Does anyone else give their child Rice Milk? Are you worried about arsenic?

[artichokes]

DD has about 700ml of Rice Milk a day. She has done since she was 1 (she is allergic to cow's milk). Today a friend told me that Rice Milk contained unsafe levels of arsenic which is a major carcinogenic substance. I googled and found this article.

I am now quite worried. DD is allergic to soya too so I have no other milk substitute.

Does anyone know any more about the validity of this story?

[artichokes]

bump

i know there are some rice milk experts around.

[mad4mybaby]

certainly uneasy reading. Have you tried goats milk? My ds cant have dairy or soya either and he has nanny goats milk formula. Or you can buy delamere in the supermarket

[kittywise]

Most of mine have always had rice milk.
I wouldn't worry
Every single food stuff in the world comes under scrutiny at some point and all of them are found to be dangerous in some way!!
perhaps we should all just not eat or drink anything

[artichokes]

I know there are loads of food scares that turn out to be media hype. But this does not seem particularly hyped. What if it is true?

There is no point me asking the GP, she won't have a clue. The rice milk was recommended by a paediatric dietician but we are discharged from that clinic now and tbh she wasn't that knowledgable.

Where would you go to find out more? Just to check whether there is any real danger?

[mad4mybaby]

if it was me and i was worried about putting something in my ds that may harm him i would stop giving it to him until someone proved i to be ok.. Just my opinion but you should go on your instincts if no one can tell you otherwise

[artichokes]

I just don't know what else to give her Mad4.

The dietician said not to try goat's and sheep's milk because of how violently DD reacted to cow's milk (swollen lips and tongue, hives etc). I can't give her soya. And DD is only 19 months and loves her milk. Also she needs to get calcium from somewhere and currently the calcium enriched rice milk is her best source.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

How about calcium enriched oat milk instead? Very similar to rice milk, and nearly as widely available these days.

Or almond milk, but that is quite expensive.

[mad4mybaby]

my ds cant have sheeps, doesnt have severe reaction but intollerant to it. What about oat milk? i put a response to someone earlier who was talking about getting enough calcium when not on dairy and soya! 1-3 yr old need less than you think. (i'll post it in a second as i need to finish this to find where i wrote it or i'll have to re-write!) Im not sure how to do the link thing but ive written on there a few things that are high in calcium

[mad4mybaby]

haha cant sleep beat me to it. 1-3 yr olds need 350 mg of calcium a day.

[Shitemum]

There are plenty of other sources of calcium if that's your main concern. Oat milk is nice, has more body than rice milk and usually less sweet.

[Shitemum]

Have read article now. The levels they are talking about are the chinese limits, since we don't eat as much rice as the chinese i dont think you should worry about it. Just about everything is bad for you, you could spend your life worrying and the stress of that is just as likely to contribute to giving you cancer....I would try some of the alternatives and look for other sources of calcium.

[flamingtoaster]

We use Provamel Rice Milk and I contacted them when the latest research came out. Their rice milk conforms to all the UK standards and, more importantly, is within the Chinese level.

[sophierosie]

artichokes - ask for a referral to allergy clinic and ask your gp to prescribe Neocate Advance - this will enable your dc to have a balanced diet and better knowledge for you that they will be getting enough calcium.

Dieticians generally don't know much about specialist formula tbh.

[FrannyandZooey]

my friend, who is top knowledgeable health food person IMO, gives her dd rice milk

I'll ask her what she thinks about this, though

[artichokes]

Thanks for all these tips. Oat Milk sounds a good option as does Provamel brand.

SophieR - we have tried the Neocate route before. DD point blank refused every drop of it . The allergy clinic around here has a MASSIVE waiting limit so we are under the care of a normal paed for DD's allergies. I will ask her at our next appt but to be honest she had never even heard of rice milk last time.

Franny - will you let us know what your friend thinks?

[sophierosie]

It took me a while to wean dd onto it - I used the softly softly approach and replaced 1 oz of milk with the neocate and then slowly introduced more over a period of about 8 weeks (one oz a week). Now she gulps it down!

[Peachy]

We use the provamel too, I feel safe with their brands. goats milk not an option for us (casein as opposed to alctose intol).

Almond milk is gorgeous too (oats milk not an option for other dietary reasons!), but expensive.

Many allergy food firms have advice lines on their cartons you can all

[ruty]

I had absolutely no idea about this. I feel absolutely sick, ds, 4, drinks rice milk and has done since he was under 2. Does anyone know anything about arsenic levels in Rice Dream?

[Playmobil]

We get Calcium-Sandoz on prescription from the GP as Ds2 refuses oat and rice milk. He has been on it since 18months and is now 3.6years Its just mixed in with some juice so may be worth considering if you're worried about calcium intake.

[ruty]

i think he gets enough now he eats yoghurt and cheese - he just likes the taste of rice milk, feel so terrible that i was trying to protect him and ending up exposing him to something poisonous. Why on earth the FSA haven't done anything I don't know.