allergies later as they get older. I would play it safe. I think rice milk, or goats milk would be better. Goats milk is the closest to breast milk.
Um, I would strongly reccomend you use rice milk at this age due to nut allergies. I would reccomend you speak to your pediaticain before giving the almond milk. PS my son and I liked the vanilla Rice Dream best.
To address whether you should be giving him this in the first place: talk to your doctor, yes. But my doctor also told me to give my baby the rotovirus vaccine (and I declined) and three weeks later it was not to be used due to a pig virus found in the vaccine.
I broke out my favorite book, Super Baby Food.
This is what it says:
1/3c ORGANIC nuts or seeds (cashews, almonds, sesame seeds)
1c water
Rinse nuts or seeds and let them soak in water overnight before blending. This will begin the sprouting process, increase the nutrients in the water, and soften the seeds/nuts for better blenderizing. In the morning liquify in blender. Shake well before each use. You can strain this milk but dont discard the pulp it's full of vitamins.
Have you tried giving your baby Tahini? Putting some in his yogurt? I would try that before the cashews or coconut oil. Tahini is PACKED with nutrients and can be given to kids around 8mons old. However, just try a little in case your baby is allgeric. I actually can't even find anything on coconut oil and have never given it to my kids. Organic coconut WATER - that's a different story. 230% of vitamin C - you better believe my kids drink it. I buy VitaCoco. Look at the ingredients it should just read "coconut water".
You have to really chew up nuts and seeds to get their full nutrition or they just pass through your body. Flax seed oil I buy and add to smoothies or yogurt for my kiddos. very little per day though.
Hope this helps,
Trish
I don't necessarily agree that you should hold off on all nuts until age two. (Especially since it sounds like you've already started giving it to your son and he hasn't had a reaction.) Anyway... a good basic recipe for any nut milk is 1 part nuts to 4 parts water (or less if you'd like it more creamy). Soak nuts for several hours (as little as one is fine, but the most nutrition is "unlocked" after 6-8 hours of soaking). Rinse, then blend w/ 4 parts water. You can leave it plain, or add a dash of salt, a little vanilla, dates or agave syrup for a bit of sweetness, etc... You can serve as is, or you can strain through cheese cloth or a special nut milk bag for a super-smooth texture.
Cashews: I make cashew milk, which I love. I also make a raw, creamy pasta sauce with cashews (no dairy) that you can use on pasta or as a dip, etc... See it here (there's lots of other recipes on this site you might like, too): http://www.choosingraw.com/176/
