Has Anyone Used Goats Milk as a Supplement?

We used goat milk to supplement my daughter who has a milk allergy. She has a mild allergy but can not tolerate cow's milk even now that she is 17 months old. We have continued to give her one bottle a day just to get some milk in. She tolerates it well. Know that goat milk tends to not stay fresh long and is a little hard to find. I have found that Wholefoods, super Walmart and David's Market (Bel Air)have fresh and i know that Weis carries condensed goat milk that you just add water. My pediatrician suggested this over trying soy and I have been really pleased.
L.

I have read that goat milk is the most tolerable animal milk meaning that very few people are allergic to it. I tried drinking it once but did not like the taste of it. You are correct to say that your daughter should not be given cow's milk until she's one year old though I believe soy milk is much more healthful than cow milk. Your daughter is smart to know that your breastmilk is the best! Do you know another breastfeeding mom who could share some breastmilk with you?
AF

I've never heard of supplementing with goats milk but i don't see why not. BUT i also don't see why you don't just offer cows milk. I know some Dr.'s say don't offer Cows milk but i think that's basically more important in families with milk allergies. So if that doesn't apply to your family i wouldn't worry.

We haven't tried goat's milk as I had breastfed my girl until she was 1year and 7 months old. However, as a physician, I strongly recommend you to try. Goat milk is one of very few which has protein formula very close to human and it is not as heavy and allergenic for baby's stomachs as cow's milk.

Raw Goats milk is fantastic, I would never use a canned or bottled formula as there are baby's that die from it every year plus it is nothing but dead calories with a bunch of cheap synthetic vitamins.

Because of a breastfeeding problem I used the Weston a Price homemade formula which uses goats milk as a base with other food based ingredients that make it more digestable. If you have questions about it let me know I teach mothers how to make it all the time and all of them have had great success with it.

http://www.westonaprice.org/children/recipes.html

Just make sure you have a good source of cows or goats milk from animals on pasture. You don't ever want to feed kids the pasturized stuff because that is now the get allergies, because the quality is so poor and it is undigestible once it is pasturized.

Hope this helps.

H.

Almmond milk is the best. If you can start your child on this it is much healthier for them throughout life as cows milk is not meant for us. Lactose allergies don't develop till adulthood but protein allergies ccan start at any age. My son has a dairy protein and soy protein allergy so it is VERY hard for us to find things he can have. Almond Milk has been a saviour. You can find it in the organic section of grocery stores. Good luck.

The reason people have given their babies goat milk is because it is the closest (most similar) to human breast milk available.

i would definitely try mixing breast milk with a formula before trying goat's milk. my babies hated formula at first too when started supplementing my breast milk it, but mixing it gives 'em a chance to get used to it slowly.
good luck!
khairete
S.

Formula is probably the easiest replacement, and mixing formula with breastmilk will probably help your baby transition. You don't have a lot of milk to spare, so I understand the hesitancy in doing that. Goat's milk is a much better choice than cow's milk for an 8 month old, but any pasturized milk is going to lack the enzymes to help your baby digest the milk. If you can get raw goat's milk, the live enzymes actually help her absorb the nutrients. Speaking of nutrients, again, goat's milk is better than cow's milk because it has nice milkfat, but it's low in folic acid and B12 vitamin. You can try to supplement that by adding nutritional yeast and giving your baby egg yolk (not egg white because that is linked with allergies until 1 year). In addition, I'm sure you've tried this, but you can also add fenugreek, mother's milk tea, oatmeal, and extra fluids to your diet to help you produce as much milk as you possibly can. I too had low milk supply, but my dd took formula without much fuss. Good luck!

My 2 year old loves goat milk as he had a severe allergy to cow's milk. As someone previously suggested, try a little goat's milk mixed with breast milk to see how she tolerates it. I would of course suggest you double check with your pediatrician before doing this. Trader Joe's carries goatmilk with Vitamin D which some of the other brands do not have.

She needs formula not any kind of milk for at least 4 more months. You need to make the transition slowly. First pump BM and put in a bottle/sippy cup and get her used to the bottle. Then if she eats 6oz at a feeding do 5 1/2oz BM add 1/2oz Formula. Then gradually adjust the mixture adding more formula to BM. Stay with one formula type while doing this don't switch around. Most kids won't immediately take formula after being breastfed exclusively. I takes patience and slow introduction. Good luck.

I dont know if this will work for her or not but my son just turned a year old and we tried to give him cows milk. He of course didnt want anything to do with it. So what we did was put one part cows milk and 3 parts formula. He drank it just fine. So in your case use 3 parts breast milk, and one part formula. Then gradually start using more formula and less breast milk, and eventually she should be fine and not notice the difference. Im not sure about the whole goats milk thing, you might need to ask you doctor if she is allowed to have that. Hope this helps

Actually, my mother was fed goats milk instead of breast milk when she was a baby because my grandmother didn't breastfeed and she couldn't have cow's milk (of course, I think this was back when formula wasn't readily available either) and she didn't have any adverse side effects.

I would ask your ped. to be sure, but I think it's probably a viable option.