Milk alternative

[Shanesmom]

Shane is about to turn 1 in a couple of weeks. I am 32 weeks pregnant and no longer have any breast milk, but I am strongly against feeding him cows milk. If anyone fed their babies anything other than breast milk/cows milk when they turned a year, I'd love to hear alternatives!

I am very interested in Coconut milk as a replacement to cow's. It has the same amount of saturated fat, calcium and vit D, and it has medium chain fatty acids which aids in digestibility and is also what breast milk contains. Anyone have any experience with it? Thanks guys

[NicolleLynne]

Hi! I weaned my DD from breastmilk around a year and rotate between hemp, coconut and homemade almond milk. She loves them all and is making great strides in both her physical and cognitive development. I also make sure to give her plenty of high fat solids like avocados and nut butters, plus olive oil on veggies and flax seed meal sprinkled on fruit. 

Hope this was helpful! Good luck!

[mamalex23]

I don't know if you are against all dairy or just cow/pasteurized dairy but I give my nursing toddler (12.5 mo) small amounts of raw goats milk from a local friend's farm. If it were his only milk I would probably mix some version of this (http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2009/05/goat-milk-formula-recipe.html) raw goats-milk formula.

Of course this all depends on having a trusted clean and safe/reliable source, but with goats milk production their are few concerns.

I am interested in your coconut milk idea- fresh coconut is one of my most favorite foods : ) However, living in NE I can only get the stuff in the stores which is not quite the same : / 

[Baby_Cakes]

I don't think coconut milk has enough protein in it, it's mostly fat.  We are vegan and after I stopped pumping when DD was 14-15 months old, we gave her soymilk in her cuppy.  Though, I was still nursing at the time, she was drinking a fair amount of soy milk (maybe 8 oz a day?)

Here's a helpful link to help you decide...

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/milk-supplements.html

How is his diet with solids?  Is he eating well?  You might not need to worry too much about the milk aspect of things if he is getting enough in his diet normally.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/toddler-foods.html

[Shanesmom]

Nicolle, thanks so much for the suggestions. I am also thinking about rotating between coconut and almond milk. I have heard that hemp has hormones in it like estrogen and have been staying away from it as well as soy. I could be wrong though...... Avocado is a great idea!! I will start introducing him to that

Mamalex, I'm kinda against giving him milk from an animal. But the whole raw idea sounds like the best way to go, if one were to go that route.

Baby, actually coconut milk has just a couple grams less of protein then does cows milk. Plus I'm leary about how much the body actually absorbs of the protein and calcium in dairy. Ya know? Thank you for the links, I'm going to check them out right now. He doesn't really eat much solids, so if his liquid could help "fill in the gaps" that would be awesome.

Anyone else?

[Filiz Dolar]

Your right about the soy, although it would have to be large amounts but in any case, i dont use it anymore either.. I also suggest almond milk and the vanilla/chocolate varities taste amazing.  you can also make your own at home.  Increase your solids as well in form of snacks like bananas, apples, etc the rotation sounds like a good idea!  keep us updated!

[LadyCatherine185]

We also used Coconut milk with DS1 when my milk dried up from pregnancy. He was around 19 months old when my milk dried up though and was eating a lot of solids. Coconut milk has a lot of great things in it, and is a great alternative as long as baby is getting enough nutrients from other sources.

[LadyCatherine185]

I just saw that he is not eating much solids.. in that case I would probably use a toddler formula of some kind if you cannot get him to eat more solids.