Reducing milk in kid's diet

[greenjavajane]

Hi all,

I would like to eliminate milk as a beverage choice in our house. DH and I have no issue but my 3 yr old drinks it like it's going out of style. My 5 yr old could take it or leave it. I wonder if anyone has btdt and reduced milk slowly or removed it all at once?

I have tried soy milk and almond milk and it did not fly so this week I will try rice milk. Not looking to completely get rid of dairy but I just don't feel we need milk in our diet. TIA

[blessedwithboys]

Hi, welcome to MDC! 

Including raw grass-fed milk in one's diet is a fundamental principle of the TF lifestyle, so not sure you will find too many people on the TF forum who will recommend reducing milk.  Have you tried posting in the Veg area?

[deditus]

I really don't think milk is a fundamental part of tf, but I'm not going to argue it here, just let you know that this community welcomes all nuances of tf including those who don't drink milk. There is a large portion of the tf community who eat "paleo" and many of them do not use dairy.

We don't use dairy due to intolerance. We drink water, kombucha, tea, and herbal infusions rather than use a "milk" replacement. I use straight coconut milk in my coffee and for some dairy replacements. If your lo is tolerating dairy, honestly I'd just try to reduce the amount of dairy by offering water as an alternative. Children that age still need a lot of fat for brain development so I don't think I'd push that hard to reduce the 3 yo's consumption. I do have a problem with the amount of lactose in unfermented dairy so I think I would encourage fermented dairy more than straight milk.

[greenjavajane]

Thanks ladies- I wasn't sure if this was the right thread to post on. I will post the same question on the vegan thread...:)

[Shazer]

My 4 year-old happily drinks raw milk. While DH and I are mostly paleo, I can't seem to get DD to get off of so much milk. Really, I would love it if she would let me slather coconut oil on her veggies or eat eggs, but like most little kids, she has such strict preferences for food.

My suggestion is don't look to replace milk with a substitute like a nut milk in that you feed as much of that to your kid as you would regular milk.  Try offering water and upping fats as much as possible to offset milk in the diet.  Or look for organic whole milk yogurt.  Rice milk is pretty much just carbs without nutrients, so I don't think it is worth using.  It is, however, cheap to make.  I don't think soy is a great milk to use (it isn't "natural" and most non-organic soy is GMO).  Coconut milk or hemp seed milk are good choices in moderation.