Several Reasons Why Children Don’t Drink Cow’s Milk

The moment a woman gives birth to her baby and decides to breastfeed her newborn, she’s able to provide milk to him/her. Baby formula is designed to taste as close to the mother’s milk as possible and is often used by women who are unable to or would rather not breastfeed their baby. However, there are cases where older children decide they’d rather forgo the milk or are not able to drink it because of a lactose intolerance problem. What can you do?

There are a variety of reasons why a child chooses not to drink milk, which includes:

- Allergic
- Lactose intolerance
- Don’t like taste
- Parents may live vegan lifestyle

Whatever their reason for not consuming milk, they can still get the calcium and vitamins it provides in other sources. For those children who don’t drink it because of an intolerance, there are several milk alternatives including rice milk, soy milk or goat’s milk. The milk alternative should still have vitamin D, calcium and Vitamin A to be of any use to the child’s nutrition. Very small children should have whole fat milk since the fat is important to the development of their brain.

Soy milk has protein… just like goat and cow’s milk does. Rice milk, however, does not have a lot of protein to it. If you choose to use rice milk, be sure they get their protein in other sources. You’ll also need to get the vitamin B12 from other sources since both rice and soy milk does not contain it.

Types of Nutrients

What types of nutrients does a child get from one serving of milk? There are several nutrients they get from drinking milk:

- 10 percent of Vitamin A required
- 25 percent of Vitamin D required
- 30 percent of Vitamin B12 required
- 50 percent of Vitamin B2 required
- 300 milligrams of calcium or 35 percent of the child’s recommended allowance
- 8 grams of protein
- No more than 8 grams of fat, depends on the kind of milk consumed
- 11 grams of carbohydrates

Most people know about milk because of the calcium it gives, as it is very important to building strong teeth and bones. As a child is growing, the need for calcium will change in their bodies.

- Toddlers need about 500 milligrams every day (1 to 3 years old)
- Preschoolers need about 800 milligrams every day (4 to 8 years old)
- Children need roughly 1,300 milligrams every day (9 to 18 years old)

Other Sources Of Calcium

Again, there may be cases where your child cannot drink milk or just doesn’t like it. Whatever the reason, there are some other sources of calcium, which are:

- Broccoli,
- Calcium-fortified orange juice
- Cheese
- Instant oatmeal
- Sweet potatoes
- Yogurt
- White beans

You can also get vitamin supplements that will give them all their nutrients they can find in milk. Allow a child to spend time outdoors since the sun will give him/her some vitamin D as well.

Don’t worry too much about your child’s health if they don’t like milk or are unable to drink it. Just remember to use other food or drink sources to give them their calcium and vitamin D and your child will grow healthy teeth and bones.