Whole Milk Vs. Organic Milk

I like Almond milk for my little guy, I was told that it's easier to digest than soy. But I also use cow milk so he doesn't mind that either. I just don't like giving my baby 100% cow milk because I don't think it's that good for them.

I have read that if you only use one organic prouct it should be milk. Definitely worth the extra money.

I use Horizon Whole Organic milk. I do not want to put all those hormones and such in my little ones body. It is a bit more expensive, but really worth it. It also lasts longer so you can buy more at a time. Good luck.

E.,

We are using hypoallergenic formula. My son is allergic to dairy and soy. We tried goat's milk and he doesn't tolerate that. Rice milk constipated the heck out of him. And it doesn't have much fat or protein. All of the other "alternative" milks (oat, hemp, almond, etc...) all have negatives to them - mainly lack of protein and fat (nut milk have more fat but then you run the risk of nut allergies).

Personally, just in general, I'm more of a fan of using formula or follow up formula until kids are older. Cow's milk is not a complete food for an infant/toddler. Neither of my kids were eating nearly enough at 1 year old to not need the fat, calories, protein and nutrition of a better "milk" source. I breastfed both of my kids past one year. When I weaned them, I didn't wean them to milk (or in my youngest's case, formula), I weaned them to a varied, healthy diet with milk (or formula) as a beverage.

As far as regular milk vs. organic milk, I give my 5 year old organic milk with the omega 3s added. It is more expensive but it smells better, tastes better and lasts longer.

Good luck in finding something you are comfortable with!

T.

I use organic whole milk (Horizons)

I would go with raw cow's milk if it's possible in your area. You can read up on pasteurized milk. Look up the Weston Price Foundation or check it out on mercola.com. Ultra-pasteurized is to be avoided at all costs. Raw milk negates any concern for lactose intolerance. It has many other amazing properties including healthy bacteria, CLA...the benefits are numerous. Check out the wholesoystory website for info on soy. We are practically soy free at this house. It messes with calcium absorption and hormones, to start with. The more you read, the scarier it gets and I've yet to find anything pro-soy besides what was marketed by the industry. A huge percentage of soy produced is also GMO, another concern.

I'd say breastfeed as long as you can and then try to get raw milk, if it's possible in your area.

My daugher is 17 months and we give her unsweetened almond milk w/ a little agave nectar, goats milk and lactaid milk where the cows have not been treated w/ hormones. She really loves the almond milk and lactaid milk the best so we just stopped the goats milk altogether. I give her 2-3 sippy cups a day and try to do 1 cup of each different milk because I notice she gets a little congested at night if she has too much milk.
We do lots of juicing throughout the week and she has about 1/2 cup of that too.
Today we made a beet, orange, carrot and spinach juice and she had about 6 ounces of that.
Hope this helps. Best of luck.
E.

Call me crazy, but I see a correlation between dairy and ear problems in kids. It was horrible for me as a child (persistent ear infections and ruptured ear drums) and I saw the same in my sister's kids. We went on formula early because my premature baby was too weak to do much nursing (although I pumped as much as I could for the first year) and the formula options were limited. We went the organic soy formula route and switched to Silk unsweetened soy milk (in the green package) when she was ready to move away from formula. Bottom line, your child will drink whatever you provide as long as you don't wrinkle your nose as you hand him or her the bottle. My daughter eventually dropped milk at meals in favor of water (and some limited juice later when she discovered it in school). I'm not concerned about the soy "issues." Silk is a responsible company and her soy consumption was and is in moderation, compared to the rest of her diet. As an aside, my daughter has had virtually no ear infections and she is 6-1/2 now.

I use organic whole milk.
A child, through 2 years old, this is recommended, because the "milk fats" in it is an essential "nutrient" for brain development.

If not using cow milk... I would not use soy. Too many contraindications and the naturally occurring "estrogen" in it has bad impact on a growing child's endocrine system.

Some use goats milk, or almond milk. Also said to be nutritionally packed and on par, and a good alternative.

Good luck,
Susan

My son stopped drinking milk about a year ago due to a milk intollerance issue but I would suggest that you go organic, hormone-free, anti-biotic free, free-range with your food choices whenever possible. The food industry has done a lot to prolong the shelf-life of a lot of foods, speed up the process of food production and make a greater variety of food items available all year long but I'm not so sure that's necessarily a good thing. Just my 2-cents. . . .

I use organic whole milk. trader joes is the least expensive.

My son is 2.5 years old, and I use Horizon Organic Lactose Free Milk. It's awesome and my son loves it. He's lactose intolerant, and we were using Soy for a time, but our Pedi recommended the switch at the last visit.

Good Luck!

Sounds like the subject has been pretty well covered, but I would agree that Organic is ALWAYS the way to go over regular milk due to the hormones and all the other nasty things that gets caught up in there. Stay far far away from regular chocolate milk as that is the worst quality milk and the companies are able to hid the poor quality milk behind the chocolate flavor (your daughter is only one, but for the future). For my daughter we started her off exclusively on Goat Milk, as it is the easiest to digest. Then slowly transitioned into rice milk then organic milk. Ultimately mixing it up as balance seems to be the best policy. I was giving her Soy Milk for awhile but we have so much soy in our diet anyway, as it is in so many other foods we decided to steer away from that. Also too much soy in a child's diet can increase hormone levels and alter natural hormonal development.

I would use raw milk if I can afford it, but I can't. I use organic whole cow's milk. If you choose to use this, you need to be aware of the pasteurization method used for the milk. Check the expiration date on the milk, if it can last a month or so, don't get it. It is ultra pasteurized or UHT labelled on the box/carton. Here's more on it or google 'ultra pasteurization' for more info.
http://westonaprice.org/motherlinda/ultra-pasteurizedmilk...
My kids drink organic milk from trader joe's. Except when they have a cold, then I give them calcium enhanced orange juice. It cuts the mucus instead of increasing it.
Also, UHT milk does taste different from pasteurized milk. My older daughter won't drink it. She said it tasted 'bad'.

Organic milk and non organic milk have never been proved to be unequal and organic can cost more, but many people , including me, have noticed that organic milk does not go bad as quickly. Why? Scientific American recently answered this question. The trick is that Organic milk tends to also be UHT milk. This is because the distribution points are farther from the markets. UHT milk , long used in Europe , is heated to a very high temperature and can be kept on the shelf (no fridge) for six months or longer. It also last longer when opened and put in the fridge.
Once learning this I always buy organic when I need milk. I also always have some little cartons of UHT milk on the shelf.
B. v.O.

i give my daughter vanilla soy milk. she loves it and the chocolate soy milk s really good too.

I agree that breastfeeding is the absolute best option, but if that is not a possibility for you go organic only, regardless of the price. We use organic milk only. Do not use regular milk--please! It is pumped with hormones and has even been linked with premature menstruation! We still use cow's milk because it's loaded with nutrients and protein that soymilk just doesn't provide, but after researching this issue we have decided that organic milk is the only way to go. Your children are worth the extra cost.

If using milk, my encouragement would be to make sure that it is hormone free! Otherwise, the hormones that are injected into the cows to make them produce more milk, go into the milk. The very hormones that increase milk production in cows also causes girls to develop prematurely - early menstruation and breast growth. I don't know what it does to boys, but this is what research shows in girls.
How great that you asked this question!
M.

I have given my son Horizon Whole Milk since he was 1 years old. It's a little more expensive, but I hate the thought of hormones in my sons body, so I think it's worth it. When he's sick or has a runny nose and I'm trying to avoid mucus, I give him vanilla rice or almond milk (which shockingly have the same amount of sugar as whole milk). -www.weelicious.com

Very important and great that you are thinking about this. Cows milk is not exactly the best thing for any of us and soy is not any better as most of it is genetically modified and that doesn't work well in the body, especially after a while. So many families use rice, almond, or hemp milk. Believe it or not, but hemp milk has more nutients in it than the others. There are also so many other ways to get your calcium as well. Another great product that I just discovered recently is MimicCreme. Unbelievable and fantastic. Cuts your calories and fats down, has the good fats, and it is dairy free. Made from cashews and almonds and tastes good.

So, if you do decide to do cow's milk, absolutely have it be organic, otherwise pick another source and limit your dairy consumption.

You are doing a good job:o)

We only drink organic milk. My daughter drank whole milk until she was about 2-1/2, and now she drinks 2%. My son's still breastfeeding, but once I introduce milk, we'll be going with organic whole milk (until he's 2 as well!) I honestly believe that organic is the only way to go when it comes to dairy and meat products! I read "To Buy or Not to Buy Organic" by Cindy Burke and really learned a lot - she really researched what it all means - highly recommended if you have questions.

Good luck! (And Happy early Birthday to your daughter!)

My daughter is 20 mos old and we're using whole goat milk because she has a sensitivity to cow dairy. Thus we use goat yogurt, cheese and butter. She likes it and it provides her with more nutrition than Rice or Almond milk. She's also sensitive to Soy, so we don't use that either. Good luck!

I switched to organic milk. Mostly cause of the hormones in regular milk. But it turns out that it tastes so much better! only down side is the cost.

Mine breastfed till 2+ years so transitioning at 1 wasn't really an issue but eventually we drank soy, almond and rice milks. Not a lot of soy as I've heard some not so great stuff about it. For the most part my kids don't drink milk at all. They get vit. D and calcium from other sources. Yogurt, cheese, greens, nuts, fish, etc..

Best wishes,
M.

NO COW, preferably not soy. Most of the alternatives arent very nutrient rich.
MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE IS HEMP MILK. I know of two brands, Manitoba Harvest makes one called Hemp Bliss, and- my favorite- LIVING HARVEST, which I like the flavor much better. Manitoba has a much nuttier, truer hemp seed flavor. Living Harvest is much milder, creamier. Both brands come in Original, Vanilla and Chocolate flavors. Hemp milk has all the nutrients of cows milk plus alot more. Hemp seeds contain complete protein, meaning they have all the essential amino acids that your body cannot produce on its own. There is no other "milk that has that. Also, it is a naturally rich source of essential Omega-3 fatty acids, critical for your growing baby's developing brain and eyes and cellular function. Hemp seeds are also naturally rich sources of iron and other minerals, and both brands have other added vitamins and minerals as well in different amounts. And I think they are both organic. And they both have equal or higher content of calcium than cow's milk, and without all the yuck of cow's milk (hormones, saturated fat, cholesterol, allergic response, immune response, ets...).
I drink it, my son LOVES it, I cook and bake with it, use it on cereal. I just dont recommend it in coffee, though, because of the fat content, it makes your coffee kinda oily!
I buy it at Whole Foods. It is more expensive than soy or rice or some of the other "milk" but I figure it is more than worth it because its nutrient content is so much greater. To get the same nutrients from other "milk" plus supplements to make up the difference would definitely cost a lot more. My baby's well being is worth it!
Good Luck!
...Oh yeah, making almond milk is really easy, too. Lots of ways to do it. Buy raw organic almonds in bulk. Soak a cup of them in pure water until the skin starts to come off, maybe overnight in the fridge. Remove the skin. Put into a blender with enough water to move them but not too much so that it chops them instead of pureeing. You want a smooth sort of paste. Then add water as desired. Sweeten, if you want to, with agave nectar or honey, but it isnt necessary. Drink up! or Keep in a closed glass container in the fridge. Or you could find other methods online!
And if you really feel inclined toward cow's milk, please please use organic! The hormones and chemicals in cow's milk are detrimental to your babies' health. With that said, I use to buy Strauss Plain Organic Whole Milk Yogurt. I prefer that one because it is just milk cream and cultures, no added thickeners or pectin or sugar or anything. I would thin it out with water in my son's sippy cup and give it to him instead of milk. Sometimes I would sweeten it with a drop of agave nectar or honey, but he loved it plain, too.
Cheers!

I use organic. I don't want the added hormones passed on to my kids. Trader Joe's is affordable.

I wanted to go Organic with the milk but it's just too expensive. I was able to find a brand of milk that does not treat the cows with rBST, which was my main reason for wanting to go Organic in the first place. It's Lucerne brand milk and you can get it at Vons for the same exact price as milk that comes from cows that are treated with the hormones.

I never did it, but my friend gives her daughter goats milk. Also, I go to a naturopath who told me that goat milk products are more easily digested by humans than other animal's milk. We are a soymilk family. Both my kids got sick often, and recovered more slowly on whole milk and it took me a while to switch to soy, but once I did, I noticed a difference. We prefer it now. Since we live in Hawaii, the refrigeration of milk is often compromised, and gallons of milk would go bad before we could drink it. Soymilk comes in the aseptic packaging and I buy it by the case. It just works better for us. Good luck with your decision.

BREAST FEED!!! but basically, there is the opinion: cow milk is for baby cows, goat milk for baby goat, etc... we (humans) should only drink our own milk, or the alternative...so many choose Rice Water, or Soy. but I heard that soy can be bad for little girls, hormonal issues. The only thing that stands true is if you do decide to go w/Cows Milk make sure it is RBST Free (no added hormones).

good luck.
S.

Do your research. drmercola.com and hacres are good websites. Milk is not good after pastuerization and if it is not organic, it is full of hormones and you can't trust all of the organic farmers either. It is best to avoid it and soy milk is even worse, so please do not use that as an alternative.

We use Sunrider chinese food herbs. It has no additives, preservatives. It is not dangerous and it feeds the regeneration process in the body.

God Bless!

J.