Toddlers don't necessarily need milk, but they do need calcium and Vitamin D, which are readily available from milk and dairy products. Without any milk, it will be difficult to get enough calcium into her diet. There are alternatives to milk, though, and other ways to give your child calcium.
One alternative is to give your child fortified soy milk. However, keep in mind that soy milk is all low fat, and it isn't recommended that you limit a child's fat intake until he is 2-3 years old. Still, you could give soy milk and make up the extra fat with other foods in her diet.
Is there a big difference? Not really. Whole milk has 8g of fat per 8oz serving vs. 3.5 or 5g for soy milk. So, based on an average requirement of 16oz of milk per day, whole milk provides 16g of fat vs. 7-10g from soy milk. Giving the extra 6-9g of fat from other sources should ensure that your child is getting enough fat in his diet. (Based on a 1300 calorie diet and with 30% of calories coming from fat, your toddler probably needs about 40g of fat each day).
Another alternative is to give a toddler soy formula, which is milk free and has all of the fat and calcium that a growing toddler needs. Brands of toddler soy formulas include Isomil 2 and Next Step Soy.
How about goat's milk? Although goat's milk is discouraged for children under age 12 months because it lacks iron, folate and Vitamin B12, pasteurized and fortified goat's milk can be given to older children. If your child is allergic to or doesn't tolerate cow's milk, then she is likely to have similar problems with goat's milk, as they share many proteins and both have lactose.
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above info found at:
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/weeklyquestion/a/020602_as...