No cow's milk, so how do they get enough calcium?

[Xerxella]

This is kinda long, sorry...

So, I've never been able to convince my son to drink cow's milk. I've tried chocolate, vanilla, ice cream, yogurt, nothing. He literally gagged when I talked him into trying chocolate milk. (It's like the inside of an m&m in a juice box!) He weaned at 19 months when I was PG with his sister.

Here's the catch.. Since then, he's taken cow's milk in a bottle at nap time. He'll gladly take the bottle at nap time, (ask to nap, even) lay down for 45 minutes and finish the bottle. Sometimes, he'll even ask for more. Well, I've gladly taken advantage of this break, especially when there was a new baby. But, as he gets older, I've been discouraging (with great success) the bottle and "nap" (he doesn't actually fall asleep).

So, now what? The only dairy he'll eat is cheese. I know MDC has many non-dairy people. So how do I get enough calcium into him?

Also, my DD doesn't seem interested in drinking milk from a cup or juice box either. But, she's still nursing. But, as she nurses less and less, I'm not inclined to supplement with bottles.

So, any advice on getting enough calcium? TIA

[spmamma]

My DD is your son's age and hardly drinks milk. To be honest I don't really worry about it too much (she weaned at 25 months). She eats some cheese and gets milk in her cereal every morning, but other than that doesn't really drink milk. I just feed her a balance of whole foods and trust that she's getting enough. Have you considered giving him a multi vitamin?

[crunchy_mommy]

Calcium-rich foods:

hummus
calcium-set tofu
most fortified non-dairy milks & OJ
almonds
broccoli, kale, actually most green veggies
blackstrap molasses

[~cassie]

Mine don't care for milk that much but love their broccoli, so they get it from there.

[Xerxella]

We do a multi vitamin and a calcium supplement. (It gives 12% RDA.) I'm not freaking out or anything, but I want to keep an eye on it. I'm not a soy fan and we don't drink alot of juice. We really just drink water. We could do more "Total" like cereals, but that feels just the same as a supplement (BTW, he won't have milk on his cereal, either). Almonds and broccoli are popular, but I have not been able to sell hummus and we've never tried molasses. I could give him a could more vitamins at the end of the day, but that doesn't exactly feel right either. I always think it's best to get our nutrients from the food we eat.

Overall, he looks great, healthy, 50 percentile on everything, etc. Has anyone ever had a problem that developed from their kid not getting enough calcium? I wonder if the RDA is set too high. Thoughts?

[Xerxella]

In researching my own question, I found this:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritio...cium-and-milk/

Harvard thinks we might not need as much calcium as originally thought, too. I guess that makes me feel a little better.

[katmann]

I just recently read an article by Christiane Northrup about calcium, and her take was that calcium from veggies (anything nondairy/nonmeat) is WAY better than the dairy variety. It's pH related, but the short version is that we're able to utilize the calcium in veggies much more easily. Here's the link.

So if you're getting veggies, beans, and some of the other things mentioned above into your LO, that should be fine. Especially the dark, leafy greens - kale, broccoli, spinach, etc. Not a kid's favorite, maybe, but worth the effort. (Be it known that I can't talk; my DS at 19 mos is still not a veggie lover. But he gets a lot of BM, so he gets what I eat, for the time being.)

[dividedsky]

my sons never drank cows milk - they weaned gradually starting @ 12 mos and they were totally weaned @ 15 mos. i gave it to them a few times and they weren't too interested. i don't really sweat it. i think it's actually kind of gross to chug milk all day long anyway. they plenty of dairy (cheese, yogurt, sour cream, milk and cream in foods like pancakes and whatnot) and dark green veggies, and ice cream once in a while. their pediatrician wasn't concerned at all. they just drink water.

[crunchy_mommy]

I do think that the RDA for calcium is set high, and a lot of the research on calcium is funded by the dairy industry. I've also read some research that the calcium in dairy may somehow suck more calcium out of your bones, so it may be better to get most/all your calcium from plants. I wish I could find some of the articles I read but I'm not feeling so well & google isn't cooperating. But cows' milk is for baby cows... humans don't *need* cows' milk.

[kriket]

Baked Kale.

cut it up in pieces, spray it with olive oil, sprinkle with seasoned salt, mrs dash, what have you, bake it about 10 mins in a 350F oven, they come out like chips, it's divine. Even DH, the anti vegetable man likes them!

I second the calcium set tofu, we get extra firm and eat them like cheese cubes!

[SomedayMaybe3]

haven't read everyone's post but if he likes orange juice that would be the next best thing in calcium amount next to milk....There are a lot of foods that are fortified with calcium as well.

[heatherdeg]

Mine has been dairy-free since 5mo and is now 6-1/2yo. He's seen countless specialists--all pretty mainstream--and none of them has ever batted an eye at our being completely dairy-free... some even noting that the necessity was completely overstated. He didn't eat solids well until over 1yo and although he nursed, I TRULY did not eat well. We only supplemented with calcium for maybe 2mo when he was about 9mo because he had elevated lead levels and the calcium was a short fix until it was abated--to keep him from absorbing anymore.

He HAS always eaten broccoli really well. He really doesn't have any major problems and despite an immune deficiency, he's had one hospitalization ever (and in retrospect, it was completely unnecessary but happened before I had "evolved" with knowledge ).

[mamadelbosque]

My DS1 has never really drank plain white milk, although he will drink it w/ juice plus complete mixed in (which makes it like chocolate). He will drink some w/ his cereal in the morning, although not lot....Otherwise, he eats lots of cheese, and some yogurt and I just don't worry about it.

[BeantownBaby9]

Originally Posted by kriket

Baked Kale.

cut it up in pieces, spray it with olive oil, sprinkle with seasoned salt, mrs dash, what have you, bake it about 10 mins in a 350F oven, they come out like chips, it's divine. Even DH, the anti vegetable man likes them!

We <3 kale chips too! I do broc and other greens like this as well, mmmmmm....

if you have a juicer, greens juice with an orange, apple, or pear to sweeten it is a good way to get the calcium. Raw veg is better for absorption of the nutrients versus cooked. We are totally and over-calcified country, thank you dairy industry. how in heck did people live for 5000 years without chugging milk the way they want us to?

[Abraisme]

Originally Posted by BeantownBaby9

We <3 kale chips too! I do broc and other greens like this as well, mmmmmm....

if you have a juicer, greens juice with an orange, apple, or pear to sweeten it is a good way to get the calcium. Raw veg is better for absorption of the nutrients versus cooked. We are totally and over-calcified country, thank you dairy industry. how in heck did people live for 5000 years without chugging milk the way they want us to?

Ohh, I'm going to make some kale chips today!

Also, I totally agree with this. The dairy industry has done a fantastic job and making people believe that they NEED milk or they'll be deficient in some way. Many populations in the world do not drink milk and they're fine. If milk prevented things like osteoporosis, then why have the rates of this disease gone UP over the past years? I vote for eating lots of green veggies and healthy foods and your LO will be fine.

[PeachBaby]

Here in Japan, lots of fresh baby sardines can be eaten, bone and all. Of course, there's also canned fish with bones too.

[kriket]

Originally Posted by BeantownBaby9

if you have a juicer, greens juice with an orange, apple, or pear to sweeten it is a good way to get the calcium.

I've been meaning to try this for DS. He's a bit on the picky side but LOVES juice. To make it easy on DH, I bought some nestle juice boxes. I really would have rather not, but they were the cheapest that were 100% juice.

After naptime, I think I am going to fire up the juicer! Carrot apple and kale is my favorite! We live in Ohio and Kale grows like weeds, can you tell I put kale in everything.

[Xerxella]

Wow. I'm going to try Kale chips. My DH is sitting right here making faces, but he'll try them in the end. Right, honey??????

Thanks everyone.

[sh0rtchica]

Originally Posted by kriket

Baked Kale.

cut it up in pieces, spray it with olive oil, sprinkle with seasoned salt, mrs dash, what have you, bake it about 10 mins in a 350F oven, they come out like chips, it's divine. Even DH, the anti vegetable man likes them!

I second the calcium set tofu, we get extra firm and eat them like cheese cubes!

that sounds delish! if we weren't going out of town for a week, i'd go down to the farmer's market and grab myself some tomorrow morning!

[Amandala]

Does your kid eat eggs? I cut cup Kale and Spinach really fine and put a ton of it into our scrambled eggs.