My daughter has suffered from GERD most of her little life. With medication and time we were finally able to contain the symptoms and ease her pain. As a result she could only handle Enfamil Neutramigen formula. When she turned one I tried whole milk and that did not go well. We have done allergy testing and everything came back clear so her doc thinks that even though she may not be allergic she does have a serious sensitivity. She eats cheese, yogurt etc...with no problems, its just milk. We have been on silk soy milk and she seems to be doing well. Does anyone have any thoughts/experiences on any of the following types of milk?
Just another suggestion for you. Have you tried Lactaid? (Lactose free cow's milk). It seems to have worked wonders for my son, and it even comes in whole milk. We've also used Silk, and he likes that too.
my son had failure to thrive issues after he turned one and we intoduced cows milk. due to positive allergy tests he was put on Elecare Vanilla. it, like Enfamil Neutramigen formula, is broken down protins. Elecare is broken down competley to basic amino acids so it can be tolerated by those who can't have milk or soy. It isn't found in stores, we have to order it via home medical supplier, and insurance only covers 80 of this really pricey option. it's the only thing that has brought my son back on to the growth charts. A doctor must percrbcribe it but it isn't a percription for say. my son has Eosinophilic esophagitis which is a cause of some kids GERD issues. might be something to research and confirm with your doctor/gastroenterologist to make sure it isn't an underlying cause.
Go with whole goats milk if she can handle it. It has all the vitamins of cows milk and the recommended fat/cholesterol for 1yr olds.
Soy milk would be the next best, making sure she gets fat/cholesterol from other sources.
Rice milk isn't as nutritious and should only be used if nothing else works.
Don't give up on cow's milk completely. He may out grow his sensitivity.
My daughter is allergic to milk. She cannot handle any dairy products except yogurt. I have found that my daughter has a tendency to get constipated on the soy milk, so we switch off. My children really enjoy the vanilla almond milk. They also have original and chocolate. The box is smaller like the rice milk, has the consistency of skim milk and is sweeter. I even got them to eat cereal that said it contained twigs and they had no problem eating it since the milk gives it a little more flavor. According to my children the Costco brand soy milk tastes like marshmellows and since it is so much cheaper than the silk we switch off between those two.
My 2-year-old has been drinking soy milk since he transitioned from breast milk. I've heard that goat's milk is better and most like human milk. He won't drink cow's milk or goat's milk though. I would suggest that you do a rotation of milks, even if your daughter mainly drinks one. That way she gets a variety of sources of protein, calcium. I usually don't use rice milk because it seems less nutrient packed/fortified. The Silk Enhanced Soymilk with DHA is the one we prefer. The Silk made "just for kids" has about double the sugar. Sugar gives me heartburn, at least while pregnant, so I wonder if it's best for you to find the milk with the least amount of sugar in it. My husband and I also like the Unsweetened Silk Soymilk. The others are so sweet, especially when eating dinner or something.
good luck!
L., I think it is really preference. My daughter is 4 and we just figured out that she is lactose intolerant. She tried all variations of original, vanilla, chocolate, rice, soy, almond.... She likes vanilla & chocolate almond milk the best. I didn't see that on your list, so give it a try!
We have an almost 2 year old who has been on goat's milk since he was about a year old. He loves it! He could only drink Similac sensitive formula beforehand and had reacted to other regular formulas. Like your little one, he is able to eat cheese and yogurt without any (or many) reactions. We haven't had him tested for allergies or anything, just talked to his pedi and kind of made our own plan of action. We actually haven't tried whole milk with him, just to give his body as much time as we can to avoid a serious dairy/lactose problem. So I would highly recommend goat's milk. There is a very strong after taste, so what we did to transition to goat's milk from formula was to add a little formula (a scoop or 2) to the goat's milk and gradually wean down from that. Worked well for us. Hope you can figure something out.
We have been using rice milk and it makes our daughter very constipated. I wouldn't suggest it. Rice is part of the BRAT diet so it I guess it makes sense. Our daughter too had reflux till she was one. And soy milk made her really gassy. Our doctor said that children who have issues with milk generally can't handle soy either. As of now we don't have our daughter on any milk and she is doing much better. Hope that helps.
Hello L.,
Definitely Goats milk - I wish I had better researched this question when I was looking for a milk substitute for my daughter. Rice milk has way to much sugar SAME FOR ALMOND MILK NOT TO MENTION -NO REAL GOODNESS in it and soy milk is just plain bad bad bad not to mention all the phyto estrogens in it
- THEY SAY IF YOU GIVE YOUR KID SOY FORMULA IT'S LIKE GIVING THEM 5 BIRTH CONTROL A DAY -
So I say Goats milk (but remember that you will need to supplement with extra folate & possibly, iron - I found a great raw one(goats) and then finally went to wonderful raw cows milk and both my kids tolerate it so much better - besides all the breast milk they had :) good luck in all you do! Cheers, L.- mother of 2 healthy kiddos - 3yo boy & 4yo girl. ps goats milk is more digestable and so is aged cheese (from cows milk)
