Another cows milk question

[Chicane]

Hey all

DS is 14 months on 3 good solids meals a day plus snacks and still having 3 BFs a day.

Should I start to give him a little bit of cows milk?

Do I actually have to give him cows milk at all, ever? he eats a big serve of yoghurt every day and often has cheese for snacks.

I understand you should give full fat cows milk - where we are you can only get it in 1 litre cartons otherwise you have to get UHT milk which I hate. Problem is I like the low fat milk and to buy a whole carton of full fat just for LO is a bit excessive as its kind of expensive...he'll only have a little bit and it will go to waste. I can get alternatives which will last longer such as oat, rice and almond milks...

thoughts?

[deb]

Oat and rice milk are pretty low in fat and he'll need to get the fat someplace. As long as he's getting plenty of good fats it's not so much a question of whether it comes from milk or not: dark meat chicken, avocados, nuts if he can tolerate them, eggs, olive oil (mixes well with guacamole!), coconut oil is fabulous (coconut milk has some naturally but we also buy the oil for cooking and for supplementing, a spoonful a day!), fish oil, butter, stuff like that (less of the veggie oil). Full fat yogurt would also be the way to go, BTW, if you can get it. I started making my own yogurt at home to save money, since the girls and I go thru a gallon (almost 4 liters!) a week easy. It'd be a way to use up any full-fat milk.

[Chicane]

That's a great idea! I can use the left over milk to make the yoghurt. Perfect!

We use olive oil for all cooking, DS loves avocado and eats probably 2-3 a week. Will start using dark meat chicken....

when you use the coconut oil for cooking do you get coconut flavouring and does it have a high burn ie. can't let it get too hot?

[deb]

Good-quality coconut oil does have a mild coconut flavor. I'm someone who always hated coconut until I had it savory instead of sweet, in some Thai food. SOOOO different, so yum!

As for cooking heat, it's actually one of the best for high-heat cooking, unlike olive oil. Coconut oil won't break down in high-heat cooking and is in fact so stable that it can be kept on the countertop in tropical climates till it gets used. I fry eggs in the stuff, I make popcorn in it - WAY nicer than veg oil for popcorn, BTW! - and when I think about it I give the girls each a spoonful of the stuff, right off the spoon! (me too)