Selfsufficientish.com

I don't use dairy products at all but SWMBO liked her milk. I bought her a milk maker (they're basically liquidiser and heating element sitting in a jug, but obviously there's a bit more to them than that) and she's converted, no problem.

It's partially because you're more in control - you can make 'milks' from lots of things, not just soya beans - partially it's fun and partially there's a lot less packaging and transport of packaging involved. You can buy (let's say) cashews or mung beans loose, putting them in your own bags, no packaging to throw away, wherever 'away' is.

Once your chosen nut or bean or whatever is soaked (not always necessary), your 'milk' is ready in under 20 minutes and is hot for cereal or drinks and I must admit, cashew milk is particularly nice.

We're not gadget people but this is one of the very few I'd say is worth it for sheer ease. It's possible to do this sort of thing manually and she may, once this machine has run its course. Add to it, though, the massive reduction in packaging etc and the fact that it's fresh and organic stuff. People who are not outright lacto-fanatic could easily be converted, I'm sure. I bought one after scouring reviews and she's been using it twice a week for a year now quite happily.

all the supermarkets do goats milk now, its easy to get a hold of.

I thinkI wil make my own "milk" with the thermomix, it is a very powerful blender and has a heating element too, I gave him a pice of pizza with Mozzerella yesterday, today the itchy rash has started again:) turns out we both (husband and I ) gave him milk on the same morning and cheese in his lunch last week- that day we were called to pick him up from daycare due to his bad behaviour which had never happened before!

the thing is though that kids need milk. humans have been thriving on milk for thousands of years because it is benificial to us. if you start to 'make' your own milk then you have to add loads of stuff to it to make it nutritionally like natural milk.
try switching to goats milk first and if that doesnt sort things out then you should speak to your dietition/doctor to work out a dietry plan to make sure hes not missing out on anything nutritionally.
as i said before, goats milk is the most similar milk to human milk for its nutritional qualities, and is the least allergenic. you can get goats butter, cheese, milk, yogurt and cream, just like cows. its sold in the supermarket, right next to the cows milk, its not difficult to get a hold of.
kids need all the components that make up natural milk to grow and be healthy, its not wise to completly cut out dairy from your kids diet.
if your not sucsessful switching to goats milk then you should really consult your doctor for futher professional dietry advice.

Actually, you'll find the majority of humans can't tolerate milk.

I would disagree that children need milk. My youngest son self weaned with no problems at 14 months. If he needed milk he would still be nursing. We have not replaced his milk intake with animal milk - he just has food and is thriving. I have been dairy free for many years with no problems.

JuzaMum

greenorelse wrote:Actually, you'll find the majority of humans can't tolerate milk.

Sounds a bit unlikely. Got any links to proper science? I know a couple of people who have found their asthma / eczma improved after cutting out milk, but otherwise no-one else I know seems to show any ill effects from the stuff. Just a personal sample, I appreciate.

the majority of humans have evolved to be lactose tollerent, since people started drinking animal milk after infancy. in the few cultures today who have never drank animal milk, the majority of them are lactose intollerant. we all have genes which are supposed to switch off the lactose tollerence by the age of 4 , after we have been weened. however, we have since evloved to override these genes because of our continued milk drinking into adulthood. drinking animal milk has benifited mankind, supplying us with more nutrition, vitamins, minerals, protine, fats ect in such a way that we have evolved to stay lactose tollerent throughout our lives. we, as a spieces, have been clever enough to learn to harvest milk from other animals because of its nutritional benifits. as a result we are stronger and healthier for it.

I've also heard this - about having a gene to shut off milk tolerance at about the age of 4. Nothing proper to back it up though I'm afraid!

iv learned a bit about it a uni.

also theres a section in the book 'the ancestor's tale' by Richard Dawkins, page 31-33.

iv also read about it in another book but cant remember what one
i think it was in 'what on earth happened' by Christopher Lloyd, but i cant find the page.

I am not sure that humans need milk, my boy gets calcium from tahini, almonds and leafy greens and some fish with edible bones, good fats from fish and nuts and protein from eggs and plenty of vitamin D from the Australian sun and the replacement with non dairy milk is a psychological one rather than a physically needed one, I have studied some nutrition (more than the 2 hours that Doctors in Australia study without specialising) and haven't found that milk is needed, I have found that cow milk can be hard to digest but unfortunately until we get our own goat we aren't going to be able to switch him to goats milk (unless it is absolutely necessary for his health) as it is $5 a litre.

Anyway Jessie, how has he been ?

I like Milk.

boboff wrote: I like Milk.

Me too. It makes evolutionary sense for us to be able to digest anything that happens our way in the protein-rich line. A gene that switches off the abilty to digest milk doesn't really make sense.

It's quite emotive though isn't it?
I recall sometime ago the theory that Humans can't process the Calcium in Milk after a certain period.
Still science, evolution, sence etc can all pail when you have a child going of the rails.....

A gene that switches off the abilty to digest milk doesn't really make sense.

The natural cycle would be for a young one to wean off mother's milk, so it wouldn't evolutionally be necessary to still digest milk. In exacly those societies where herding cows has become big business (like e.g. north-western Europe) lactose intolerance is less prevalent. So evolution has been at work: people who could benefit from the extra proteins etc had higher survival rates, so the genectic failure to swith off the gene after weaning has become more prevalent. But survival isn't the same as health. You only need to survive until you've successfully reproduced for the species to thrive. So where milk may have aided in the survival of the species, there also seem to be some problems.

I don't like to quote scientific articles out of context if I don't know what I'm talking about, but I've read in several sources that it seems that cultures who traditionally use little or no milk, ostheoporosis and bone fracturing are less frequent than in cultures where lots of milk is consumed.

Obviously humans don't need milk after weaning. For those of us who can digest milk in may be all right to consume it, but the idea that it's extremely healthy or even essential is largely encouraged by a 'milk lobby'. At least that's what I think.