Please share DC's experience with goat milk?

[gbailey]

Thanks to everyone on the forum, we're not giving DD soy milk when she turns 1 or cows milk. I've been doing research and it seems like goat milk is the best way to go. Have any mom and dads had experience with goat milk and their lovely DC's? TIA

[newcastlemama]

My ds did awesome on goat milk..he used soy formula and them I switched him to full fat goat products and it really benefitted his health. He especially loved yogurt.

[guestmama9904]

are you breastfeeding? if so i would say your baby doesnt need any other animal milk as a primary source of nutrition. but if you arent breastfeeding i think goats milk is great, however do be aware that it is lacking in some vitamins, especially folic acid, when compared to cow or breast milk.

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by arismama!

are you breastfeeding? if so i would say your baby doesnt need any other animal milk as a primary source of nutrition. but if you arent breastfeeding i think goats milk is great, however do be aware that it is lacking in some vitamins, especially folic acid, when compared to cow or breast milk.

i'm not breastfeeding. meyenberg goat milk is fortified with vitamins including folic acid.

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by newcastlemama

My ds did awesome on goat milk..he used soy formula and them I switched him to full fat goat products and it really benefitted his health. He especially loved yogurt.

Thanks so much. DD is on soy formula as well. Did you switch DS as soon as he turned 1? TIA

[guestmama9904]

Originally Posted by gbailey

i'm not breastfeeding. meyenberg goat milk is fortified with vitamins including folic acid.

if i was to give another animal milk to a baby i would try and find a good source of raw goat or cow milk.

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by arismama!

if i was to give another animal milk to a baby i would try and find a good source of raw goat or cow milk.

i hear ya but we've done our research and raw goat or cow is not the way for us but thanks for the info

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by newcastlemama

My ds did awesome on goat milk..he used soy formula and them I switched him to full fat goat products and it really benefitted his health. He especially loved yogurt.

fyi if you use the meyenberg brand. if you go to their website and email customer service and ask for a coupon they'll send it to you

[abomgardner417]

We've used Meyenberg since the twins were about 13 months. They can tolerate dairy in yogurt or cheese in small amounts, but not in milk. They've done great on the goat's milk though. We bought the big cans of powder at first because it turned out to be the cheapest, then went to the condensed cans cause the store lowered the price. We never buy the milk in cartons though - too expensive. Thanks pp for the coupon info!

[guestmama9904]

Originally Posted by gbailey

i hear ya but we've done our research and raw goat or cow is not the way for us but thanks for the info

ok. i just assumed since you posted this in the tf forum and generally speaking tf advice would be to use raw dairy above all else. it certainly isnt easy to find for everyone.

[caedmyn]

Is your baby intolerant to cow milk? If she is she may or may not tolerate goat's milk--my dairy intolerant DD didn't tolerate goat's milk either. If she's not I'd say definitely go for the goat milk...although I personally would look for local goat milk since the Meyenberg is ultra pasturized IIRC. You could always get raw goat milk if you can find it since pastured milk really is healthier, and then gently pasturize it yourself.

[newcastlemama]

To answer--I think we started goat milk when he was 18 months....I used the milk, yogurts, and cheeses from Trader Joes. Their milk is just regular pasturized. He was allergic to cow milk (even raw) until he was about 3.5. He would get rashes and irritability.

I would have gotten ds off soy if I had known about an alernative earlier. I wish I would have known about the WAPF goat milk formula recipe because I don't think soy is good (but neither is having allergic reactions to the cow formula. )

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

Is your baby intolerant to cow milk? If she is she may or may not tolerate goat's milk--my dairy intolerant DD didn't tolerate goat's milk either. If she's not I'd say definitely go for the goat milk...although I personally would look for local goat milk since the Meyenberg is ultra pasturized IIRC. You could always get raw goat milk if you can find it since pastured milk really is healthier, and then gently pasturize it yourself.

She did not react well to the milk based formula. She always sounded mucousy and had gas which is the way I was when I drank cows milk as a child. No rashes or anything but as soon as we changed her to soy based formula she was okay. We were going to give her soy milk but everyone hear gave such great reasons to not give it to her so we figured goats milk was the best way to go.

Would you explain a bit about gentle pasturizing? I am not someone set in my ways about one thing. I'll investigate any info someone gives me

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by arismama!

ok. i just assumed since you posted this in the tf forum and generally speaking tf advice would be to use raw dairy above all else. it certainly isnt easy to find for everyone.

To me, goat's milk and cow's milk (whether raw or not) are traditional foods.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by gbailey

She did not react well to the milk based formula. She always sounded mucousy and had gas which is the way I was when I drank cows milk as a child. No rashes or anything but as soon as we changed her to soy based formula she was okay. We were going to give her soy milk but everyone hear gave such great reasons to not give it to her so we figured goats milk was the best way to go.

Would you explain a bit about gentle pasturizing? I am not someone set in my ways about one thing. I'll investigate any info someone gives me

Here's a link:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Ask-O...-Raw-Milk.aspx

[guestmama9904]

Originally Posted by gbailey

To me, goat's milk and cow's milk (whether raw or not) are traditional foods.

hmm. well i kinda have to politely diagree. traditional peoples did not pasturize animal milk. pasturization is a very modern invention and while i certainly dont have the whole history or time to write it even if i knew it by heart, i venture to say that the traditional way to eat dairy is either cultured or in its raw, unprocessed state. like i said before, i am well aware of the difficulties and financial dilems eating raw dairy may present, it can be hard to find and even harder to afford. but i wouldnt give ultra pasturized milk to my kids because i dont think its assimilated well with every naturally occuring live part of the milk being cooked out. some dairys do "light" or low-temp slow pasturization vs. ultra-pasturized which is done more quickly and at a higher temperature and pretty much completely cooks all the good stuff out of the milk/dairy. i live in an area where i can get 4 different brands of low-temp pasturized or its sometimes called "vat" pasturized milk simply on the shelves of my local whole foods or co-op.

[super mamabug]

My son loooooved goat milk and thrived on it. He weaned at 18 months when I was pregnant and I felt that that left a gap in his nutrition. He would have a cup of goat milk every morning and did very well on it. It made me feel like he was getting that dose of protein and fat that his body needed at that age, and should have been getting from breastmilk. He did very well and I didn't see any side effects like I might have from cow milk. We took him off of it about a year later and are now water only at home.

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

Here's a link:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Ask-O...-Raw-Milk.aspx

i appreciate you providing the link. thankfully i have a little bit of time before we need to make a change so this info will help us make an informed decision. thank you

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by super mamabug

My son loooooved goat milk and thrived on it. He weaned at 18 months when I was pregnant and I felt that that left a gap in his nutrition. He would have a cup of goat milk every morning and did very well on it. It made me feel like he was getting that dose of protein and fat that his body needed at that age, and should have been getting from breastmilk. He did very well and I didn't see any side effects like I might have from cow milk. We took him off of it about a year later and are now water only at home.

thanks. glad your ds took to the goat milk well. did u use raw or the meyenberg?

[gbailey]

Originally Posted by 425lisamarie

There are opinions about "traditional" all over the map. I won't even go in to my thinking too deep because I'm sort of a take it or leave it kind of person, who's family is all healthy and I do the best *I* believe for them health wise, with what risks I'm willing to take or not take. Anyways. I found a lovely goat farmer who I used to get fresh milk from weekly. I loved it, and DD did great with it. DS nursed for a few years, but DD not so long which is another thing I won't go in to LOL.

I would have to say *I* personally don't think it's a huge difference wether you get fresh raw goat's milk or pasturized in terms of health reasons. THe only thing I will say though, is there is an unpleasant goaty smell to heated goat's milk. I don't know why but it bugs me....but if you get used to it just like anyting else you probably wouldn't mind. I once couldn't get the raw milk, so I subbed with another one (not meyenburg but it was for sure pasturized) and it tasted good and didn't smell. DD wasn't any different, except that should would tend to be too lose with the stools if drinking too much raw milk.

Personally I don't think anyone's entire diet should consist of milk anyways, and for a small baby or toddler who can't nurse and is primarily drinking milk, I'd only give goat's milk anyways. I don't drink milk anymore, but everyone else does here and I buy organic but not raw. I'm not against raw milk, I drank it for years, I'm not really jumping over hoops about it either. I don't use it anymorme. I just figure if you're going to drink milk then find as good as you can in terms of how the animals are treated, organic etc.

Are you in NYC? I ask because you are able to find a goat farmer to get milk from.

Thanks for the info about the heating up of the goat's milk. I can't even do organic milk. I was a big soy drinker until posting here about soy now I'm afraid to touch the stuff. I use to drink rice milk but it didn't do anything for me. What does goats milk taste like? I told DH we have to try it first if we decide to give it to DD.