Looking for Good Alternative to Milk for 1 Year Old

Hi D.,

My son was diagnosed with a lot of food allergies. Dairy products, nuts, soy, beef, beans, and so on that I had to find something other than soy milk and almond milk. It seemed he was not allergic to rice so I started him on enriched Rice Milk. They also make rice cheese, rice bread, and it was a great feeling to be able to finally let him eat a grilled cheese sandwich like the older kids. I found that Safeway, Whole Foods, and Frys now carry the milk. As for the bread and cheese you will need to stick with Whole Foods. Also, incase there is someone allergic to nuts, we have found that sunbutter is a good alternative to peanut butter. Good luck and I hope it goes well.

if he is just lactose intolerant, you can just get the lactose free milk that is in the store. It is more expensive then regular milk, but less expensive then the rice milk or soy milk products. This worked fine for both my lactose intolerant boys. When they get older, you can give them a supplement that is called lactaid that is sold at Trader Joes and that way the milk won't bother him. You cannot give the supplement to babies though.

Now if they are allergic to cows milk completely, then you have to find a new type of milk.

D. P.

You can buy organic vanilla soymilk by the case at Costco. Good stuff for drinking, baking, use in french toast, etc. Also, Trader Joe's carries WestSoy our other favorite, vanilla. I think they stopped carrying sweetened soymilk though, which is how my kids like it.

Also, be cautious and read the calcium levels. I believe it's West Soy that is 30% higher in calcium than many others.

We used to buy the refrigerated varieties which are very nice, but pricier.

Happy drinking soy!

Almond milk is good, rice is okay, too - either are better than soy. They don't have the hormone-inducing qualities of soy - plus soy is the crop contributing to more burning and deforestation of the Amazon than any other right now. You might want to try something totally different and much more nutritious than any "milk" in his bottles. My suggestions are Treasure Tea and Pure Camu. Treasure Tea is a blend of six rainforest herbs that are growing wild in the Amazon, harvested by the indigenous people to sustain and preserve the forest. These herbs support the immune system, act as an anti-oxidant, are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, balance the blood sugar levels, assist in kidney clearing, digestion, energy and mental clarity. It's amazing and delicious - and very economical. Pure Camu is a single fruit, wild-grown in the Amazon flood basin, dried and powdered. It has the highest concentration of naturally occurring vitamin C of any plant in the world - 30 times more than an orange. It is pure - as the name says - no fillers or by-products. It is more expensive than the Tea but both are exceptional products and come with a complete satisfaction guarantee. If you want more info feel free to contact me or you can visit my website: www.shootingstarherbs.amazonherb.net. It's the best alternative on the planet! May the forest be with you!

Hi D.-
It's been done, but the alternatives are difficult. Make sure the protein content on any alternatives you are considering is high enough. Have you tried the soured milks? or the milk specially processed for lactose-intolderant people? S.

You are absolutely right. The latest research is stating that boys and lots of soy is not a good match. Our daughter is very allergic to dairy, for her it's the protein, she gets hives if her skin touches it and vomits if she drinks it.

We give her the Pacific vanilla Almond milk from Trader Joes at $1.69/qt. Almonds are so full of goodness and great fats for the brain, perfect for a growing child. If you're concerned about nut allergies, go for rice milk. Rice milk is cheaper, but doesn't have the good nutrients. Our usual blend is the Silk Soy Plus w/ Omega 3, and Pacific Almond milk 1/2 & 1/2.

Water is truly the best for us to drink. Our latest kick is a recipe for healthy 'koolaid'. Brew hibiscus flowers (very cheap at Food City stores) or another naturally bright red herbal tea like Red Zinger, add a packet of Stevia powder (an herb which is naturally sweet). If it still needs a bit of sweetness, add some Agave Nectar (again from Trader Joes). It's better for the body than honey as the Agave Nectar is lower on the glycemic level than regular sugar or honey.

Best forms of calcium are still the green veg, sesame seeds, etc. Try one of the cookbooks that has you puree veg like spinach and hide it in different foods. Here's the link to her on Oprah showing how she does it.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/slideshow1_ss_fo...

Good luck!
L.
~mom to 5yr old ovo-vegetarian who is a 2 yr cancer survivor

Hi D. -

Does your son have problems with the yogurt or cheese? If not, he is not lactose intolerant. What were his symptoms when he drank regular milk?

Hoping to help,

M. M. Ernsberger, HHP
Certified Herbalist

Soy milk is just as expensive as Lactaid or Lactose Free milk. Our whole family is Lactose Intolerant and we do well with reduced fat 2% or lowfat 1%. Still yet whole milk either way is hard to digest.

I was able to tolerate soy milk however my 4 year old could not with formula or regular soy milk.

You should probably hold off on almond milk until you're sure your kid is not allergic to nuts. I don't have a family history of food allergies, it was just a fluke thing that my almost 5 year old has tons of allergies. However my 1 year old has none.

Good Luck!

gaots milk can be tolerated by most people who can't tolerate cow's milk. if your child cannot tolerate goats milk, i highly recommend hemp milk. a few things: soy creates elevated estrogen levels, so in excess is especially not good for boys. rice milk is a cheap alternative, but worthless when it comes to nutrients. Nut milks are a step up from rice milk. hemp milk has the best nutritional value, including omegas, but it is expensive. you can find it at sunflower market, and other natural food markets. they carry it at my local frys, but i haven't seen it at other major grovery stores. i typically give my son hemp milk, but use rice milk for other things i make, since it's so much cheaper. i'll occasionally use soy, it's not dangerous in small amounts, but i would steer away from everyday use.

My daughter drinks soy milk. I have used Silk Vanilla soy milk, which you can buy at Costco a little cheaper than in the grocery store. I have also used 8th Continent which is cheaper than silk in the grocery store. I am currently using the Fry's store brand of organic soy milk and it is cheaper than the rest and my daughter likes it. When I got it home she drank three glasses. I can't remember what exactly I paid for it, 2 something for a half gallon, I think. Check the stores that you shop at and check around for pricing. I hope this helps you out.

I just heard a doctor recently say that boys should not drink that much soy milk as it is high in estrogen? I don't know...thought it was interesting. My oldest daughter is sensitive to both cow milk and soy (which is common to be sensitive to both by the way) and we had to give her goats milk when she stopped nursing at 9 months until she turned one. It is very easily digestable and you can get it at all grocery stores. It's a little expensive but we only used it for a short time. Milk is highly over-rated and my doctor (naturopathic) said dairy should be a condiment only. You can buy those chocolate calcium chews if you're worried about calcium?

My son is on the vanilla soy milk that is the non-refrigerated kind that we buy at Costco by the case. It is fairly inexpensive and he drinks a lot of it. He is by no means a small kid, in fact he is in the 75th percentile for pretty much everything. He has been drinking that since he was 1 and switched from breastfed to bottles. Ever since then he has been lactose intolerant. We have been really, really happy with it. And, the best part is you can keep it in the house, but you don't have to refrigerate it, so you aren't running back and forth to the supermarket every 3 days.

Rice Milk is usually cheaper than even soy! And better for a one year old than soy.

The concern with soy of course is that it contains estrogen so I wouldn't recommend it for a little boy. Almond milk or rice milk are a wonderful alternative. My boys like both. The other option of course is goats milk if it's dr approved. It depends upon the child as to whether they can tolerate the goats milk or not.

We gave my daughter a mixture of a toddler based oat formula that we purchased from Wild Oats and mixed it with PediaSure. She's now a little over 2 1/2 and we give her 2% organic Lactofree milk. My 7 month old is on Lactose Free formula and I am planning on giving him organic Lactose Free whole milk when he turns a year old. We really like Horizons or Target's Archer Farm brand.

My son had to go on soy for a short time because he had loose bms every time he drank milk, anyway, after doing research on soy we decided against. It can harm their reproductive organs amoung other things. We decided to go with Dairy Ease by Land o Lakes. It is milk but, they have taken the lactose out of it. Good luck!

I am very much in favor a traditional, whole foods diet. If it couldn't be consumed 100 years ago, avoid it. I would do good research on soy. It's highly allergenic, highly indigestible and soy milk is a highly processed food. Consider coconut milk. Here's a good article on alternatives to milk, including a good, easy recipe for a coconut milk milk substitute:
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/05/coconut-milk-...

Real, homemade bone broth can supply all your calcium needs. That's how asian cultures traditionally got there's if milk wasn't consumed.

Consider raw milk. Lactose intolerance means your body doesn't make the lactase to break down lactose. That's why he can eat cheese and yogurt; in the process of making these foods, bacteria have already broken these down for him. In pasteurizing milk, we KILL lactase. Raw milk still contains and many, many people can drink raw milk.

Other milk substitutes are highly processed. Read the ingredient labels, too. Good luck!

PS. Quality food is not cheap. Paying for the real value of real food is a paradigm shift for most people.

There is no need to do a substitute for milk if he's weaned...and can subsist on solids. Cow's milk has calcium and has a little artificial vit D added to it...and then is some protein but a lot of milk sugar.
Vit D comes from the skin being exposed to the sun (most natural source). Some foods and cod liver oil (tasty new capsules exist) have it too. Protein and sugars are found in all kinds of food. Therefore, just get your son into drinking water or herbal teas.
I realize we have been trained by market forces and culture, and the USDA to think we are gonna keel over without drinking milk...but it's just not true. It is not in most countries throughout the world.
Ironically, countries that drink the most milk and eat the most dairy products have higher fracture rates than those that do not. We may have a magnesium shortage....and would be better off putting our effort into getting more of that. Cow's milk does not have much if any magnesium. It is well known now that most of the US population is vit D deficient.
I would avoid soy. Yes you can get it cheap. But it may have too much manganese. Which is associated with ADHD symptoms. And does not have a long history of safe use in UNfermented form. Asians usually ferment it...or use small amounts of tofu (unfermented). Thousands of years of safe use that way speaks for itself.

I would not give a kid soy milk. It is very high in estrogen which could harm her. Use goat's milk. they have it in powder and regular milk at whole foods or online. Kids who are lactose intolerant are sensitive to the large proteins in cows milk. Goat's milk is more similar to human milk, it has smaller proteins which we can digest more easily.

If you want to read about the dangers of excess soy, read here
http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/

other people who say it's fine, don't know.

All of our 4 kids have had to drink soy milk since they were babies because they have had milk allergies (some out grew it, but still prefer soy). I've found the best deal is at COSTCO - they have a Kirkland brand soy milk that is sold by the case. There are individual boxes of milk in the case, so you can refrigerator small cartons at a time.

They also have chocolate and vanilla flavors as well. Just be cautious, because if you start them out on the flavored, they tend to only want that. I save those for special times, or to mix in smoothies, or to make popsicles (by freezing the fruit smoothies made with vanilla soy milk) and fudgsicles from the chocolate soy milk ;)

Best,
C.

Dont worry about drinking soy. My family and children have been doing it for years now. 12 years in fact. It started with my niece, 2 nephews and now my 2 children. The older ones have grown out of it mine are still using it. I go to Costco it is $12.99 for a case of 12, 1qt organic Kirkland soy milk. They have plain and vanilla, they even have individual soy chocolate milk for extra special treats. They do not have to go in the fridge till opened. I go through 24qts most months sometimes I get away with 12qts it just depends on how much my kids are wanting to drink.

My son has been dairy free for 6 months now. For most of that time we used the Silk soy milk with DHA added. Then after warnings from friends and our chiropractor, I did some more research about soy. Little boys younger than 7 can be VERY negatively effected by soy. Giving them soy is basically pumping their little bodies full of estrogen which can lead to thyroid and fertility problems and other things I can't remember. We now use Rice Milk - the Rice Dream brand for the most part. I use the Almond milk for baking since it's a little sweeter. My son liked the soy, the rice and the almond milk just fine. I hope the transition is fairly easy for you and your son.