The healthiest and best dairy milk substitutes to make at home for children and adults and why to avoid commercial versions even if organic.
Milk allergy affects approximately 2-5% of children worldwide.
Many times “milk allergy” simply masquerades as “pasteurization allergy”, which means that when a switch is made from processed store milk to farm fresh unpasteurized milk, the “milk allergy” magically disappears!
Why is this?
Pasteurization denatures fragile milk proteins and renders them allergenic because digestive enzymes no longer work effectively on them.
It also destroys lactase, the enzyme necessary for digesting lactose, the naturally occurring sugar in milk.
A simple switch to fresh from the farm raw milk solves both of these problems.
Beware the Plant-Based Milk Scam
In those rare instances when a child is truly allergic to cow or goat milk – even the farm-fresh variety, figuring out which plant-based milk to try can be a bewildering experience for a concerned parent.
Soy milk, also called soya bean milk, is clearly not a good option as high amounts of isoflavones (plant estrogens) disrupt the hormonal development of young children.
Commercial rice milk is high in sugar and low in nutrition with little to no protein or fats to stabilize the blood sugar.
Even store-bought almond milk is not a good choice as it is also very low in protein and fat, high in sugar, and is not made from almonds that have been properly soaked/dehydrated first to eliminate anti-nutrients.
Besides all the issues with the ingredients themselves, the tetrapak packaging of these products is incredibly toxic.
To sterilize the container, boiling hot liquid is poured into the container that is lined with thin plastic before sealing.
While this results in a long shelf life, toxins leach into the product itself! In short, you are no doubt getting a hefty serving of petrochemicals with that plant-based milk.
The short answer is to never buy alternative milk from the store if you value your health.
Fortunately, making safe, healthy milk substitutes yourself is easy. Suggestions below!
Who Should Drink Non-Dairy Milk?
Before we go any further, an important point requires clarification.
Despite being healthy, all-natural, and homemade, the milk substitutes suggested below are ONLY for adults and children older than one year.
A baby younger than one that is not breastfed should be getting a homemade formula and if allergic to milk, homemade dairy-free baby formula is best.
Goat milk formula, sheep milk formula, or camel milk formula may be used instead if the allergy is only to cow’s milk.
One final point…never use these recipes to make plant-based or vegan baby formula.
Nutritious DIY Dairy Milk Substitutes
Below is a summation of the ones I recommend trying to see which recipe works best for your family!
Coconut Milk Beverage
This healthy coconut milk beverage is made with whole coconut milk so that it is high in good fats to stabilize blood sugar in a manner similar to full-fat dairy milk.
The base is ideally homemade coconut milk. However, if you must buy, I suggest this brand or this brand of commercial coconut milk.
Powdered coconut milk is also an option, but it is quite expensive per serving. This type of product also usually contains maltodextrin and sometimes digestion-irritating gums.
Cultured Rice Milk Recipe
This fermented rice milk recipe is lightly cultured and sweetened with raw honey.
If your child is allergic to coconut as well as dairy, traditional rice milk works well. Avoid the sugar-laden, nutritionless versions from the store packaged in toxic containers!
If you prefer nonfermented beverages, this wild rice milk recipe uses soaked rice instead of fermentation. This renders the rice digestible without the slightly sour taste typical of cultured foods.
Since wild rice is not technically a grain, substituting it for brown rice is suitable for those on a grain-free diet.
Sprouted Almond Milk
This easy recipe for sprouted almond milk is a huge step up from anything you can buy from the store.
If even more digestibility is needed, you can lightly culture the beverage into fermented almond milk. This additional step provides gut-balancing probiotics and even more enzymes.
Note that while this beverage is well tolerated by most people, those who are sensitive to oxalates would be better off picking one of the other alternative milks in this list.
Almonds even if sprouted or soaked are one of the highest foods in oxalic acid.
Sprouted Oat Milk
There are a couple of different ways to make healthy oat milk (never buy commercial oat milk!).
The first is this recipe for homemade oat milk using sprouted rolled oats.
The second method is this yummy beverage from soaked oat groats.
While you normally need to cook oats after soaking or sprouting if you will be consuming the entire grain, for purposes of beverage-making, the antinutrients are sufficiently deactivated with soaking or sprouting only.
The key point here is that the fibrous portion of the grain is discarded or composted when making oat milk at home.
While I have not seen causative research on this as of yet, anecdotal evidence from those with digestive disorders indicates that the effect on digestion is not disruptive or inflammatory such as would occur when eating uncooked or lightly toasted oats (even if sprouted or soaked overnight first).
References
Eat Fat, Lose Fat
Nourishing Traditions Cookbook
Why Almond Milk and Coconut Milk from the Store Should Be Avoided
There was no mention in this post that the suggestions are only for those small percentage of children who cannot be breastfed. It’s in total contradiction to the WHO guidelines that children should be breastfed till at least two years old.
If you look through the comments several people were asking about using these substitutions for their babies under 1. She said she would add to her original blog not to use them for a child that young. These were people who were looking for alternatives. Calm down.
I loved the article right up to the point where you said something about these recipes being meant for a child over one, because under one year of age the child should be receiving…formula?! You lost me there! Why oh why would you not have said “breastmilk or formula”? Or preferably, “breastmilk or a suitable Artificial Baby Milk substitute”?
I don’t know your baby-feeding history, and I didn’t read through all the many comments here to know if there’s a reason you would exclude breastfeeding as an option, but coming from someone who calls herself the Healthy Home Economist I feel disappointed with regard to this omission.
Please understand: this is NOT an attack on people who can’t/don’t breastfeed, rather a plea to help support breastfeeding in a world in which formula companies have the upper hand in tweaking the cultural norms to make formula seem normal and breastfeeding optional. Seeing as this is World Breastfeeding Week 2012, I had to say something.
Thanks but we have the milk issue and a coconut allergy on top of that makes our options very limited.
Ladies, not every mother can breastfeed. I never could. My first was on formula because I didn’t know better and couldn’t afford to make my own. My second was on raw goat milk because I found a local dairy farm that serves raw, grassfed dairy. I’m blessed to have the farm but not everyone can breastfeed, not everyone has a farm nearby and not everyone can afford organic ingredients to make their own natural formula.
I found that when people came over to try my raw milk, they always said they had allergies or lactose issues and didn’t want to try it. So they tried the raw yogurt and kefir with no issues.
I have been following this blog for a long time now and really she is a huge supporter for BF so stop attacking! For women who can’t BF (not by choice) she present a healthy natural alternative with raw milk formula. Sadly my #5 didn’t thrive no matter what I tried so I am thankful to have a homemade alternative. Now for after 1 yr – I still make the formula and I would testify that there is such a thing as pasteurized milk allergy. People miss this & go right for soy or rice. For true raw milk casein allergies I would avoid rice & soy from personal research and other comments stated above.
Formula?! Normally LOVE Your blog, but I think you have totally missed the mark with this article unfortunately and have discredited yourself for this topic with just this one error. Breastmilk is always the best choice for a baby, even over one, if it is available.
I think she is saying that you use the formula if your child is younger than a year and has milk allergies and you need to have a substitute. Just bc you breastfeed it doesn’t mean that it will magically erase allergies. My son was hospitalized for 2 weeks for things I was eating while nursing him. She has said in videos and blog posts that breastfeeding is best numerous times! She has never advocated that her formula was better than breast milk. She is not doing that now. Of course breastfeeding is best, but it’s not always what is possible. I am currently breastfeeding my 16 month old who has severe food allergies. She is allergic to milk, even raw goats milk. I have to be on a special diet so I can breastfeed her, but I am having to wean now. There are no milk options for her, so this post gives wonderful options!
Thank you. My babies and myself have milk allergies.
“Please note that these substitutes are for a child older than one year old. A child younger than one should be getting a formula” I can’t believe you said this!!! Shouldn’t a real food advocate be advocating breast feeding?!