We go through sooooo much milk. And it is getting so expensive! I know there are at least a few of you that do very little milk out there and I was wondering if you would tell me how you accomplish that. How do you supplement the nutrients in milk? Is there a huge need to? What about toddlers - don't they need milk? I have so many questions, and no answers! lol. Tell me everything! :D TIA!

my kids have NEVER drank milk. I don't do anything to "supplement" them not having it. I don't worry over it. cows milk is for cows anyway. My kids are just as healthy as the next, as comparing to those who have cow milk.

I'm sure Tara could inlighten you even more, as hers is a "no milk" family as well.

I am blessed that we get WIC, b/c I know milk has got extremely expensive. I get goats milk for my boys instead, but even with that my oldest ds does not drink it, so I make a lot of smoothies for him withte goats milk. I also started to buy something called better thamn milk, which I give to him from time to time I also give him a calcium supplement on a daily basis. Blessedmommy or Rach may be able to help a little more too!

We're not a big milk family either. Abby has just never been a milk fan, and I'm not so much either, I usually just eat it with cereal. I've just switched our entire family to soya milk. I don't really worry about Abby not having milk. The only thing the health professionals bang out about is calcium, but actually milk has a lower calcium content than other things. Broccoli is a good source of calcium. I can't think of all the things off the top of my head, but I'm sure your kids would be getting calcium from other sources that they eat everyday, like veggies and stuff.

We are also from the school of thought that cow's milk is for baby cows. The nutrient content, especially the protein content of cow's milk is especially designed for cows.

Unfortunately, a whole industry is built around the sale and use of dairy products, so the dairy industry works very hard to cause us to believe that milk is essential for good health. The fact is, that no other species other than humans consume milk after weaning, and especially not from another species.

America consumes tons of dairy products and yet our osteoperosis rate is quite high compared to nations who don't make dairy products a staple of their diet. The countries that consume little to no dairy products have very low rates of osteoperosis. There was actually a study of 70,000 nurses, where they linked milk consumption to bone fractures. It is believed by some sources that 60-80% of the calcium in cow's milk doesn't get absorbed by the body. So while it's true that milk is high in calcium, the calcium that is there doesn't get absorbed well.

Why? Because the body requires calcium to metabolize excessive protein. In essence the body has to use up calcium in order to excrete the extra acid and protein.

Also, the body requires calcium and magnesium in proper balance. Milk is very poor in magnesium. On the other hand, calcium sources like green leafy vegetables have a balanced calcium/magnesium ratio, making their absorption much higher.

Check out this site: http://www.notmilk.com. This has some of the studies and different facts that I summarized above.

There have been tribes studied in other cultures who consume under 500 milligrams of calcium a day, yet have strong bones and teeth. Why? Because their lifestyle is not robbing their bones of calcium. Some factors that encourage calcium loss are a high protein diet (RDA is around 50, most Americans eat twice that much), too much soda, and not enough physical exercise.

Nonetheless, even if your lifestyle is such that calcium is not being leached out, it's still wise to make sure to consume calcium rich foods on a regular basis. Here are some of my family's favorites:

1) Steamed broccoli
2) Broccoli soup
3) Blended green smoothies (made with fruit and greens such as kale, collards, spinach, etc.)
4) Soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk, almond milk (Actually they are all technically just "beverages" not milk, but they are great for cereal, if you are used to milk)
5) Soy yogurt (Has up to 400 mg of calcium a serving depending on which kind)
6) Carob treats and shakes (Carob powder is rich in calcium)
7) Dried figs (Highest plant source of calcium)
8) Calcium fortified orange juice
9) Soy cheese
10) Tofu
11) Boiled brussel sprouts with vegan butter on them
12) Blackstrap molasses

Whew! I just about wrote a novel here on why I don't drink milk, lol. I would encourage you to research it up for yourself and find the decision that is best for your family. Good luck! :)

Whew Ruth to the rescue! My pg brain never would have been able to properly supply info on this LOL

All I was going to offer was that we just don't see a need for it. Ours is the only culture that is obsessed w/giving cow milk to human babies. Others survive just fine without it and perhaps even better, thank you very much :p

Anything good you can get from milk, you can get elsewhere. And probably even MORE so and without the mucous and now all the 'lovely' hormones they inject into the cows.

I'm sure mercola.com has some 'no milk' info on his site somewhere. If I come across it, I'll post.

We do quite a bit of milk/dairy here, but are also blessed to have WIC; the income guidelines are pretty high, you may check into it? You also get whole grain cereals, eggs, juice, cheese and peanut butter or dry beans on the vouchers. I also used to use nonfat dry milk for some stuff, like baking, making pudding, etc. to cut costs. In addition to the calcium, some dairy products (if you want to stick with using them) are pretty good sources of fat, protein, and vitamin D. I think most of the alternatives are even more expensive, at least around here, and we are just too big of cheese-heads to not have real cheese anyway :)

Most of my gang are huge milk drinkers, including myself! Hubby and one son is lactose intolerant. Hubby loves soy milk by Silk but I am not sure of the price.

We would have to give up other things before milk, sorry huge milk fans in my family!! A gallon a day. The other facts are quite interesting though but still as far as beverages my kids may drink I prefer milk over most other choices.

We have cut back on how much milk we give Timmy. He usually only has one cup a day now (he loves milk and would drink it all the time it he could). I don't think you need to totally cut it out. Maybe if you just cut back that would help. We give Timmy more juice and water now. (He doesn't really like water, but I do half juice half water, and he drinks that great)

Thanks everyone! I knew there was knowledge about this out there! :D

I don't think we could ever completely cut out dairy....like Andrea said of her family, we are "cheese-heads" around here. lol. But I have started to think about cutting back on milk consumption.

Jayne and Andrea....I don't know what WIC is??

ETA: Thanks for that link, Ruth. I will definitely check it out. I'm not one to jump on a bandwagon without full info! :D

WIC is a government assistance program in the US. It stands for Women Infants and Children.
They provide vouchers for 'low income' families to purchase those 'necessary' (term used loosely by me) food items to 'ensure' proper growth/development in children. (yes, LOTS of quotes being used there LOL I don't buy into their standards)

I think they help out with milk, eggs, cheese, juice, peanut butter, cereal (yet, they won't allow natural pb, only the fake hydrogenated oil stuff and brown eggs aren't allowed either...so long as their are white ones available at the store :confused: and who knows what other restrictions are on it now...this could turn into a big ole rant for me LOL I'll shut up now...not saying it's a 'bad' program...I just don't buy into its standards)

Kim
I am not sure if WIC is available in Canada? It is a govt. program here in the US to try and encourage children and pregnant woman to eat healthily. They provide free milk, cheese, cereal, juice, eggs, peannut butter and some other things while your pregnant up until a child is 5 yrs old. I think it stands for woman Infant children.

Hey Tara, Just recently I found out that you can get the non hydrogneated peannut butter!! It seems like they don't really tell you, but I had been telling one of the ladies about my ds's special diet and she was saying oh did you know you can get the peanut butter that is freshly ground up??? I have to say WIC helped us out a lot in the past and now, but I agree with you Tara too! Since Ethan has been on the GF diet it hasn't been a great lot of help to us except for the goats milk! He turns 5 in May, so he won't qualify any longer!

Just another question I thought of.....what about when kiddos are really little. I breastfed mine until 1yr, but then 'they' say to give full fat milk after that. Not just for the calcium, but for the fat content. Those of you who don't do milk, did you breastfeed longer? Like up until 2yrs? Or just give them soy milk? I know you do (bf), Ruth, but not sure how everyone else manages that. (I just have always felt 'done' with breastfeeding around a year - ds actually weaned himself. Not sure if I will bf this next one longer or not...)

We go through sooooo much milk. And it is getting so expensive! I know there are at least a few of you that do very little milk out there and I was wondering if you would tell me how you accomplish that. How do you supplement the nutrients in milk? Is there a huge need to? What about toddlers - don't they need milk? I have so many questions, and no answers! lol. Tell me everything! :D TIA!

My girl has problems with milk- she's mildly lactose intolerant. so we had her on formula for the longest time. But it was just too expensive. well we tried alternatives, and i finally took her off formula and she ate a TON. she was eating us out of the house.

Then i thought about how it's only a lot of milk that bothers her and she does fine with a little bit. and how it's the fat they need in the milk.

So... now she gets half and half ROFL!!! she only needs 1/3 of that of the amount of milk she'd need to get the same amount of fat. It's 10% milkfat. So she gets about 3-4oz. of that at bedtime. Also I buy her 4.5% milkfat yogurt, and i also buy her cottage cheese which has 15 grams of protein in each little container. She's not eating me out of the house anymore, and she doesn't get constipated. I think it actually works out to be cheaper than regular milk too because she only needs a little. I can always give her coffee cream (33% milkfat) or whipping cream (55% milkfat), too.... if she needs that extra boost.

So she gets all her fat and protein. Vitamin d can come from the sunshine. Calcium - we eat TONS of leafy green veggies, so.

Just another question I thought of.....what about when kiddos are really little. I breastfed mine until 1yr, but then 'they' say to give full fat milk after that. Not just for the calcium, but for the fat content. Those of you who don't do milk, did you breastfeed longer? Like up until 2yrs? Or just give them soy milk? I know you do (bf), Ruth, but not sure how everyone else manages that. (I just have always felt 'done' with breastfeeding around a year - ds actually weaned himself. Not sure if I will bf this next one longer or not...)

Yep, I do breastfeed longer term which makes things pretty easy, but if for some reason I didn't, then I would just give the kiddo the fat from other sources, i.e. coconut, olives, avocado, hemp milk, etc.

Mine have all nursed between 12-18 months and did NOT go to milk after that. Of any sort.
They have each, on occasion, had some milk. Either in cold cereal or a cup of it, but nothing on a regular basis.

I'm tellin' ya....I just have a completely different view of what the food pyramid ought to be :p hehe I do *not* see milk as essential.

Mine have all nursed between 12-18 months and did NOT go to milk after that. Of any sort.
They have each, on occasion, had some milk. Either in cold cereal or a cup of it, but nothing on a regular basis.

I'm tellin' ya....I just have a completely different view of what the food pyramid ought to be :p hehe I do *not* see milk as essential.

So you just don't worry about their fat intake when they are under two?? Or do you just feed them alternate high fat foods like Ruth mentioned.


And Ruth....a question about the coconut. Tell me how you do that. Do you just eat it raw??

So you just don't worry about their fat intake when they are under two?? Or do you just feed them alternate high fat foods like Ruth mentioned.


And Ruth....a question about the coconut. Tell me how you do that. Do you just eat it raw??

Here's what I have done when I have used coconut.

I buy a young baby Thai coconut from Meijer's and drain the juice out. I then cut some of the flesh out and blend the flesh and juice as the base for a smoothie.

Here's what I have done when I have used coconut.

I buy a young baby Thai coconut from Meijer's and drain the juice out. I then cut some of the flesh out and blend the flesh and juice as the base for a smoothie.


oooh! Yummy!! :D

Nope, don't worry about it. :)

Sorry Kim, totally forgot you are in Canada, duh :) Not sure if they have something like WIC or not. In the past year, they have changed some things; you can get low fat cheeses and I have also heard that the natural PB is now okay. Brown eggs have always been alright here, you just have to get large or medium sized, either color. I think the color has top do with region? I am not sure what I would have done all these years without WIC!! There have been many times that I ahve relied on my vouchers to make a quiche for dinner, pb sandwiches for lunch and cereal with milk for breakfast. They try to just provide some basics and it sure helps; I hope you find some ways to cut your costs Kim.

No problem, Andrea. There's always someone around here to answer questions like that. :) I'm always looking for ways to cut costs - just been our way of life, particularly with dh in school and me not working. But things will get easier soon, because dh will be working again! PTL!

Thanks for all the info, ladies. Makes me feel so much better. I've been feeling like a "bad" mom for the last few months because I stopped buying dd full fat milk because it is so ridiculously expensive. (Silly sometimes what we as moms stress over.) I will definitely spend some time looking into those links posted over the next few days.

Here's another interesting link that I found:

http://www.mercola.com/article/milk/no_milk.htm

My son & I are milk people. We love milk. If I let him, he would probably drink a whole gallon a week by himself. My DH has asked that we switch to organic on the milk so that is what we have been buying. It has been expensive about 3.75 or so a 1/2 gallon. Luckily I seem to find coupons on line for about a $1 off. I have also been trying to keep it down to 1 gallon a week for the both of us.

My mom said when we were little that they had her put us on skim after the first year that babies didn't need so much fat in the milk, but know I think the peds say whole and then 2%. Funny how every 20-30 years they change their minds.

Thanks for the second link, Ruth. I actually haven't had time to look at the first one yet. But dh only has one paper left, so I should get more time to surf the web and check them both out soon.

And Beth, that is so true! Seems to be all the more important to make your own informed decisions because the medical profession is always changing opinions. *shrug*