Milk

[Cantmakesoftboiledeggsforthelifeofme]

Do you drink it, do you give it your kids?( cows milk)
If you don’t give it your kids, what do you give them instead? What can I give my 4 year old as an alternative? Doesn’t she still need cows milk for the dairy?

As a child I hated milk. My son hates it too. However, we love dairy (trying to cut down), and substitutes are a bit rubbish. Have come to the conclusion a small amount of dairy is better than a large amount of disappointing, additive-laden alternatives.

Hot chocolate or milk shakes. Otherwise it's impossible.

We're an omnivorous household, my DC absolutely love cows milk, cheese, cream, sour cream etc. I hate the environmental impact caused by monoculture crops grown to produce non dairy 'milks' like soy etc.

I haven't drunk milk for decades. I don't like milky coffees or milky drinks like shakes or smoothies.

But there's a difference between not having a daily glass of milk, and cutting out all dairy. Especially cutting out all dairy for a small child because of a vague notion that it might be "bad".

Mine had some on his cereal and in a cup of tea this morning, as did I. I have no virtue to signal here.

There is an argument to re-introduce morning milk for all children due the increase in malnutrition and rickets. It was certainly the reason for introducing it originally.

Cows milk gives mine bad eczema flare ups, she drinks oat. Oatly semi, Rude Health or Alpro Kids Oat milk.

She can have dairy natural and greek yoghurt without issue for some reason.

My kids have milk on cereal, milkshake occasionally, hot choc occasionally and then dairy in cheese, choc etc. little one is in year 2 so gets it in school every morn too. my youngest used to have the alpro soya growing up milk for a bit which had all the vitamins she needed. she used to get a dodgy tummy so I tried dairy free. But it made no diff so went back to cows milk. She didn’t mind the soya though.

Interested to see milk can cause excema , she’s been struggling with that recently.

She doesn't NEED dairy, there are millions of healthy vegan children in the world.

I love a glass of cold milk. I still have a Humphrey glass.

OP…your unclear reasons for wanting to cut out cows milk aside, you can’t have an alternative to animal milk that is “dairy”. Dairy milk all comes from animals usually cow but also sheep, goat etc. All plant alternatives are non-dairy.

personally I think cows milk is an excellent source of nutrients but:

if you are asking do children have to drink cows milk, then no, they can get a lot of the required nutrition from other dairy sources like yoghurt and cheese.

if you are asking do children have to consume dairy products like milk, cheese yoghurt etc then no, it is possible to get the required nutrition from other non dairy sources which is what happens for children with dairy allergies etc.

as PP said I wouldn’t cut out dairy products on purpose for your children but if they just don’t like them then they’ll no doubt be fine if they have a healthy varied diet, and a good multivitamin !

You really can't get much better than cow's milk as a source of nutrition for children. I'd think carefully before cutting it out unless for medical reasons.

MoamAddict if you don't like arable monocultures (many, many of which are grown for animal feed), what's your take on the emerald green monocultures that "improved" fields on dairy farms have become? There's nothing in them but a couple of species of grass. Fields aren't supposed to look like that. We've lost 97% of our traditional hay meadows since WW2.

Also, regarding dairy farming and the environment, check out the concerns about slurry from ever- more intensive farms polluting our waterways, with an increasingly toothless Environment Agency unable to hold them to account.

Not to mention the massive contribution to climate change that is methane emissions from cattle.

DS18 and I get through almost four pints a day. I mostly buy organic and a mixture of whole and semi-skimmed (because I want the fat-soluble vitamins but four pints of full fat milk would be a bit much!) I’m not sure how healthy it is….many humans have been drinking it for a very long time and are able to digest it. However, some people think that the pasteurisation process makes it less healthy. (Although obviously I am not advising drinking unpasteurised milk!). DS moved straight from breast milk to cows milk before the age of one because he refused breast milk and formula and health visitor said this was fine and formula milk doesn’t taste nice so is pretty normal for this to happen. He’s never suffered with allergies. Some people buy Jersey milk because that contains a different protein (?) that is easier for some people to digest. Sorry for the autistic milk monologue😳.

In my opinion, plant-based milks aren’t nutritious and neither is a vegan diet. Children need dairy and protein and so do adults.

I fully acknowledge that it isn’t great for the environment unless the cows are fully grass fed, (which is very good for the soil).

No cows milk in this house, I think it's disgusting stuff full of pus from cows pumped full of antibiotics. You can get all the nutrients from other sources. We use oat milk for (fortified) cereal etc and then make sure the rest of our diet is rich in unprocessed fruit and veg, nuts and pulses. My children have never drunk milk and they are healthy teenagers.

Children need dairy and protein and so do adults.

What happens to children and adults that don’t have dairy then?

RemoteControlDoobry 99% of grass fed dairy farming is NOT good for the soil- or, at least, not good for plant, insect and microorganism biodiversity.

There is an argument that using herbal leys/ very specific means of grazing like mob grazing CAN benefit biodiversity, but this us heavily disputed.

Unfortunately, the incredible amount of propaganda around this subject, combined with the average person's lack of knowledge of how our food is produced, means that the dairy and meat industries are getting away with murder.

She doesn't need dairy, she needs certain nutrients which are often or most easily found in dairy. So you need to work out what you think she needs.

For example, I think some non dairy milks have more calcium than milk but less protein. So does she get protein elsewhere? Does she take any vitamins?

I dont want to be a condescending cow but if you are changing your childs diet, perhaps ask the health visitor for support to make sure you know what you are doing.

I'm quite concerned that you might think milk and dairy interchangeable and they are not. Nobody needs dairy but everybody needs to know why they are choosing what they are choosing.

To answer the OP, we use Alpro Growing Up milk and a supplement diet with multivitamin.

This has all been debunked

It's not only about what the milk alternative contains, it's about how well the human body can absorb it.

Calcium carbonate contained in fortified plant based milk is not as easily absorbed as natural calcium phosphate contained in milk and cheese

There's also a risk for caucasian populations to develop nut allergies from overexposure to nut based 'milks' - almond, cashew, etc

thehorsehasnowbolted
It has not been debunked. Not, at any rate, by anyone credible. However, there is an incredible amount of noise and misinformation around the subject- most of which can be traced back to the agriculture industry, who I consider to be, if not quite as actively evil and misleading as the oil industry, definitely in the same league.