Almond milk, 1 year old

[eczemum]

I know it isn't ideal but his eczema is out of control, I am waiting for referral to paediatrics who will hopefully refer on to dermatology and an allergist but whilst I wait I'm desperate. I avoided soya too as I know a lot of cows milk intolerant/allergic react to soya too, I'm desperate for relief for him. He is covered in huge welts of angry, red, weeping eczema. He's so itchy, tears himself to shreds, so unhappy, it's just not fair on him. I tried oat milk but he wouldn't take it, I tried almond and he took to it great. I didn't think his poos were tooo bad, but they were always loose and now they are a normal solid consistency. His eczema although still severe seems very very quickly less angry. It felt like a potential breakthrough until I googled almond milk and read about how crap it is for toddlers..

My friend said her now 4 year old wouldn't drink any milk at all after stopping breastfeeding at 15 months, she just made sure he had a really good diet to make up for it, by that logic surely almond milk isn't the end of the world? I want to give it a go for a few more weeks, atleast then I will know definitively if dairy is what's causing his suffering.. but now I feel guilty about giving him almond milk

www.mightydrinks.com/mighty-mlkology-whole/13518582.html

My youngest drinks this. It's oat milk but really doesn't taste like it and is full of nutrients.

Your child needs 350 mg of calcium a day. This is 3 portions of dairy but alternatively you can also get some calcium forfeited cereal and bread or use dairy alternatives. If he isn’t having dairy then he also needs an alternative source of iodine.

All fortified non dairy milks are UPF but calcium and iodine are essential so if you think he has an allergy to cow milk then realistically you have to give UPFs.

Soya and oat are the preferred replacements
My daughter can't have soya due to a soya allergy as well as cmpa and others

The things to look for in replacement milks in terms for fortification is 120mg calcium per 100ml and ideally iodine too. Then it needs to be the equivalent of whole cows milk. This is where the almond milks fall down as they are often too low in fat. You want 60kcal and 3.0g of fat per 100ml. For oat milks the recommendations are usually oatly barista or alpro growing up milk. We use oatly barista as my daughter is allergic to the pea protein in the alpro drinks. When looking at other alternative milks I would benchmark the nutrition against either of these.

As others have said oat milk is generally preferred over almond milk. Or you can go for rice milk with added calcium and vitamins (which is a bit sweeter and in my experience, kids tend to prefer)

My daughter is cmpa she was on aptimal pepti. She's now on the alpro growing up milk our paed dietician said they're the only ones currently recommended due to the added nutrition we've tried the soya and the oat she actually prefers the soya she only has a night bottle 8oz won't really take any more in the day unless unwell I think a year of the pepti put her off milk drinks in general 🤣 (tastes gross)

"Babies and young children under 5 years old should not be given rice drinks, because of the levels of arsenic in these products.
If your child has an allergy or intolerance to milk, talk to your health visitor or GP. They can advise you about suitable milk alternatives."
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/drinks-and-cups-for-babies-and-young-children/#:~:text=Babies%20and%20young%20children%20under,you%20about%20suitable%20milk%20alternatives.

@shardlakem Fair enough. Didn't know that was the guidance in the UK. In France it was fairly common for dairy intolerant tots to be drinking fortified rice milk (advertised for that purpose). Agree that if in any doubt, the best thing to do is to speak to a professional.

@eczemum Hey! Did you continue with Almond milk in the end? We are in a similar situation, eczema being so bad and no other UK milks being an option due to intolerances, so we are having to move onto almond milk. Just looking for some positive stories.