Milk Subsitutes

Updated on December 09, 2006
C.C. asks from Spokane, WA
30 answers

I recently determined that my little Ben is allergic to milk. It seems like he's had a runny nose as long as I can remember =0( But I recently stopped giving him milk and it seems for the most part to have cleared up. Juice and water are getting old quick. Any suggestions on things I can give him to drink instead of the milk?

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So What Happened?

Thanks Gals! I guess the vote by a long shot is Soy. I definitely will follow up with his ped at his 2 year appointment to see what specific proteins are the problem and to verify that he actually is allergic. Thanks Again! Char

Further update: I had actually called his ped before posting on here. And according to her advice so far I'm just keeping him off the milk but I'm still giving him cheeses, yogurts, and other dairy. Its just that when I spoke to her I forgot to ask her about drink subsitutes.

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M.C.

answers from Las Vegas on

My daughter is also allergic to milk. It gives her the runs. We give her Soy milk and it works great! It also comes in differnt flavors. It's in the milk aisle at any grocery store...

Good Luck!

M.

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D.B.

answers from Sacramento on

I think you should ask his pediatician about that, I have heard about soy milk for children with milk allergies as a subsititute, but again I think only the pediatrician will give you the righ answer, what I sugest is not to wait until his 2 yars appointment since 3 months with out milk is too much for a little one

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S.S.

answers from Boise on

I know that you have gotten a lot of answers to this question, but I do feel compelled to put in my little bit of knowledge. I have a two-year-old that was born with bad lungs. After 1 1/2 years of frustration, I finally took him to a chiropractor. The very first thing she did was take my son off dairy. She suggested rice or almond. She said soy is as bad as dairy. We switched to rice and now he will not take cow's milk. Her reasoning was just that the cow's milk is inflammatory and therefore keeps phlem in his lungs. Anyway, that is all I have to say. I am not passionate about it, but I do see the difference in my little guy.

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G.P.

answers from Portland on

Hi C.,

My 6 year old son, Addison is allergic to both soy and milk, so I know what you are going through. For a boy, do not put him on soy milk, as soy produces estrogen. Also, if you give him too much soy, that may cause the soy allergy, as it did my son. And it's not just the actual milk that you need to keep away from. Make sure to read the ingredients to everything! It is actually called cow's milk protein allergy. Here is a good web site to use: http://www.drpaul.com/illnesses/milkallergy.html

There are also a lot of good cook books for food allergies that you can find on Amazon.com .

I've been doing this for 4 years, so if you have any other questions, I would love to help! (My step dad is also allergic to milk, soy, wheat and gluten.)

Good Luck! G.

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J.B.

answers from Portland on

Dairy in this country is your right TOXIC! Hormones, pesticide residuals from the grass and other things in the feed.Not to mention all of the antibiotics the cows are on with the hormones. So, I buy butter at the Russian stores imported from either New Zealand (no coloring needed) or other countries. You can buy butter from Ireland at Costco etc and you can buy goat milk, sheeps milk etc from a good health good store in the refridgerated section. Make sure you dilute any fruit juices to half and half water. Or their teethe can be affected not to mention a life time of sweet tooth attacks which can lead to obesity or even diabetes type 2. Water is best. I have purified natural deep spring water delivered to our house with a cold water only cooler. WE drink so much more since we got this clean good water.Another wonderful drink is any caffeine free herbal teas. Boil them and pour into glass containers with HONEY if the child is 1 year or older is ok. Cold teas are awesome drinks and healthy for all the family. Our favorites are Good Earth already sweetened natural herbal tea, some of the Good Seasons herbal teas, found at grocery store health food sections of shelves of teas.And Costco sells green tea now from Japan but it does have caffeine in this one.Good for mom and dad to keep up with the kids without coffee jitters! Jean

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D.G.

answers from Portland on

Hi C.,

So my son just turned two and when he was about 8 months we realized he had a sensitivity to milk. I took him off milk and began to look into alternatives. I didn't want him to just have juice and water. Plus i knew he nedded better nutrients to make up for the loss of milk. So i talked to his ped. and read and chose Soy milk. we tried the vanilla but he really prefers the plain silk brand soy milk. It has a slight sweetness but is full of healthy goodness. Have you taken him off all dairy or just drinking milk? My son mostly has a lactose intolerance and so he can have some dairy so we also tried lactaid milk but he really prefers the soy. My son was also born premature with health problems and so I was extra careful about what I gave him. So this is my experince, good luck with yours.

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S.K.

answers from Portland on

Ask your pediatrician to be sure but goats milk and soy milk might work. My teenager loves the vanilla soy milk.

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L.S.

answers from Cheyenne on

My son was allergic to milk when he was small. I was worried about all of the nutrition he was missing without milk. We have a family history of soy allergies, so we didn't even want to try that, and end up with worse reactions. We gave him *enriched* rice milk. (I believe we used Rice Dream brand.) The enriched one has all of the same stuff as cow's milk, but without the allergic reactions. My son loved it.

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J.C.

answers from Portland on

The one milk substitute I can stand the taste of is almond milk by Blue Diamond, called Almond Breeze. It tastes the most milky without the raw rice or soybean flavor rice and soy milks have or mask with lots of sugar. There's an unsweetend version of it. And while it doesn't have quite as much calcium as milk, it's pretty close.

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T.W.

answers from Seattle on

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE reconsider soy. It is dubious at best, and the best and most real choice is raw milk or rice milk. Please read: mercola.com and key in soy milk. Please. Pasteurization of the milk you'd been feeding him is the culprit because of the high heat. all the best...

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M.C.

answers from Seattle on

I have a severe lactose intolerance. I love soy milk and so does my 7 year old. Only my husband drinks cows milk at my house my son now doesn't even like it. I get the regular for cooking and the vanilla flavor (slightly sweeter) is great in cereal or shakes. In fact he drinks very little juice it is mostly soy milk and water (too much sugar in juice I think). Hope this helps...you could also gradually change over I just kept adding it to regular milk and eventually replaced it with pure soy that way you can get used to it easier.

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C.S.

answers from Anchorage on

I don't know if it is the lactose that your son is allergic to, but if so, there is always soy milk or rice milk. When I weened my daughter off nursing, I started giving her vanilla soy milk and she still loves it! (the sugar content is comparable with regular milk.)

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M.D.

answers from Seattle on

i here goats milk is supposed to be really good for adults and kids who are sensitive to cows milk. i feed it to my 4month old a few times. she seemed to like it, no reactions to it. you can also look it up online to get more info on it. because i believe there are a few vitiams it lacks. but all you have to do is give yur son a multivitiam.hope that helped.
M.

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S.C.

answers from Honolulu on

Hi there,
My son is 4 and allergic to everything. Soy milk and Rice milk are both very good substitutes for dairy. Both of them come in kid friendly versions like vanilla, and chocolate. I think Soy Dream even has one made just for kids that is vitamin fortified. My son is allergic to soy so he drinks the rice dream and loves it. The non flavored ones are kinda bland, so for a little guy I would go with the flavored. I hope this helps.....

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B.

answers from Las Vegas on

Try Vance's Dari-Free Milk. It comes in powder form in a little milk carton. It comes in regular white and chocolate flavor. My daughter loves it! You add water to it and you have to mix it in a blender. After blended it lasts approx. 7 days. Vance's has a website and you can also get it at Kirkman Labs. Good luck.

B.

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E.W.

answers from Spokane on

My littlest monkey is allergic to milk too. She can't stand Soy milk, so we hunted until we found a Lactose free milk. Tastes just like the real thing, and no allergies. There are several brands out there, and they're a little pricy, but it's worth it to me so that she can have milk on her cereal in the morning.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

rice milk is a good substitute. I buy it at Fred Meyers in the health foods section. There is also soy milk but kids are frequently allergic to soy. And giving him it at this early age could cause an allergy.

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A.P.

answers from Las Vegas on

I do not drink milk and do not plan on giving it to my daughter. My favorite milk substitute is rice milk. I've heard its actually better for you than soy milk, and it tastes great.
:)

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M.S.

answers from Honolulu on

You could try giving your son soy milk instead. My daughter is still on formula, but from day one, she had a terrible reaction to the regular "milk" so our doctor put her on a soy-based formula and she's never had a problem since. Soy is fairly expensive, but you can buy Silk in a 3-pack at Costco and Sam's. I think Sam's also sells Horizon Soy Chocolate milk...it's creamy without the dairy. I hope this helps!

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A.L.

answers from Salt Lake City on

My son is 2 and we have tried to stop giving him juice because of all of the sugar. He love flavored water like propel or nestle. They have all kinds of flavors and they're a lot better for him than regular juice.

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F.S.

answers from Salt Lake City on

You should definitley take him to the doctor first and see what he/she says.

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J.N.

answers from Provo on

yes, try soy milk! Silk is great, and my personal favorite is 8th continent vanilla. there are so many dairy free options available now, and you may find that you like soy products just as much as cows milk.
Check out http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/ this link for more dairy-free products. its easy and so much better for you in the long run.

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M.J.

answers from Salt Lake City on

First you should take him to your Dr. and find out if he is lactose intolerant. They make soy milk and soy formula products and goat's milk is more expensive than reg. milk and I think, tastier if I could afford it, but might solve the problem.

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T.K.

answers from Chico on

Going to an allergy doctor to find out what kind of milk proteins your son is allergic to is very helpful. My husband is allergic to all milk proteins and can not have milk from any kind of animal (even my breastmilk causes a reaction). He didn't get this allergy until he was about 19/20 years old...but he needs to avoid any foods with any kind of milk (powdered or condensed), whey and cassein and also needs to make sure that if the product was made on the same system as milk products. Lots and lots of label reading.
It's pretty easy to get around once you are used to what to avoid. We eat at lots of different kinds of restaurants and rarely have problems.
It just takes some time to find out what to look out for.

If you want a substitute for milk, Soy or Rice milk are great. They come in regular, vanilla and sometimes chocolate flavored. If you want him to enjoy ice cream with the rest of the family, there are great soy & rice ice cream flavors that are just as yummy as regular ice cream.

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C.H.

answers from Spokane on

You got so many responses, so I will keep this short and sweet. My kids do not have milk allergies, however I hate what they do to milk (hormones, pesticides, etc.) My kids love, love, love Chocolate Soy milk made by Pearl. Maybe it isn't the best compared to rice or others, but its 20 times better then regular milk or chocolate milk for that matter. The kids can't get enough (they only get 2-3 cups full a day and drink water or gatorade the rest of the time) and it tastes great!

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E.J.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Have you tried soy milk? It would be worth a try, and it comes in vanilla and chocolate.

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L.W.

answers from Las Vegas on

Have you considered trying lactose free milk? They sell it at the regular grocery store and in a couple of brands. When I first put my son on cows milk, I had to use the lactose free because the other was making him sick. Once I put my son on the lactose free cows milk he was fine. If he enjoys cows milk, this might be an option. They even make it in whole milk, lowfat, and fat free. The lactose free milk already has calcium in it too.

Good luck!

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N.B.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Have you tried soy milk?

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T.F.

answers from Boise on

C.,

How's it going now?

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S.G.

answers from Portland on

I have both of my kiddos on Soy. My daughter is on Formula but my son has been drinking for the last year 'Very Vanilla' Kids Soy... it's especially formulated for the little ones with tons of extra vitamins... and because it's vanilla he loves it! I'm able to purchase it at Albertsons, Safeway, even Wild Oats Nature Mkt.

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