Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

My son will be 1 next week and I am trying to determine what would be the best milk to transition him to. He is still breastfed and is dairy intolerant -- I'm hoping he's starting to outgrow it but I'd prefer to trial yogurt/cheese/baked in dairy before going straight to cows milk and my supply is starting to dry up -- what non-dairy milks have other parents had success with? I was thinking hemp milk because I have read that it is the most nutrient rich of the non dairy milk available. Opinions?

Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

Dd allergist recommended fortified rice milk. We tried it and dd would not drink it (I didn't like it either). I introduced cow's milk in a cooked food then a week later we introduced yogurt. We gave dd yogurt for a week then attempted milk in a cup. Dd refused it. She still will not drink it. In the end we did no milk--Dd's pediatrician said as long as she gets a vitamin d supplement and sufficient calcium from foods she does not need it--she was eating three meals a day plus snacks by one and would drink only water or breastmilk. At one dd was nursing three times a day- the afternoon and bedtimes sessions were very short.
Dd is thriving--she is in the 90%tile for height and the 60%tile for weight.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

Dd was on an rx formula for very severe milk protein allergy. She refused everything we tried : rice milk, almond milk, coconut milk. Ultimately, we followed the same path as pp - we introduced dairy milk and she hated that too but could tolerate diary by 13 months. - she eats dairy in cheese and yogurt. Peds say it's fine - Americans are held up over the fact that kids need to drink MILK but any dairy is fine.

Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

I did soy milk at first bc it had the highest amounts of fat and protein of what I saw in store. I didn't like the idea of soy so we enbed up switching to almond milk. The ped said his concern was that she get her calcium from something,milk or otherwise. Dd has tons of yogurt and while she drank the milk she often only took an ounce or two in a day but I didn't worry about it.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

I would try hemp. My son was not dairy intolerant but because we started before 1, we tried rice first, but the findings about arsenic scared me. I didn't want soy, so I ended up just going to cows milk, but I think hemp would be the best substitute.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

I started out with almond because it had a high amount of calcium and vitamin D, more than cow's milk actually. I stopped the almond milk when I found out that almonds are heavily sprayed with pesticides. I would have used organic almond milk, but it's hard to find.

At this point, I switched to flax milk. There's a brand called Good Karma that makes a version with extra protein.

Now DD drinks cashew milk. It's creamier than flax and has a lot of calcium and vitamin D.

Whichever non-dairy choice you make I would suggest 2 things-

Each type comes in a sweetend and unsweetened version so I mixed about each type equally and then eventually lessened the sweetened part little by little. I think the sweetness helped DD transition from BM.

Also, I would look out for Carragenen in the ingridients, it's a possible carcinogen.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

We use almond and cashew interchangeably. Sometimes we go to the coconut blends if I happen to grab that. We do it because we choose not to drink dairy, but dd doesn't drink much milk in general. Most of her calcium comes from other things in her diet.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

Almond or coconut milk.

Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

I breastfed my dd for a while but she slowed down a bit after age one. I used to give her coconut milk as she hadn't been introduced to nuts at that point. Trader joes and whole foods also I think natures promise from stop and shop sell it WITHOUT carageenan. There is some controversy over this ingredient as it is derived from seaweed but many feel it's inflammatory. We try and stay away from inflammatory foods so we avoid it.

Don't worry too much about not giving a lot of dairy. My dd never drank cows milk and we've recently cut most all dairy like yogurt cheese and milk products to help control her asthma.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

My daughter is allergic to milk. She is also allergic to peanuts & tree nuts. I stopped nursing at 14 months and she has a combination of hemp, coconut, and soy. I try and limit the soy--the majority of her "milk" intake is Hemp. I buy organic and fortified with calcium and Vitamin D.

eta: As PP mentioned, I only use products without carageenan.

Message edited 10/3/2015 2:03:27 PM.

Re: Transitioning from breastmilk to non-dairy milk

we did soy with my son. he loved it and still drinks chocolate in soy milk in the mornings at 3. He outgrew dairy issues at 2.5 but doesn't like regular milk. my dd is mspi so well prob. do hemp thought i can't stand the taste of it