Milk substitute

[Gillian15]

I think my son (nearly 3 years old) may be lactose or dairy intolerant and want to try him on a dairy free diet to see. However I haven't been able to find a milk substitute that he will take, which is making breakfast challenging. Can anyone give me any recommendations?

My ds absolutely loves the alpro hazelnut milk. But then he's never had normal milk and this is his favourite out of all the nut/oat/coconut milks out there.

We use Oatly for my lb, he can't tolerate anything else.

Have you tried giving him something else for breakfast? Try him with sausage and beans, just check the sausage first. Nut butter on toast, check the bread, or these blueberry pancakes can be made with a substitute milk.

Most crumpets are DF too and jusrol do crossaint dough which is DF.

Which milks have you tried so far?

Thank you. I have tried Almond Dream and soya so far. He likes his food and is keen for breakfast as soon as he is up, and I have a newborn too so cooking something is a bit tricky at the moment!

I love Oatly, you can get the standard one, or try Oatly barista, it's made to go in coffee so is much creamier. They do a whole range of things, cream, custard, creme fraiche. I love them all!

Soya isn’t a good one to try anyway as about half of all people who are CMPA also react to Soya as the protein molecules are so similar.

How’s he getting on now?

Can I add a question too - my daughter has been advised by a nutritionist to cut out milk to see if it improves her digestive issues. We were told that any alternate brands would be fine but looking at them in store, they all make very different claims. Are some better for calcium levels than others?

To be honest @comehomemax I’ve never checked them . I just have almond because that’s the one I like. How old is she and has she tried any of them yet? You may find that she likes some and not others. Has the nutritionist said how much calcium she needs a day and how to ensure she gets it if you are cutting out dairy?

The nutritionist just asked us to remove milk for now but to leave other dairy - they think it's possibly the milk that is irritating her digestion. She seems fine today with soy but I didn't realise it's sweetened so I might try some alternates.

My DS was recently diagnosed lactose intolerant and we just buy lactose free cows milk, some branded, some supermarket own, whatever's available. He can't taste any difference between that and normal cows' milk and loves it on cereal. I think it tastes a little different but he doesn't. He hated all the soy etc substitutes.

I've tried most of them. The three I would drink are oatley, hemp & rice. Fave is rice milk - yum!

Rice milk isn't suitable for under 5s due to arsenic leveld

Another vote for Oatly. I'm not officially lactose intolerant but cows milk started making me feel sick so I swapped over and oatly is the nicest imo. Coconut milk and almond milk just not nice to me, and soya gave me terrible cramps. Brown carton oatly is organic but blue carton has all your calcium and vitamins added. Their chocolate milk is delicious too for a wee treat.

frog if Soya gives you cramps are you sure it’s the sugar that you are reacting to in milk and not the protein?

I dunno, I never considered it tbh, I just didn't try it again. But it's something to think about I suppose!