What kind of milk do you give your LO and when did you start?

[GreenGranolaMama]

Whole cow, raw cow, organic, store bought, soy, goat, almond and everything in between! DS is almost a year, still nursing like a champ, so I am not looking to start an alternative milk very soon, but wondering what others do and the reasoning behind your choice.

DH and I drink soy BTW...

[Starflower]

We tried cow milk when DD was around a year old. She didn't like it and we suspected she also had a dairy reaction. I had recently cut out dairy anyway (it doesn't like me either). She nursed until she was 5+ so I wasn't too worried about it when the peds would ask.

Now she likes rice milk on her cereal and will occasionally drink the foam off of a chocolate soy milk hot chocolate. She really only likes milk on cereal though. She just drinks a lot of water and some juice once in awhile. I use rice milk in our cooking.

DD does like cheese a lot though which is frustrating because if she eats much of it, she seems sensitive to it.

Edited to add: we buy the rice milk at the store. I haven't tried making it on my own yet, because I buy the calcium fortified one.

She told me the other day she wants to try coconut milk, but that's because we saw some coconuts at the store. She used to eat tom ka, a Thai coconut soup, but no longer like it.

[bri276]

When DD was just past 1 I started giving her a little bit of goat's milk here and there. I stopped EP'ing at 21 months and gradually transitioned from goat to cow to raw cow and now we do sort of 50/50 raw/pasteurized cow's milk (age 4.5).

[just_lily]

My DD gets whole cow's milk - not from WIC though. We are Canadian. I used to have her on organic and wish I could keep it up, but it just isn't in the budget at this time. I have no idea where I could get raw milk.

I consider alternate milks, such as soy, rice, almond, etc. to be processed foods. We don't have issues with dairy in my house so we avoid the rest.

I started offering cow's milk shortly after her first birthday. She was on formula (she refused to nurse, sad story, no judgment please) and I didn't wean her off that entirely until 18 months.

[edensmama]

dd and Ds have dairy sensitivities so we do Rice Milk for ds to drink. Dd uses rice milk on cereal. dd eats soy yogurt but absolutly no cheese. I cook with rice milk and coconut oil (to replace butter or margerine). Dd was started on cows milk at a year at about 3 yo we found the cause of behavior was do to a dairy allergy and cut out all cow milk and soy milk products. Ds would breal out in a rash from cows milk so we chose rice milk. I even like rice milk.

[4Blessings]

Older LO has multiple food allergies so we delayed any (cow) dairy.

Rice and Hemp after one year.
Cow after 15 months and a negative allergy test.

Now we rotate between rice, soy, and cow.

[Vegan Princess]

I have low milk supply so DD gets little milk from me now that I'm off my domperidone. I still supplement at the breast with formula - mostly bc we bought a bunch and haven't used it up. At meals she gets whole organic cow milk in her sippy. She drinks water or diluted juice outside of meals.

I am mostly vegan and don't drink cow milk myself. I had thought about doing soy or another vegan milk for DD but in the end I just don't feel comfortable enough with that idea since she isn't getting a ton of milk from me. I will probably phase out the cow milk once she is over 2 or 3. For myself, I prefer almond and hemp milk. I do use almond on her cereal sometimes and she likes it but I don't think it provides enough nutrients on its own.

Cindy

[laughymama]

Rice Milk here. At around 12 months.

[To-Fu]

Almond milk, and around 12 months. Just for flavor/fun, though! He mainly drinks water and breast milk.

[pbjmama]

With my ds I started 2% w/no hormones around 18 months, he was nursing but my milk was turning to colostrum. I ended up tandem but still offered him 2% about once a day. With dd I thought I would wait longer but she realized her brother was getting something different in his cup so it was around 13 months. Also 2% no/hormone since she was still nursing full time.

[JBaxter]

I do Whole organic pasturized but NOT homogenized in glass half gallon bottles.

[mckittre]

None. My 14 month old just drinks water and nurses. I figure if he still needs milk, it might as well be mine, and water is less messy for him to drink/play with. The adults in this house don't drink milk of any kind straight either, though we use it in cooking and for making yogurt (also eat cheese and butter) - so my son does eat dairy.

[Artichokie]

none. my 27 mo old only drinks water and nurses.

[StrawberryFields]

Goats milk and I start around 10 months. Only because I can't pump and for the few short times I leave, by that age I feel comfortable using goats milk bottles instead.

[butterfly_mommy]

DS still nurses whenever he wants (usually 2-4 times a day and to go to sleep and maybe 1-2 at night) So I have never actually replaced BM with anything but he does drink Chocolate milk, skim milk, almond milk, goat milk, 2% all occasionally just as another type of beverage and usually in pretty small amounts. He mostly drinks water with meals and during the day.

I guess he was about 16 mons or so that he first had any other type of milk besides breast milk (he had tried cow milk earlier as a sip form my glass and didn't like it) at first I would only give him maybe an once or two but now he will half about half a glass (unless chocolate milk, then he can drain a small container)

[Boot]

I voted goat milk because that's what he has now - 1-2 glasses per day. When he was littler I rotated rice, almond and goat milk at the advice of our naturopath. She says to keep him of cow milk altogether because he will be sensitive and I believe her as I was sensitive as a child and still don't drink milk. I think I started at around a year.

[foodymama]

I chose other because my DD really doesn't drink milk of any kind. She is 22mo. and still nurses and usually only drinks water. Very rarely she will have some juice or some rice milk.

[kcstar]

Human milk and water for us. I've been trying to get him on any other kind cow milk (whole or skim) or soy milk, but so far he just refuses. We're cutting down on nursing bigtime now. He loves cheese, so maybe he'll be okay for a while yet.

[rightkindofme]

My daughter started getting goat milk around a year. Somewhere around 15ish months I switched her to raw cow milk. She is currently 23 months and she still nurses like a champ. She doesn't have cow milk daily but she asks for it occasionally and I don't see a reason to deny her. I *love* cow milk so I, of course, am happy to share it.

[daniturtle]

We tried goat's milk and almond milk at around 14 months and Thalia did not much like either at all. It became too much of an effort to try to get her to drink it so we stopped. She is breastfeeding quite frequently so she's getting plenty that way. Now- at 18 months- she goes to day care two days a week, where she gets organic whole cow's milk. She drinks between 2 and 4 ounces with her lunch. And that's it. I suppose I could offer some at home too, one of these days, when I'd like her to start weaning...