What Kind of Milk Does Your Kiddo Drink?

My 8yo and 4yo are both lactose intolerant. We use Lactaid or Dairy Ease lactose free milk. We also use Smart Beat lactose free cheese.

Several of my friends have entire families that are lactose intolerant and they all do goat milk. The kids LOVE the stuff. I've never had the milk but I love goat cheese to pieces. I can't imagine the milk would be bad. I'm personally quite leery of soy milk though my daughter had to be on soy formula for a long while. My hubby loves all things soy but he is half Chinese and grew up with it. I've been told that almond milk is to die for, but again I've not had it myself. My friend whose family has several gluten intolerant members does do rice milk and they love it. Hope that helps!

My son uses organic fortified Rice Milk in his cereal. I make ice cream out of Whole Goat milk (just milk, sugar, and vanilla - no cream). The rice milk has the consistency of skim, but tastes a little different. I was told that goat milk will taste the most like cow milk and it would be the easiest to transition him to. He drinks the goat milk in a glass on the rare occasion that he wants a glass of milk.

It depends on how your son was diagnosed. If you've noticed that he seems to feel not that great after he ingests dairy (little bit of an upset stomach, loose stool, etc.) then it is likely will be able to tolerate a lactose-free milk like Mootopia without a problem. I know a lot of people who just love Mootopia. If he has actually had a medical test that classified him as lactose-intolerant, then it depends on what his lactase level was. If he still has some lactase in his system, then an organic lactose-free milk is probably fine...but if he, like my 10 year-old, has little to no lactase in his digestive tract, then even 'lactose-free' cow's milk will likely make him sick. We use Rice Dream Enriched Organic Rice Milk. She loves it on her cereal and we cook with it as well. We also buy mozzerella-flavored Rice cheese, shreds and slices, (sorry, can't remember the brand off the top of my head but I get it at Whole Foods in the refrigerated section) so she can have pizza and cheese sandwiches. It tastes very close to the real thing. I also just discovered that Rice Dream is now making ice cream as well. It is pretty good! I also have her take a couple of Tums every day, along with her multi-vitamins, for extra calcium. Best of luck to you in your search!

I am vegan and raising my children as such, so....they do soymilk. I know about the hype on the estrogen levels and the like, BUT, one would have to consume quite a large amount to begin seeing any effect of this. Since we are the only mammal species that actually drinks milk after weaning, it really does not make sense to consume large quantities of it after that point. We do soymilk on cereal and occasionally chocolate milk. Dairy milk is FAR more harmful as it undoubtedly contains mass amounts of hormones. Weigh the option of naturally occuring effects of estrogen to injected chemicals, foreign chemicals into an animal, passed on thru it's milk. There are other varieties of milks as well. Almond, Hemp, Oat, Rice. You will just have to experiment with what works.
Good Luck!

We have been totally hooked on Almond Milk for a while here at my house. No one here is lactose intolerant, but the benefits of Almond Milk over regular milk won us over.

Here is what one website has to say about it:

Health Benefits of Almond Milk

Almond milk is rich in Vitamin E, a known antioxidant, and thus, is believed to good for those undergoing detoxification programs.
Almond milk contains high levels of unsaturated fat and has been associated with lower risk of heart attack.
Almond milk has been found to contain little to no saturated fat and no cholesterol, making it extremely good for those suffering from high cholesterol problem.
Almond milk does not contain lactose. This makes it easily digestible and the perfect alternative for those suffering from lactose-intolerance.
Owing to the absence of saturated fats and presence of unsaturated fats, almond milk can be said to be good for those trying to lose weight.
Nutritional Facts about Almond Milk
Almond milk is rich in protein and omega fatty acids.
Almonds milk does not contain cholesterol and saturated fats
Almonds milk has high levels of vitamin E and unsaturated fats
Almond milk contains minerals such as zinc, magnesium, potassium, calcium and iron.
8 oz (237ml) of almond milk contains 70 calories, 2gm protein, 10gm carbohydrates and 2.5 gm fat: 2.5g
Almond milk has zero fiber.

There is absolutely no sugar in Almond Milk, unlike Soy Milk and even Rice Milk. It is creamy and nutty and super delicious. It is high in Potassium and Vitamin E..

It is also pretty inexpensive. Whole Foods sells 3 boxes for only $4.99, but I also know you can get it at grocery stores as well. You should give it a try yourself. I personally use the Original Unsweetened and the Vanilla Unsweetened. Yummm. I think I will go get a glass right now.

I have recently become grossed out by cow's milk too. My daughters are 3 and nearly 2 and we have tried Soy - but I'm not happy with that choice either. And I have tried goat milk - which was really thick. Right now we are drinking Almond Milk and it's the closest I've found to cow's milk as far as texture. You can definitely taste the almond, but they prefer chocolate milk so I add some Hersheys syrup and they've not mentioned a difference and have been drinking it up. I switched because my daughters both had chronic coughs constantly - especially at night and because milk produces mucous I wanted to try this to see if they could sleep better once I removed the cow's milk and so far they are coughing much less. There is something weird going on with dairy in this country.....and you never know what to believe! It's frustrating - good luck!

If your child is truly lactose intolerant, then organic cow's milk will still make him sick. There is absolutely no difference in the lactose content of regular vs. organic milk. Has your daughter actually been tested and if so, what was her lactase level? It's possible that she could tolerate some dairy. We drink Mootopia in our house, but more because of the higher protein/reduced sugar content. Mootopia is not a certified organic product either. If you are truly concerned about the hormones and the antibiotics, I would encourage you to take a harder look at the scientific data. If you are looking at the hard facts, if anything, you should be relieved rather than grossed out. So far, the research does not support any kind of health advantage of organic over conventional. In fact, in comparative studies you can't tell the difference between the two. On an organic farm, if a cow becomes ill, by organic standards that cow has to be separated from the herd for a period of 12 months. Most organic farmers cannot afford to justify feeding a cow over 12 months if it isn't producing so that cow becomes dinner. To me, the conventional farmers approach makes more sense. The conventional farmer will treat the infection with antibiotics and test the cow's milk until it shows to be antibiotic free. Once that happens, the cow is returned to the herd. If ANY trace amount of antibiotic shows up in the truckload of milk that is about to go to the store, the entire truck has to be dumped. If you are a dairy farmer, there is a huge incentive to make sure you are very careful to ensure no antibiotics are in your milk... otherwise you might as well be dumping a truckload of your salary dollars. Environmentalists would have you believe that dairy farmers have an assembly line of cows lined up to receive their daily injections of all kinds of horrible "toxins". Do you know any dairy farmers? I can assure you that NO dairy farmer wants to spend any more money than they have to. Growth hormones and antibiotics cost the conventional farmer money. And have you ever asked yourself why organic costs more than conventional foods? Consumers of organic foods really need to wake up and ask themselves why they are paying twice as much for their food? Less went into the production of that food so why the price increase? Somebody is making money off all of the scare-tactics. All of the dairy farmers that I have ever known are responsible eco-friendly folks that work extremely hard for their living and make sound, responsible decisions based on proven science and sustaibability and not environmental-hype and marketing scare-tactics. For you, if all you're worried about is calcium consumption and if you can't do dairy or soy, there is plenty of calcium in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

My daughter is 2 years old. After breastfeeding I put her on formula (I hated having to do that) she became very constipated, to the point of screaming and my husband and I having to help her position her legs and actually removing what we could from her). Then we introduced Organic whole milk but she became very congestied and was still having the constipation problems. I too looked into diferent options and we discovered Almond Milk. My daughter has now been on Almond milk for about a year. No more runny nose and regular bowel movements. I highly recommend it.

I use Lactose free HEB brand it isn't Mootopia though. It is a dark blue & white box. I talked with heb manager who gave me a # to a guy at the plant where the milk is collected. He told me they do not use antibiotics or hormons & the box does state no hormone use. He also told me that HEB does not sell hormone injected meat either. I tried the soy, rice, & almond & just couldn't get use to the taste. I even got fresh goat milk, which was the closest to what I could take. It taste like cow milk with a dash of vanilla. Anyway, it is so hard to get fresh goat milk locally & I got frozen, but pain in butt to drive every two weeks & pack ice chest & maintain certain temps & the pasterized stuff in the store takes out all the nutrients. So I have settled with the HEB lactose free 2%.

My daughter drinks regular milk, but I drink almond milk. I use it in coffee and cereal. My girlfriend turned me on to it because her son is lactose intolerant. He seems to love it and it comes in different flavors like soy. I've never had soy, but I do like the almond milk and personally I think it's better for you. Just my opinion.

My children also have a lactose problem, we have switched to goat milk. HEB does have goat milk but its whole. Whole Foods has 2% as well as goat yogurt. You can also get goat milk, goat yogurts and goat cheeses at farmers markets. My girls have really done great with it and I think they are getting more nutrients than from soy or rice. Good luck.

Organic Valley is good b/c they use local small farms instead of huge organic farms in China. Estrogen is an issue only in soy products. Good luck!

My son is also lactose intolersnt and he drinks lactose-free 2% milk. I buy organic plain soymilk for myself and every now and then he will have some but i try not to give him too much b/c it can create gas.

We drink only organic milk or almond milk. I have no idea for those lactose intolerant. BUT she can get her calcium from foods other than dairy. Tums are a great way to get calcium. It is the most absorbable form of calcium outside of dairy.

Most people who are lactose intolerant can handle most yogurts.

My daughter has been lactose intolerant since she was born. She is now 18. I raised her on Lactaid milk, and also there are Lactaid pills so things like cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc can be eaten. With the pills, you have to experiment to find what dose is needed to work properly. My daughter would take 6 - 8 pills prior to eating dairy. There is testing that can be done to find out the severity of the allergy. You can talk to your dr if he hasn't been tested.

I am lactose intolerant & tried the Mootopia brand. I didn't care for the taste. Organic Valley makes an organic lactose free milk which is what I now drink. Although if I can't make it to Whole Foods, I will pick a carton of Lactaid milk at HEB. They have started making it without the added hormones-but it is not organic.

My son is OK with regular milk, but we let him try different stuff in case we ever want to test him on the gluten free/lactose free diet. When he was 2, my friend let him try goat milk and he threw up instantly. He's 8 now, and likes some of the flavored almond milk and soy milk. To me, the soy milk tastes the best, especially with cereal you can't tell the difference. I thought the almond milk tasted slightly chalky. He wants to try the hemp milk next but I hadn't even heard of it before he saw it on the shelf. Maybe you could get some of the calcium from cheese or yogurt if there are ones that have less lactose?

Just because the cow's milk is organic does not mean it will not contain 'milk sugar', and your child will still likely have a reaction to it. Fortunately if you do your homework, you can find many different food sources that are not 'milk' that will have the calcium and vitamin D that she needs for proper nutrition. Good luck and hope you find something she likes!

My daughter is lactose intolerant. We just use the Lactaid milk. It's the one with extra calcium. I only buy the Lactaid brand that has the yellow "extra calcium added" banner on the top. The store brands that say "extra calcium" actually have the same amount as regular Lactaid, not extra calcium Lactaid.

I haven't looked into the lactose content in other kinds of milk. Her friend drinks rice milk, but I don't know if she drinks it because she is lactose intolerant, or has an allergy. I have taken my daughter to the allergist, and they are sure it's not an allergy.

For other foods: Her intolerance is not too bad, so she can have a little bit of dairy without getting a tummy ache. So, I can give her a sprinkling of cheddar cheese on something, and she'll be fine. Otherwise, for larger amounts of dairy, she takes one chewable Lactaid tablet. Her doctor said that as she gets older, she might have less and less of the enzyme in her, and will therefore have to take more pills each time.

I have also given her soy cheese so that I don't have to give her Lactaid tablets in her lunch just so she can eat her sandwich. She doesn't eat tons and tons of soy though--it's not an every day occurrence. With what I've heard about soy, I'm not going to totally avoid it, but I'm not going to give her an abundance either.

Also, we buy lactose-free ice cream.

My daughter and I use both the Mootopia Milk 2% and the Promiseland Milk also 2% rather than whole milk... we love both....

My son also had a dairy sensitivity and he has been drinking fortified Rice Milk and eating Soy yogurt. I was worried about him getting enough calcium/vitamins from the Rice Milk, but my doctor assured me that he will be fine.

I'll be following the answer though, just to see what others have done!

My daughter was born allergic to milk and soy. We started using "Rice Dream Enriched Rice Drink" around 18 months. Note: be sure to get the one that says "Enriched - Vitamins A, D, B12 & Calcium". This drink contains as much calcium as a glass of cow milk. They have 2 flavors original & vanilla and it's now organic. It comes in a 32 oz box that is not refrigerated. My daughter liked the taste better served cold like regular milk; but, you can serve it room temperature right out of the box. They also have Rice Dream ice cream.

I was always concerned that my daughter was not getting enough calcium so I started looking for other foods that contain calcium. The entire family drinks "orange juice with calcium" (contains 30% daily calcium requirement like milk). Several juice boxes and kids snacks also have calcium added (every little bit helps). Likewise, they have kids vitamins with calcium.

My daughter out grew her allergy around age 6. She still drinks some rice milk but now prefers cow milk (organic with no hormones). Likewise, she eats Sara Lee Iron Kids bread (bread contains milk but also contains 30% daily calcium requirement).

Good luck finding "a milk drink" and foods that are right for your daughter.

Why are you forcing milk? My daughter is 3 and has never had a glass of milk in her life. The whole point of cow's milk is to make a 200 pound calf grow to two tons. Not really what we humans need. Dont really need goats milk either. Water....low calorie sport drink...whole cheese and yogurt is all you need.

Margaret

My daughter is allergic to cows milk. She drinks whole goat milk and goat yogurt. (If your son is lactose intolerant, that is a different allergy than being allergic to the protein in cows milk. It simple terms, your sons can't digest the carbohydrate (aka: sugar) in animal derived milk. He may be able to digest some forms of milk (like goat?)... but he also might not.)

There apparently is medication that can help digest lactose. You might want to check with your pediatrician about it.

Here is an article that discusses lactose intolerance: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Lactose+intolerance