What milk substitute is best?

[roimata9]

Hi
I'm trying to find a dairy/soy free milk alternative. My LO is 10.5 month and is BF, but I'm going back to work part time and would like to find an alternative for him during the day, as expressing just doesn't work for me.
At the moment he has BFs when he wakes up, then around 2, 6 and then a DF. I'm reluctant to drop the DF as it's when he drinks the most, but would like to drop the 2pm feed and bring the 6pm one earlier.
I've started him on rice milk, which he loves. He'll happily down 250ml at a time. But I'm interested in alternatives that give a bit more nutrition. Really the only benefit I see from the rice milk is that it is a way of getting more fluids into him. I've tried making rice milk and adding sesame seeds for some extra calcium and flax oil for some healthy fats with dates as a sweetener. I don't know how bio-available the calcium is from the seeds though.
What milks have people tried that work for them?

[Peek-a-boo]

I like hemp milk--it has a better nutritional profile than rice milk, but it is expensive.  Check the level of sugar in the various brands.  Some have quite a bit, others have very little. 

I also like coconut milk.  There are coconut milk beverages available, but you're paying for a lot of water and some calcium fortification.  I buy the canned coconut milk (organic, BPA-free can) and dilute it 1 part coconut milk to 3 parts water to make a coconut milk beverage that we use as our standard milk substitute for cooking, baking, etc. This is less expensive, but there is no added calcium. 

Having said all of that, I opted for extended breastfeeding with my kids and none of them have ever really accepted any milk substitute as a beverage.   

[Buntybear]

Hi, there are loads of posts about this if you have a browse around.

Rice milk isn't recommended in the uk until after 5 years old,

We use oat milk, but there is also hemp, coconut, almond etc or even at 10.5 months a HAF?

[Lemonthyme]

So it's the 2pm feed you want to get rid of?  Have you considered substituting with food?  You might find a snack and water would do the trick.  I substituted daytime breast feeds around this age as I was going back to work at 11.5 months.

The other thing that might be worth thinking about is hand expressing.  Around this age I found it almost impossible to use a pump but hand expressing worked.  I could at least get 2oz in a sitting with less hassle than the pump.

[abbysmomma]

just thought i'd mention the small amount of arsenic found in rice milk. it's why i stopped rice milk with ds. almond milk is great if you don't have any nut allergies. we do coconut milk as well (drinkable kind) but to be honest he doesn't really drink anything other than water. i breast fed 'til 18 months to give him as much asi could. i would keep up the breast feeds when you're with your LO, and try and get some good fats (ie avocado), calcium thru foods, and vit D drops. good luck!

[green100]

We've been using hemp milk. Started out with the unsweetened kind, but switched to the original brand which is sweetened with cane sugar because DD drank more that way. Realistically it has no more sugar in it then milk, but you have to watch because it does have a lot less fat, so we've been eating lots of avocado and adding olive oil to some foods.