Milk

[Linny]

My daughter will be 3 in January and is drinking less and less milk. She has milk on her cereal but rarely drinks much otherwise. She regularly asks for milk when going to bed but doesnt usually drink it. I even resorted to buying flavoured milk but she soon lost interest. She does drink plenty of fluid but not enough milk. She does eat fromage frais and likes cheese but I worry that she isnt getting enough calcium. Any good ideas?

my daughter is lactose, soy and wheat intolerant . She's now nearly 3, but has been off all the above since before 1 year. You can get Calcium syrup (Sandoz) prescribed for you if you have a child with intolerances, which saves money on extremely expensive vitamins. Also there's a rice milk that comes with added calcium and is I think much nicer than soy. My dd regularly demands broccoli and sardines, so I guess she might be craving calcium rich foods.
Tahini is the basis of halva, which is a Greek/Middle Eastern sweetmeat. It's very sugary, but because of the high sesame content is quite nutritious. It's also ludicrously edible and high calorie. Also you can use tahini in stir-fries or instead of butter with baked potatoes.

I always thought tahini was just sesame seed paste and on its own tastes absolutely horrid.

How about halva - it appears to be sesame seeds and sugar. I've never tried it but it might be more palatable than tahini - suppose it depends on just how much sugar?!

whoops just seen shanti has already mentioned it - sorry.

Cows milk should be introduced gradually to a childs diet, as it is in theory "stronger" to digest than what the child has been used to either breast or bottle. Also food that derives from cows milk should be introduced gradually as well, now I got this info from the vet who is into this sort of things as one of their kids has quite a few digestive problems.

message withdrawn

I am contemplating removing dairy products from my 9 month old's diet (mainly the cows milk he has with his breakfast cereal) - could he drink goats milk? - I did buy a carton of organic rice milk today - but then discovered that it contained sea salt, so I guess I can't use it. Can anyone recommend any alternatives?

I have always used goats milk. First in poder (for babies called Nanny's) and since he was 1 in bottle (fresh).
If you are unsure ask your health visitor or GP. But I know that my homeopath did the same and books recommend it as well.

message withdrawn

Marigold, you can get a soya formula milk - called WySoy, or something like that, the tins are green from memory. It's more expensive than normal formula, but if you do this in consultation with your GP, they can actually prescribe it for you (so you get it free). Even if you pay for it, it works out cheaper than using soya milk, or goat's milk, and you can keep a tin open longer (up to a month).

A tip : Goodness direct (www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/shelf/S3.html) sells Nanny formula at 20% off the regular retail price so 6.36 GBP for a can.
I usually bought it from health shops until I found it on this site. I use to buy 10 cans at a time and delivery was free.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

:-)Marigold

message withdrawn

Apologies if this has already been covered below:

One cup (227 grams) of cooked bok choy, a type of cabbage, will provide 86% of the calcium in one cup (240 ml.) of milk. One half cup (113 grams) of ground sesame seeds contains twice as much calcium as one cup (240 ml.) of milk. Other sources of calcium include blackstrap molasses, tofu, collard greens, spinach, broccoli, turnip greens, kale, almonds and Brazil nuts.

PLease please be very careful about giving soya milk to very young children as it contains female hormones which can have a long term detrimental effect. (according to the nutritionist I consulted about my dd's problems) I successfully bottle fed my daughter after the age of 12 months on Rice milk with added calcium (made by Rice dream some supermarkets sell it and most health food shops sell it - if not I can find the suppliers name and number if you need it) pre 12 months after I had stopped breast feeding - I discovered 'Babynat' which is an excellent formula which is french and has mainly vegetable fats to provide the fats intake and I think it was goats or ordinary cows skimmed milk powder and didn't have too bad an effect on her.

Cheese is a big bad culprit re mucus production as it is hard for the body to breakdown so keep it to a minimum. I used to sprinkle crushed sesame seeds (not tahini it is foul!!) onto my daughters cereal and into bolognese sauces etc you need c 6 teaspoons a day in their diet. The recommended dosage of 'typical' dairy intake is 800g but with non dairy as it is more easily abosrbed this can be reduced to 600.

Broccolli, caulifower is great for calcium as is parsley - the best source of calcium ever and easy to hide. Sunflower seeds - lakeland sell 'munchy seeds' which are delicious as a snack and full of calcium or can be eaten on bread and butter as a crunchy sandwich!!

I had real problems with my daughter up until 20 months and after she turned 2 I dropped the rice milk completely and she just has fish (tuna pasta) 3 times a week, yoghurts, occasional cheese and ordinary milk on her cereal without any problems at all and she went through an awful, couldn't breathe and was always sick phase when doctors diagnosed and treated her for asthma - she shows no signs of this now at all.

One last note - if you have a bunged up child, avoid bananas they are a big 'mucus' producer - so take the strain off their little systems. Good luck in your reduction of dairy it is not as essential as people think and I think it does a lot more harm than good. But dd has grown out of her 'intolerances' and is a happy, healthy child.

Tlb, to add to your message I've also heard that soya is not all that good for you as it is a very complex protein for the body to break-down and can put stress on the organs whilst processing it. I've also heard it can slow the body's metabolism right down. I really used to think it was a 'healthy' option full stop, but it appears that all is not what it seems...

That's interesting Tlb. I have used soya milk (out of curiosity, not for health reasons) and then suffered the most awful stomach pains after. And sesame seeds produce the same effect if I eat more than you'd get on top of a couple of rolls. I'd be doubled up in agony with six teasps a day!

Ouch, Suedochairmum!

LOL, Scummymummyokapi! I got fed up of being chairmum and decided to get a new persona. Sadly, when I woke up this morning, I was just the same as yesterday apart from being one day older.

Well, we love you just as you are, Chairdonim.

Aw, thank you Scummymummy, you've made my day! I'm rather fond of Scummymummy, too. Did you take your name from Jacqueline Wilson's book 'Scummymummy And ?Me'?