Oat milk...any disadvantages?

[Kathryn34]

Hi
My little boy is 13 months and has being diagnosed allergic to cows milk and egg. He is breast fed and I am continuing with this but would like to give him some form of milk on cereal, cooking etc.

I don't want to express as I'm rubbish at it and I want to restrict soya products due to the controversy re: phytoestrogens, He currently has the vanilla and choc desserts for a pudding and occasionally the Swedish Glace ice-cream.

Anyway, is the oat milk any good...are there any down sides? Which brand do you use.

Any help would be massively appreciated!

Thanks

Kathryn
xx

[bevvsedge]

I heard a lot of people (on an allergy site I go on) talk about both rice milk and oat milk, one woman said she makes the oat milk herself, it looked pretty easy to do too.

Levi has to avoid all things like soya etc until he has his next set of allergy tests in december.

[gingerboots]

Hi
Oat milk doesn't contain any calcium or fat, and does of course contain gluten, which I personally think we could all do with less of in our diets!

I give my son rice milk with added calcium (there's a couple of brands and you can get it at Tesco, Sainsbury, etc). It can be used for all things you'd use milk for, including white sauces. it tastes good, a little bit nutty(ish!), and my son happily drinks it chilled for his morning and between meals drinks.

I too avoid soya milk, but he eats the Swedish Glace ice-cream. He also eats wholemeal bread, lots of broccoli and a boiled egg every breakfast, so we have the calcium angle covered there I think! His weight gain has always been fine, (and his energy levels are Duracell bunny standard!) so I've never worried about the lack of dairy fat in his diet, plus - maintaining a low body fat level now should set him up for life to maintain one, which can't be a bad thing with all this fuss about obesity!

PS - if you're confident there's no nut allergy, you can add ground almonds to your home-made cookies and cakes - loads of calcium there!

[sweston]

I've recently been on a nutrition course for Allergies (I'm a childminder, however my youngest has Bovine allergy so absolutely no beef/dairy products). On the course I asked about various alternative milks, we'd tried Soya and it was no good due to the amino acids. I was advised on the course that Soya shouldn't really be given to under 5's as a regular part of their diet anyway due to whole variety of reasons, however that Oat and Rice milk are equally satisfactory as they both have very similar effect on the digestive system - both are available with added vitamins/calcium but it was recommended that the best thing is to avoid that and instead either boost the calcium/vitamins through diet alone or with correct mix of "supplements". The amounts and types of vitamin/calcium supplements added into "milks" are aimed at adults and not children so may not be beneficial anyway. Also, we were advised that boiled eggs are not particularly high in "goodies" as they have been destroyed in the cooking process, the best way to cook is to lightly poach. Finally we were told to ensure a varied diet was served in order to get children to experience a variety of tastes/textures/vitamins/minerals, ensure that all meals contained protein and given some suggested breakfasts/snacks. Two of my favourites are : rice or oat cakes with ham, cheese, grapes (8 for <1yr, 12 for >1yr); rice or oat cakes with nut spread.

Here's a list of calcium rich food that might help, I found this on another website I use (it includes more than I had on my list from the course but we did discuss most of these):

Fish, canned salmon eaten with bones 440
Fish, canned sardines or mackeral eaten with bones 569
Molasses, blackstrap 2820, 176.2 per tablespoon
Molasses, unsulphured 672, 42 per tablespoon
Sesame butter (unhulled sesame seeds) 1022, 63.9 per tablespoon
Sesame butter/ tahini from hulled or decorticated seeds 315.2, 19.7 per tablespoon
Soy beverage, unfortified 9.8
Soy beverage, calcium-fortified variable, check nutrition information; approx 200
Tofu, firm, prepared with calcium 1721
Tofu, regular, prepared with nigari, 260
Vegetarian support nutritional yeast, variable, check nutrition information

Dark green leafy vegetables Many dark green leafy vegetables have relatively high calcium concentrations. The calcium in spinach is however, somewhat poorly absorbed, probably because of the high concentration of oxalate. A study revealed that kale, a low-oxalate vegetable, is a good source of bioavailable calcium. Kale is a member of the same family that includes broccoli, turnip greens, collard greens and mustard greens. These low-oxalate, calcium-rich vegetables are therefore also likely to be better sources of available calcium

cooked turnip greens 450
cooked bok choy 330
cooked collards 300
cooked spinach 250
cooked kale 200
parsley 200
cooked mustard greens 180
dandelion greens 150
romaine lettuce 40
head lettuce 10

Sprouts

soy 50
mung 35
alfalfa 25

Sea vegetables (seaweed)(dried powdered form)

nori 1,200
kombu 2,100
wakame 3,500
agar-agar 1,000, 62.5 per tablespoon

Beans and Peas (cooked, ready to eat)

navy beans 140
soybeans 130
pinto beans 100
garbanzo beans 95
lima, black beans 60
lentils 50
split peas 20

Grains
tapioca (dried) 300
brown rice, cooked 20
quinoa, cooked 80
corn meal, whole grain 50
rye flour, dark 40
oats 40
tortillas, corn, calcium fortified (2) 120
tortillas, flour or unfortified (2) 23
whole wheat flour 50

Seafood

shrimp 300
salmon with bones 490
mackerel with bones 600
sardines with bones 1,000

Seeds

almonds 750
hazelnuts (filbert) 450
walnuts 280
sesame seeds (whole, unhulled) 2,100
sunflower seeds 260


The following herbs contain variable amounts of calcium:

borage, lamb's quarter, wild lettuce, nettles, burdock, yellow dock


Calcium Supplementation:

If you do not consistently get enough calcium from the food alone, consider using a calcium supplement. Take calcium supplements with meals, preferably in powder forms, for best absorption. Take enough calcium to make up the difference you are receiving from your diet and the following table, depending on your age group.

infants 600 mg/day.

children (up to 10 years old) 800 mg/day

teens 1200 mg/day

adults (to age 35) 1200 mg/day

adults (35-50) 1000 mg/day

post-menopausal women 1500 mg/day

[Elaine P. Taylor]

Hello,

This is a message for ginger boots - I hope you don't mind me posting this but I have an allergy baby and was told by my paediatric dietician to avoid rice milk until 5 years old due to the natural levels of arsenic which are OK for us grown ups but too high for little ones.

I am currently without a solution, but I didn't want to not pass this on as she was really clear on this. Said Oat Milk was fine in cooking from 6 months, and we would look at options again at 12 months.

Elaine