Good Milk Substitute For Kids?

[Guest taweavmo3]

After reading that article posted on here regarding the dangers of soy, I want to put my kids on something else. They've had soy formula pretty much since birth, a brief trial of cow's milk that made them miserable, and now they all drink soy milk. My 15 month old seems addicted to it, he would drink it all day if I let him. He won't even drink juice, but he will drink some water if that's all I give him.

Has anyone tried Dari-Free? It's a potato based milk I believe, and is supposed to have a mild flavor and be inexpensive when bought in bulk. I just hate to buy a case of it if before I even know if they'll like it.

Anyone else try something other than soy milk??

[KaitiUSA]

I drink almond milk(vanilla flavored). It's actually pretty good. I use it for cereal and things like that. I have never been one to drink any kind of milk plain..I stick with juice for that.

I am on soy milk to because my doctors have me on it to slow my thyroid down(along with nuts and some other things)

There are alternatives such as rice milk, and almond milk(just make sure it is gluten free because some are not)

[tarnalberry]

Almond Breeze is pretty good, as are some varieties of Rice Milk (avoid Rice Dream, however).

[rmmadden]

I prefer Almond Milk and/or Hazelnut Milk myself. Pacific makes both and they say Gluten Free right on the package.

Best of Luck!

Cleveland Bob

[Jnkmnky]

My kids like the Lundberg Farms brand called Drink Rice. They like the vanilla flavored. Mostly we've just begun drinking other things for thirst...water and some calcium added oj. We've been using the rice milk on cereal, for cooking and the daily cup of chocolate milk made with the hershey's syrup.

When my kids were little, I could get them to drink things they weren't into by getting a colorful pkg of straws. I'd let them use a straw if they tried the drink. It's a .99 cent investment, and it works! Or maybe a new character cup with a cool straw already attached? Good luck.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

You could try goats milk.

[Carriefaith]

I drink orange juice fortified with calcium

[Kasey'sMom]

We do gluten free rice milk and DariFree. I just called WestSoy today to confirm that their vanilla rice beverage is both gluten and soy free. I also called Kroger a few months ago about their brand of rice milk (vanilla & orig.). We've also tried the almond milks and my child loves,them, but has developed an allergy. So we added the DariFree to her diet. The DariFree is very handy to keep in the cabinet. I use the DariFree for the cooking of savory items such as soups and pasta sauces etc. The DariFree works great for recipes that call for powdered milk. The DariFree isn't sweet like the other milk substitutes we've tried. Since my child was used to drinking vanilla rice, almond and soy it took her a few days to get used to the DariFree but she enjoys it now as well. She even uses the DariFree on cereal and by the glass. Just to cover our basis we've add a vegetarian, gluten-free, calcium/vit.D supplement.

Hope you find something that works. My daughter used to drink milk by the cases also!!!

[karen149]

Hi,

We use Pacific Almond milk for cereal and cooking. OJ with calcium and vit. D for some drinking also. Vance's Chocolate DariFree goes over well with my kids. I mainly use the original flavor for baking bread that calls for dry milk. Kirkman Labs makes a nice liquid calcium supplement but I found the sucralose bothered us.

Hope this helps!

Karen

[jenvan]

I also do rice milk. I have tried Pacific-it is gluten-free. It is pretty good, but has a slight mayo taste to me. So my favorite rice milk is wild oat's brand. Not sure you have one near you. It is like $1.40 cheaper than the other brands too...

[SofiEmiMom]

I've tried the Vance's DariFree..it is loaded with sugar. My kids loved it, of course, but where hyper crazy after consumption. After trying *many* kinds of casein free milks, we settled on Whole Foods 365 brand Organic Rice Milk Vanilla flavor. I use the Plain for recipes. It's a great milk - no aftertaste. My husband liked it so much he stopped drinking milk by choice and switched to the rice milk. You get a discount if you order by the case...which I do. Love the stuff!

[Kasey'sMom]

I've gotten the lite, organic coconut milk and added stevia to make yummy popsicles. I also have a recipe for homemade rice milk if you want it. My first recipe and attempt wasn't that good but my second was much better. I sweetened the milk with stevia and cinnamon. I strain it several times and often add alcohol free flavorings from Frontier Herb. My homemade milks have been a little thick and have worked well for smoothies.