Alternative to Cow's Milk

I would go with goats milk or almond milk. Stay away from soy.....do some research on the estrogen like compounds in it....

We use rice milk b/c my son is intolerant to cow's milk. But, it doesn't have the natural fats that babies need so we breastfed until 18 months, because it is so much healthier than any of the milks (cow or otherwise) in the store.

So if you don't want to give cow's milk to drink, my suggestion would be to introduce yogurt, etc, at age one assuming there isn't an allergy or intolerance to it, and keep nursing.

We use coconut milk for drinking and rice milk for cooking due to a dairy allergy.

Nursing is best as long as child/mom are interested.

Talk to a nutritionist/peditrition. From birth to 2yo, children need plenty of good fats for brain development. Whole cow's milk provides this. So does breast milk. My son started taking a fish oil supplement at 16 mo when we discovered the dairy allergy. Even "big" kids need the fat - its not about body weight at this age, its about brain debelopment.

Soy milk is not recommended for several reasons. I would look into it thoroughly before deciding, including getting advice from professionals.

Good luck!

Why not keep nursing?

Cow's milk is just a substitute for human milk, and anything else is a substitute for a substitute. Why not just stick with the real thing for awhile longer?

Our daughter started drinking goat's milk after we finished breastfeeding. She thrives on it! She is now 5 and still loves it.

Coconut milk is great too! I wouldn't touch soy with a 100 foot pole.

I like the advice that Jilly gave you! You could totally go the yogurt route and be just fine. My kids love kefir, which is very, very healthy for you.

Good luck!

Coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk, soy milk.

My 4 year old loves soy milk (silk). We buy coconut milk sometimes too, but she likes the soy milk better.

My baby just turned one and I am using almond milk and soy milk. He is doing fine.

I've never used it, but quite a few people I know use soy milk. Goat's milk is also another alternative.

Why not skip the milk altogether? You can get the nutrients from other sources. Yogurt has both calcium and the needed fat. Green leafy veggies contain calcium.

Our pedi then (3 years ago) said to use milk products not milk. For example, good bio yogurts and so forth. She was never a fan of cow's milk -- just the products.

Goat or almond milk, no soy.

My kids drank goats milk for a year or so after I stopped breastfeeding and they really liked it. It was local and organic, so no worries about all the hormones that cows milk can have in it. After that we've used a variety of coconut, almond, rice and soy milk. None have the level of fats and nutrients that animal milk do, so if you use one of those you'll need to supplement to ensure your son is getting enough fat.

My son drank a lot of soy milk when he transitioned off of (soy) formula. Did just fine! I still give him soy and almond milk. Goat milk is also very good but pricey.