Milk Protein Allergy…. Rice Milk vs. Almond Milk

[Momma S]

Hi moms!

I was looking for some advice. My DD is 15 months old and she cannot tolerate cows milk. The pediatrician recommended we try Rice Milk and that is what we have been doing. I have recently noticed she still has loose stools not sure if its from the rice milk or not. I was thinking about possibly switching again, to Almond Milk this time.  I just wanted any advice on which one to go with??? Thanks in advance!

[tanyalynn]

Is that the only time she has rice?  Or is there another ingredient that you suspect?

Unless something jumps out at you as a change there, I'd tend to think either there's another intolerance or it's related to a bad bacterial balance in her gut--food intolerances exacerbate that, but often it takes probiotics as well to help improve that.  I like to make homemade kimchee for the bacteria (and because it's actually really yummy), but there are infant probiotics (usually meant for kids up to about 4yo) on the market, you'd want one without dairy (and probably without soy, dairy and soy are very cross-reactive). 

[kjbrown92]

I believe that almond milk has more calcium than rice milk, and it's thicker than rice milk. Not sure about protein content. But there were many brands of rice milk that my DD2 couldn't tolerate because of other ingredients in it (for instance, she couldn't do any type of seaweed and there was carageenan in a lot of them). If she's okay with regular rice, then it's likely that it's another ingredient in there.

[riomidwife]

I think Almond Breeze is the tastiest. We usually get the unsweetened. In terms of nutritional content, almonds win hands down over rice, and I think the milk has a richer, creamier quality to it. You can also make your own almond milk too.

[Cutie Patootie]

Have you tried coconut milk.