Is it OK to swap to Soy milk?

[AussieSim]

My DS is 21months and has had the remanants of a cold hanging on for quite a while - including a chesty cough. I stopped giving him dairy in an effort to help the congestion but continued to give him a cup or milk with breakfast and before bed. Then I noticed that he had virtually stopped drinking any of it, so I bought some soy milk instead and he has been drinking it down enthusiastically for the last couple of days. Will he miss out on anything?

He was Breast Fed till 16 months and didn't have any cows milk till 14months. Also I find that dairy makes me congested.

And another thing: I was thinking about buying a reduced fat milk so that I am not drinking full fat along with him - would that be OK for him? He is a good weight for his height, probably tending on the heavy end - not that I am worried about it at all.

Thanks in advance.

bumping myself - really would feel better if people could chip in even though a relatively boring topic...

Would the soya milk have the first class protein and calcium he needs. If he has plenty of yogurts and cheese it might be ok. At this age they need full-fat milk. hth

I think the advice is that toddlers have full fat milk at least until they are 2. I would be reluctant to entirely exclude dairy from his diet, it's such a good source of calories for growing children.

We have switched to rice milk for DS's congestion (didn't like soy) but have continued with 'normal' cheese and butter, custard, yogs etc. It has helped his congestion loads and he is putting on more weight because he's not ill as much, even though rice milk is low fat. We do get the added calcium variety.

Thanks guys. I will stick to the full fat for the meantime then. The soy milks these days are quite fortified with all the appropriate stuff like calcium etc so I think we are safe on that point. As his cough gets better I will reintroduce cheese and yoghurt. Thanks again.

There is no evidence whatsoever that milk causes mucus. In fact there are several studies that prove it doesn't. It's a bit of a myth. It may feel as if it does because of the way the milk coats the tongue etc, but double blind studies showed that although people thought they had less mucus, actual investigation showed that this wasn't so. Milk a good source of calcium, fat and vitamins for a child. And no, I've got nothing to do with the milk marketing board!

That is really interesting Aloha. You are a font of information. So my reaction to dairy might be psychosomatic then and I am falsely depriving my child. Life is just too complex.