Baby's first milk, well second! lol

[DivineMrsM]

what would you give as an alternative to cow's milk for a one year old? I have to go back to work and i won't be able to pump, so i need a substitute for when i am not around. what is the best to give him?

TIA

[sosurreal09]

we drink so delicious coconut milk the unsweetened one. its great and really healthy plus it has fat i it and calcium. DD is only 11 m/o but i let her taste it and she liked it.

[lovepiggie]

We're trying out hemp milk with DS... We've tried the unsweetened variety, and he doesn't seem to like it, so I might try the sweetened kind. He's 11 1/2 months, and we're vegan and he's allergic to soy! He likes rice milk, but I don't think it has enough fat in it.

[MJB]

For a 1 yr. old I'd prefer to give goat milk but would give soy, almond, hemp, or coconut milk; so basically anything. I wouldn't give rice milk though, and if you have allergy issues you might want to wait on almonds.

[sunnygir1]

We don't really drink milk, but I give dd almond milk (unsweetened). When we had a good source for goat milk I gave her raw (or home-pasteurized) goat milk. I like soy milk, but I don't think it's the best food. I think the unsweetened coconut milk would be fine, but neither of us like it very much. I also dislike rice milk, and I think the almond is more nutritious.

When dd was night weaning and fully weaning I would sometimes offer her warm almond milk at bedtime, and now that I do daycare and have to give the children milk at mealtimes dd also wants milk and gets almond milk.

I'm not sure they need to drink milk at any age (after 1-2 years of breastmilk or formula). If you think your lo needs milk and you aren't going to pump, maybe you should consider formula. Beyond that, a good diet and water sounds good.

[carmel23]

I think a rotation of milks is best-- almond (if you can), rice (as long as it is from a good source that monitors arsenic), some soy if tolerated, hemp (some are better then others, the rice dream hemp is my favorite--I think it is in the tye dyed pack), and coconut milk is by far my favorite.

I'd add occasional goat and cow (as long as the cow is from some place like straus family farms, NOT ultra pasteurized or other brand milk in a regular grocery store, even if it is USDA "organic."

Variety is the spice of life

[PatioGardener]

As a substitute I would go with goat milk. Rice milk is not a substitute for breastmilk or cow milk - best to think of it as a juice. (Almost no protein, little fat.)

[mamadelbosque]

Can I ask why your opposed to cows' milk? We drink raw milk from grass fed cows and I am perfectly OK w/ giving it to my 1 yr old... Not sure I'd give storebought homogenized/pastureized (at least, not on a regular basis.... ds1 has had it at family's houses from time to time...). In general I think raw goat or cows' milk would be at the very top of my list...

[DivineMrsM]

I'm not opposed, necessarily. But I have a lactose intolerance, so I was planning on holding off on the cow's milk for just a little while longer. I suppose I could do lactose free milk, though, right?