What kind of milk?

NenaMarie84 · August 2014

I realize it may still be a few months away for most of us but I saw a discussion about milk on D13 and thought I'd ask you ladies. Do you plan to use whole cow's milk when you switch from BM/F? Or are you planning on almond? Soy? Or another alternative? I was really surprised how many said they weren't using cow's. I guess I have a lot of research to do.

jcwinsto · August 2014

What was the argument against cow's milk? I currently see no reason not to use it. Most of the alternatives are much more expensive and either you get the sweetened ones which to me promotes a craving for the sweetness or you get the unsweetened ones which taste bitter to me. To clarify, there is nothing wrong with the alternative's I just haven't seen a good justification for not using WCM.

km_md · August 2014

I haven't made any decisions yet but I know that we will be very cautious when we do start. DD has really bad reflux and possibly mild MPI so I don't want to make her uncomfortable if I don't have to. DH and I are both drinking almond milk right now but I still use cows milk for cooking and baking. I will probably do something similar for DD. The exposure to cows milk is good but almond milk is much easier on the system, at least for us. Although almond milk doesn't have the calories that cows milk does so I definitely need to do some research and we will probably just introduce it slowly and see how she does.

jcwinsto · August 2014

Oh, MPI. That would be a good reason. #-o

sugarland726 · August 2014

We'll be doing whole cow's milk unless he is allergic. Considering I drink a ton of cow's milk myself and he has had no allergy symptoms, I do not expect that to be the case. We will switch to 2% though once the pedi confirms that is ok as I have no desire to buy three different kinds of milk (skim, 2%, and whole).

NenaMarie84 · August 2014

@jcwinsto‌ what I've seen so far is people find there are too many hormones in cow's milk. Like I said I have research still to do though. This is just the reason others gave on the other board. Personally I hope to give LO proper nutrition through food so I don't have to depend on milk. Makes more sense to get the healthy fat, protein, etc from various foods instead of relying on mainly milk.

cpm1223 · August 2014

We will definitely be doing whole cows milk. If LO had some sort of dairy sensitivity/allergy that would be the only reason we would look into other options.

SandFHasse · August 2014

We will be doing whole cows milk. If he shows signs of an allergy we will try almond milk and if he shows an intolerance he will switch to Lactaid like me. DD and DH both drink whole and I drink Lactaid so we already buy two different kinds of milk.

TheGreatBeyond · August 2014

I will be using whole cows milk. One of the local dairys advertises their milk as rbST free. I'm sure there's more to the hormones in milk discussion but that's what we drink so she will get the same just as whole milk instead of 1%.

chicki1012 · August 2014

We will be doing whole organic milk with DS when he's 1.

RingOfFire11 · August 2014

We did organic, hormone free whole milk for DD1 when she turned 1. Unfortunately, DD2 is MSPI so unless she outgrows it, we will do an unsweetened alternative - probably almond (if she can tolerate almonds) or hemp milk.

Mandii385 · August 2014

LO gets bad reflux if I have cows milk or cheese so DH and I gave up cows milk altogether for almond milk about 5 months ago. We buy it at costco so it comes out to almost the same price as cows milk. We will be giving DD almond milk unless the pediatrician advises otherwise, then we will go back to hormone free milk for her

MiaMyPuggle · August 2014

DS has a milk protein intolerance, so he's on almond plus with fiber and protein (pinkish carton). He was on soy for a yr and a half until the doc said soy takes on the same properties as estrogen, so boys shouldn't consume a lot of soy. Great. Little too late, but he is fine. I want to see how the Horizon organic is for him soon. DD is sensitive to soy, so I will do the almond for a while and go the same route that I did with DS, minus the soy. Why all of these sensitivities lately?

ETA: spellcheck blows

amt0312 · August 2014

Cow milk for us as there is no evidence of intolerance or allergy. I would not do Soy, almond or rice milk just for the heck of it as they typically contain more sugar than necessary in order to make it palatable.

mnfarmgal · August 2014

Conventional (aka non-organic) cow's milk. We will be using whole milk after LO turns one. It contains nine essential nutrients for healthy growth and development. My husband is looking forward to this milestone, and he hopes that we will replace our 2% with whole milk going forward. It might make my grocery shopping easier.

peanutmuse · August 2014

We'll use cow's milk unless he has an issue.

Sakura16 · August 2014

Organic whole cow's milk.

Lena122 · August 2014

Whole cow's milk. We've done both organic and regular whole milk with DS so we'll do the same for DD. I've actually found it pretty easy to find hormone free milk at the local supermarkets.

I found it to be really easy to transition DS to WCM and I rarely worry about his caloric/protein/calcium/VitD intake because of it. Despite my best efforts to offer him well rounded meals, he eats what he eats and some days that means 2 french fries and 46 blueberries all day. It's reassuring to me that WCM helps balance things out on days like that.