What does it mean to be lactose intolerant? What symptoms will our kids have if they shouldn’t have milk? What should we give our kids if they can’t have milk? Was cow milk intended to be a human food?
I grew up drinking milk with every meal. I saw the comercials that said, “Got Milk?” and heard the jingles saying, “Milk’s good for you.” I was taught in elementary school that milk products are an important part of a healthy diet.
I also noticed that my baby brother didn’t do well with cow milk baby formula. I heard about lactose intolerance and wondered why some people couldn’t drink milk if it was an important part of our diet.
While life’s given me questions, I’ve also found some answers. Here’s what we’ve learned through our experience with kids and dairy problems.
Dairy and Nutrition
I wrote in another post about Simple Nutrition for your Kids. In 2011 we learned about nutrition and changed our diet. We saw several benefits from that. One thing we learned then is that milk and other drinks with calories need to be thought of as food. Milk has protein, fast carbs (lactose), fat, and calcium as its main nutrients. If there’s already a full serving of protein, fast carbs, and fat in a meal, adding a glass of milk is not necessary or wise. If you want milk in your meal, plan it that way. If you’re just thirsty, drink water.
More about the nutrition of milk can be found on WebMD here.
Our Kids’ Dairy Issues
Over the years our kids have had several episodes with dairy problems. Here’s what we learned through taking care of them.
Dairy problems after a sick tummy
When baby #5 was about 3, he had a severe stomach flu. The memories of his little body being jolted by his vomiting still makes me sad. When he was better, we gradually got him back to his normal diet. Then he would come to me once in a while, about half an hour after we’d eat, and ask me to rub his tummy. He was obviously in pain. I didn’t know what to make of it.
With what I believe was heavenly help, my husband came across some information online that said people can develop temporary dairy intolerance after a stomach flu. So we took him off all dairy products, and his tummy felt better. Yay! This was our first experience with “lactose intolerance” in one of our kids.
Switching to Whole Milk
If I’m questioning dairy, why would I switch to full fat milk? Isn’t it stronger?
Here’s the story: When our little #6 was still in diapers, she kept getting a rash on her bum, that I couldn’t figure out. Once again we got heavenly help with this puzzle when a friend of mine sent me an email. She was talking to me about how her baby did so much better with raw milk, and that whole milk was less of a problem than 2% milk for them. We always had 2% in our fridge. Society tells us that because we don’t need all the fat that whole milk has, we should drink low fat milk. We were about to learn a new lesson.
I tried switching to whole milk, which did help our baby’s rash! But that wasn’t the end of the story. We came to learn that when milk is modified to low fat, essential nutrients are taken out, and to replace those nutrients they add manmade vitamins. It was a synthetic vitamin that our little one was allergic to. This lesson emphasized to us the truth that food is always better when it hasn’t been messed with. If it was practical to have our own milk cow or get raw milk, that would be the healthiest way to go. If we need less milk fat, we should just drink less milk, not mess with what it is.
Baby #7 Dairy Problems
This is going to be the longest story today.
When baby #7 was about 10 months old, he wasn’t sleeping as well as my other babies had. I was sleep deprived and grouchy, and determined to figure out what was going on. I knew he breathed different than my other kids had when he slept, so I took him to an ear, nose, and throat doctor for help. He checked him out and said that he had unusually small nostrils and gave me some instructions to help make sure they were clear enough for him to breathe at night. I did those things and knew they were helping, but that didn’t solve the issue.
I kept feeling this little nudge to take him off cow milk. When I did it, he slept. Why? I have no idea. No one tells you that one of the symptoms of dairy intolerance is not sleeping good. I had to be extra careful with his dairy. I was still breastfeeding him, and I had to clear dairy out of my diet. I had to read ingredients of everything I gave him, because anything with any dairy in it would affect his sleep, which affected my sleep. Even a fun sized bar of milk chocolate was out of the question. That took a lot of effort, but I was so thankful to get some sleep. (Luckily, we don’t have to be quite that strict now.)
Yes to Yogurt
At one point this little guy had a sick tummy, and as one set of symptoms was clearing up, a new symptom came on – a bulging tummy. It was clearly uncomfortable for him, and we knew it was not good. We went to the pediatrician for help and they suggested we give him yogurt every day. Yogurt with live and active cultures has a lot of probiotics that are very good for our digestive systems. Of course we had to find a kind that was not made with cow milk, but that was easier than we thought it would be. And the yogurt did help his tummy get better. Beware of the sugar, though! Some yogurt varieties have a lot of sugar in them.
Human milk vs. Cow milk
I am a certified breastfeeding specialist. In my studies about lactation was a course dedicated to the make up of human milk, with a look at the differences in mammal milks. Each species’ milk is designed specifically for their babies’ needs. For example, cow milk is designed to grow big, beefy animals. Human milk is designed to grow a human size body with a well developed brain.
Every kind of milk has lactose, which is the naturally occuring sugar in milk. Baby mammals are very rarely lactose intolerant, or they wouldn’t be able to drink their own mother’s milk. The thing in cow milk that is often hard on human babies and children is a certain protien that is not in human milk. It can get in human milk when moms consume milk products, though, which is why nursing babies with dairy problems need their mom to be dairy free for a while.
On the other hand, when moms consume full fat dairy (whole milk, etc) the milk fat adds fat to their milk, which can be a good thing for babies that are ok with milk in their mom’s diet. Not all fats can get into breastmilk, but dairy, avocados, and nuts are good sources of natural fats to help grow your baby through your breastmilk.
There are several mammals that people have gotton milk from throughout history for their food, and still do. Goat milk is pretty common. Donkey and camel milk are more similar to human milk than cow milk is. It wasn’t until cow milk was used on a large scale in this modern age that it became the standard for “milk.”
Most baby formula is made with cow milk. Have you ever read the ingredients in baby formula? I know they design it to mimic breastmilk, but the long list of unnatural ingredients in most baby formulas is pretty unnerving. And I’ve heard of many babies having a hard time with cow milk formula. My own babies who couldn’t exclusively breastfeed had to switch to a soy formula for supplement early on. I would recommend that if you are going to use formula that you go strait for a dairy free kind with a short list of natural ingredients.
What to feed kids that aren’t ok with dairy
When I weaned #7, I knew he needed the calories and nutrients that he was missing from my milk, but I couldn’t give him cow milk. I looked around and found a local farmer selling raw goat milk. The first time I gave him a bottle of goat milk, I’ll never forget the look of satisfaction on his face. He needed that! For several months I gave him one or two bottles of goat milk each day.
When we felt like we needed to be done buying goat milk, I concocted an alternative. I started with almond milk because it was the most affordable non-cow milk. It’s also very low in any kind of calories, though, so I had to fix that. Having looked at the nutrition content of different milks, especially human milk, this I what I came up with;
- About half a cup of unsweetened almond milk (watch out for that added sugar)
- about 1 tsp vegan protein powder
- about 1/2 tsp agave nectar
- about 1/2 tsp coconut oil
He did great with it and loved it!
Here are some things we’ve used to replace dairy for our kids that needed it:
| Dairy Product | Replacements tried | Our favorite replacement |
| milk | goat milk almond milk oat milk coconut milk almond milk with added nutrients | Oat milk Almond milk with added nutrients (see above) |
| yogurt | almond milk yogurt soy milk yogurt | Almond milk yogurt |
| cheese | veggie fat cheese nutritional yeast goat cheese | Nutritional yeast and goat cheese combined |
| ice cream | coconut milk ice cream soy milk ice cream oat milk ice cream | oat milk ice cream |
| Mac’n’cheese sauce | a few different recipes | Pasta with almond milk sauce |
| Natural Calcium Sources | beans almonds colored veggies (like carrots & broccoli) hummus | all of them |
| Natural Protein Sources | beans nut butters whole grains hummus eggs meat | whole grains and nut butters |
Kids and Cow Milk
We’ve had other issues with milk in our family besides the stories I’ve told. They reaffirmed what we’d already learned. Cow milk products can cause stomach pain or sleep issues. They can be mild or severe. Dairy problems can be temporary or permanent. Cow milk is best closest to its original form. It can be a good source of nutrition, but is not necessary for a healthy body.
But I was still left with one question: Was cow milk intended to be used by humans? As I’ve pondered this question, I’ve had scriptures come to mind that I think hold the answer. Way back in the beginning, God told Adam and Eve that they had dominion over all the earth and that they had the plants and the animals for their food. (Genesis 1:28-30) I think this includes cows and their milk.
And in a modern day scripture we read, “Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof: all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving: nevertheless they are to be used sparingly:” (Doctrine and Covenants 89: 11-12) I believe that when it talks about the animals it includes their milk.
These examples have led me to believe that cow milk is just one of so many food sources that Heavenly Father has given us to nourish our bodies. If we like it and our bodies handle it well, we should use it with “prudence and thanksgiving,” like we should do with all our food.
Thanks for reading my post. I hope it had some helpful insights for you, to help you enjoy your adventure.
