I’m on the fence about giving my kids cow milk. After a bad reaction transitioning my oldest daughter from breast milk to cow’s milk when she was 12 months old, I started researching the best options for a child with a milk allergy. It wasn’t easy- soy milk came with its own slew of issues, rice and almond milk weren’t nutritionally complete, hemp milk was still new to the shelves. Coming from a European family, I had a host of suggestions which included goat milk. I was told by older family members that in Greece and Cyprus, if a baby was unable to receive breastmilk and wet nurses weren’t available, they would give the child goat or donkey milk. Yes, DONKEY milk. Donkeys aren’t commonly milked in the United States, but thankfully goat milk is easy to access for human consumption. There’s one caveat, however- when goat milk is to be used as a toddler milk, it must be fortified with certain nutrients that are lacking. Our pediatrician did not recommend fresh goat milk in the dairy section of the supermarket, but rather the powdered formula that was enhanced with vitamins, making it more nutritious for my growing toddler.
