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
Except that, milk from other animals is yummy…
I wanted to posit, for those who can’t get raw milk, in my personal experience, it was the homogenization that caused problems. Any problems I had with milk previously (heavy on the stomach, caused acne) disappeared when I got the non-homogenized, low temp pasteurized grass-fed milk. So there can be homogenization allergies too.
There is no need at all for milk beyond weaning, which should occur between the ages of 2 and 7, depending on the child. Why such a huge push for dairy on this page? These aren’t “modern eating fads” it’s just the way it is. We don’t need milk from another species our whole lives.
Remember that at some point in human history someone had to look at the cow and say hey, let’s drink that thing’s milk. They didn’t wander up to the first humans and just offer it.
What about breastfeeding beyond a year, a trusted wet nurse, milk sharing? I think these are great options, but the article never mentions the best option–breast milk.
Thanks so much for sharing this! Buying “real” milk is illegal where I am, so until we get our own cow or goat, I’ve got to do something for my son!
I think you’ve missed the point Sarah. I wasn’t making a judgement about, or questioning the way you fed your children. What I am deeply concerned about is that you wrote this post to position yourself as somewhat knowledgeable about infant & child nutrition and yet you stated that the best food for those under one is formula, and the best milk for those over one is raw cow’s milk. This is utterly incorrect as in both cases the best choice is breastmilk. I agree with Alisa that this discredits anything you have to say on the topic of infant & child nutrition.
Unbelievable.
What’s the reasoning behind leaving the almond milk on the counter for 2 days?
I know, it’s just, as I said in a comment on your website:
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 [well, now I do–thanks], 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.
Yeah, we get it. She added her comment about not giving the substitutions to a child under one bc enough people were asking her about giving them to a child under one that she wanted to make it clear that if you were using a substiution for a child under one the ones she listed were not approriate and formula was the better option (as a substitution). Believe it or not not everyone breast feeds for a year or more and are looking for the best substitute.
I breastfed all 3 of my children for 2-4 years but many women need alternatives if this is not possible and there is a dairy allergy once the child is weaned.
Or simply no milk, the only milk a human needs is mother’s milk for the first year or so.
^she mentions they should be over a year of age in the post, a lot of people do not breast feed that long, which is why this is a good alternative to those of us who have dairy intolerance. Also it’s good information for adults too.