# cow's milk vs. rice milk vs. almond milk vs. oat milk vs. others -- how did you choose?



## indigosky (Sep 4, 2007)

I'd like to make the transition to offering DD (15 months) something other than breastmilk in a bottle one to three times a week when I have to work, and someone else is putting her to bed at night.

How did you choose what to offer your DC?

DD has had small amounts of cow's milk and rice milk with cheerios, but she's only ever drank water and breastmilk. Cow's milk makes me a bit uncomfortable, though I'm not completely opposed to it. I do want to make sure whatever we offer has lots of healthy fat -- DD is a skinny kid who prefers green beans and blueberries to cheese or avocado.

I'd love to hear how others made their decisions, and also if there were websites, articles, or books you found that had helpful information about this.

Thanks!


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

I think we started offering water long before we did other milks. To this day, DS prefers water over milk though he will drink cows milk occasionally. Personally, unless you have something hugely against dairy (intolerances, allergy, veganism, etc), I'd go with cows milk (or fresh goats milk, if you can get it), over any of the other 'milks' all of which are proccessed foods to one degree or another. People have been drinking animal milks for millenia, the rest of them? Not nearly as long. It has a lot more fats vs any of the others, and is just, IMO at least, a much more real/natural food.


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## notjustmamie (Mar 7, 2007)

Yep. If we could do dairy here, we'd have DD on cow's milk (though she rarely drinks a glass of milk--it's mostly in cooking/baked goods or on cereal). If goat's milk wasn't so expensive we'd consider that, but we simply can't afford it.

I second the water idea. Is there a reason you're wanting to offer milk that's not BM at bedtime?


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## Alyantavid (Sep 10, 2004)

Quote:

Personally, unless you have something hugely against dairy (intolerances, allergy, veganism, etc), I'd go with cows milk (or fresh goats milk, if you can get it), over any of the other 'milks' all of which are proccessed foods to one degree or another.
Yeah that. But my kids can't handle dairy so we use rice milk for drinking and I use almond, sometimes rice, for cooking.


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## Brigio (May 18, 2008)

I pumped for a year and when I had to go back to work my supply suffered so we weaned to goats milk. We do two 6-8oz bottles of goats milk and one 6 oz of hemp milk (in the am w/ kids greens). If I had my way DD would only have BM until 2. I don't really believe any "milk" is *necessary* after about two as long as said child is eating well. We will do goats until two and go from there. My vote for an occasional bottle is hemp milk (as long as there are no allergies). It is high in omega's and iron.


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## indigosky (Sep 4, 2007)

I'm open to giving only water before bed -- currently DD gets a bottle of breastmilk and my care providers seem to think she finds that really relaxing. She usually gulps it down (she'll drink far more than I can pump), so they offer her water after she finishes the EBM. But maybe we should just try offering a bottle of water before bed. Have others had experience with whether their DC found that soothing and relaxing for when mama isn't there to nurse?

I've been pumping for 15 months, and I work in a different location every night, so I end up having to negotiate for places to pump, find empty rooms without locks on doors, pump in supply closets, etc. I've been happy to do it, but it's a huge amount of work and quite time-consuming. Sometimes these days I have to pump twice just to get enough milk for a single bottle -- and then DD acts like it wasn't enough and gulps down water after the bottle of breastmilk.

I realized I hadn't heard of many mamas pumping when their DC is so old, so I asked about it here: http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1047504
and found out that many working mamas quit the pump by this time. That was where others suggested offering another kind of milk before bed, which led me to want to research what the best option would be.

I'm not strictly vegan, but I really try to limit the amount of cow's milk in our family -- I've read a lot about cow's milk that makes me uncomfortable with it. But I could be convinced that it's better than other milk alternatives for babies -- based on my reading, I don't believe adult humans were meant to be drink milk designed for baby cows, but maybe it's better for human babies than other options.

On the other hand, it seems like many mamas have chosen other kinds of milk for their DC, so I'm still curious to know where you found the information that led to your decision.


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## tbone_kneegrabber (Oct 16, 2007)

well if you lo is still getting bm from you when you are around, I don't think you need to do *any* milk unless you or your lo wants it.

ds still nurses (he's almost 19months) and he will drink usually unsweetened almond milk, occasionally hemp, rarely rice (too sweet), sometimes soy, and used to but not anymore oat, and occansionaly coconut mixed with something else and we offer it because he likes it, not because I think he needs it.

We don't have dairy milk in our house, because several people can't tolerate it and we do most of the "other milks"

I don't rely on non-breastmilk for nutrition, only for enjoyment with other solids and such.


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