About DS drinking milk

[darwinsbabe]

I have a DS who is almost 3.

My DH drinks water all the time and we encourage my son to do the same but he always refuses and asks for milk instead. Even with the lure of diluting juice he will opt for milk. My DH thinks he drinks too much milk and not enough water and gets worked up about it. I'm just glad he's drinking and it's something healthy.

Aibu to tell my husband to calm down and continue to let my DS drink milk?

People have been drinking cows, sheep, goat milk far longer than the newer fangled milks out there. It's a far safer bet to drink animal milks than anything else, as more scientific evidence backs it than the contrary. Appreciate it if someone has allergies but @Gaelic you really need to do proper research. The theory behind dairy affecting menstrual cycles was debunked years ago.

I make it a rule in life never to take seriously anyone who starts a paragraph "Open your eyes"

It is always followed by a real or implied "sheeple"

I don't think it's hypocritical to try and limit your consumption of animal products. I'm not entirely vegan. But there is a huge amount of suffering in the dairy trade. Why would you not want to cut down?

Uppity I have. Years of horrific endometriosis, had surgery, loads of drugs, every pill on the market. Nothing worked. I was losing a good 4 days of my life every month, I had to plan my life around it, it was so debilitating. We're talking period pain so awful labour was a total breeze. Saw loads of specialists, nothing helped.

Then I cut down on dairy. Didn't even go dairy free, I cut out milk and yoghurt, reduced cheese consumption, still ate things with traces of dairy in them. I didn't even do it because of the pain, I did it because I wanted to go vegan and I'm so anaemic I was told vegetarian wasn't sensible.

I have never had period pain since. The number of similar stories out there is staggering. Not just period pain, also IBS, joint pain, etc. The medical industry might want to argue it's a myth, but the number of women who's personal experience suggests otherwise suggests otherwise. Would you drink dog milk? Horse milk? Why are cows different? Just because it doesn't kill you, doesn't mean it's good for you.

@pinkandwhiteblossoms

I'm not entirely vegan.

No am I (thinking about steak and chips fried in dripping for lunch), but having had a very rural upbringing and returning to one when visiting family and friends, the dairy industry does not have suffering. If the popularity of rose veal were increased, it would be one of the 'happiest' forms of farming possible.

"Then I cut down on dairy... I have never had period pain since."

Ooh, an anecdote. How enlightening.

My kids drink organic whole milk and water and I'm pretty happy about that. I think your husband is being a drama queen.

Of course your son won't become dehydrated if he is drinking milk rather than water. There is nothing inherently evil about milk. Humans have been drinking the milk of other animals for millennia.

I also think there is much to be said for teaching children to listen to their own body cues. If your son is craving milk, perhaps his body is telling him that he needs calcium. Obviously, this doesn't apply to every craving. If a child demands chocolate or biscuits constantly, it probably has nothing to do with a need for some particular nutrient.

"When you take in cow's milk, you take in, you've guessed it, cow protein, enzyme etc. That isn't healthy. Not all of that can be digested by humans"

Ridiculous. Cows are food for humans, like many animals are food for each other. We can digest cow's flesh just fine, meaning we don't have problems digesting their proteins.

You are right on one point, although it looks unintentional Enzymes are not digested, nor do they need to be.

Gaelic As a species, we actually consume a very wide variety of milks from other animals, including mares, goats, ewes, buffaloes, camels, yak, reindeer, elk, and far more besides.

Horrific wording, high on painkillers kidneys, not period pain

I really do not give a damn about whether you believe me or not, cote. Cows milk is not designed for human consumption, that's the end of it. It's a convenient way of getting calcium and vitamin D, but the world has moved on and we have access to diets that enable us to cut out the crap that we get along with that in cows milk that's designed for a growing calf. If your doctor proposed to pump your child with tiger enzyme, I think you'd be horrified. And yet that's what we do every time we eat dairy from a cow. Im not going to go back to a diet I know causes me horrific pain just because the medical world doesn't want to accept the link, and I'm certainly not going to force it on my child.

God knows how those traditional Masai people grew so tall and strong seeing as they lived off cow's milk, blood and meat.

Gaelic You have a milk allergy. The end.

Just because a food doesn't suit one person it doesn't mean it is evil for all. I react badly to nuts and the preservatives in ham and bacon. Sugar also hates me and my gums get really inflamed. Milk and dairy on the other hand suit me just fine, no problems.

I also live rurally and I don't see how anyone can claim dairy doesn't equate to suffering.

I understand it's very hard to avoid, especially when eating out. But it really does cause suffering.

@GaelicSiog - but you didn't just cut out milk. You overhauled your entire diet. Eating more fibre/veg is a known way to reduce period pain, my GP recommends it, as is eating more nuts, and drinking more water.

@Pinkandwhiteblossoms

How?

here is some more information. To me, the most distressing part is that, no matter how humanely you treat the cows, to get our hands on their milk, their baby has to be removed from them. That's awful.

Not vegan. Never been vegan. I'm not sure why you think I added in more fibre and veg? I literally stopped having milk in my coffee and stopped eating cheese sandwiches Everything else stayed the same. Tested negative for lactose intolerance.

It isn't milk that makes people "big and strong." It's the vitamins and minerals in milk. All of which come in other sources without the inclusion of enzyme designed for baby cows and all the cruelty the west doesn't want to believe exists. Simples.

"I really do not give a damn about whether you believe me or not, cote. "

Oh I believe that you think your period pain (or kidney pain ) ended when you reduced milk consumption. That doesn't mean the two things were related, though.

More likely, you are dairy intolerant and had digestive problems related to milk consumption.

"Cows milk is not designed for human consumption, that's the end of it."

Because you said so?

No milk is designed, but humans have evolved to digest most animals like cows - flesh, milk, organs, blood, the works. That is what it means to be part of the food chain - species happily digest those under themselves in the food chain.

Eeeeeeeek

I didn't think it would turn into this....

I'll keep him going with milk and slowly reintroduce water back in

Is everyone anti milk on here vegan? I don't get it. I'm an omnivore and I will be drinking that cow babys milk and then I'll be eating the cow baby. I'm OK with that. I'd like to reduce cruelty in the process but animal killing is how food gets on my plate.

Tbf cote other carnivorous predators don't generally hunt other species' babies in order to obtain their milk.

@darwinsbabe - haha. Are you new around here?

@Pinkandwhiteblossoms - but rose veal is delicious and ethical

I have no issue if people want to drink the stuff. It's none of my business. But to say we need milk is a load of rubbish, and I certainly wouldn't be encouraging children to drink excessive amounts of the stuff.