Giving your kid cow’s milk after year one

Ok…so, what’s the deal with dairy?

I am raising my family on an almost entirely* plant-based diet and Nicole is raising omnivores. Despite our differences, we agree animal products provide a lot of nutrition for burgeoning bodies. Until they are 18 months old, babies need 50% of their calories from fat. That’s like a cup of macadamia nuts a day, which by my estimate is roughly $9,406 in nuts per kid per year.

Trying to get that much fat into a one-year-old without meat and dairy will require you to quit your day job and spend all day blending flax oil, avocado, and cashews into your baby’s vegan paella. (This may, or may not, be what I did for the first two years of my kids’ lives. And it’s a lifestyle choice we support, as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into.)

Cow’s milk is not the only way to get fat into your kid, but when you’re sleep deprived, stressed, and are known to accidentally put salt in your coffee, a cup of cow’s milk is a sure thing. You don’t have to calculate calories from fat. You don’t have to concoct plant-based fat cocktails. You just have to pour whole milk into a sippy cup—just don’t forget to secure the lid.

Ok, so dairy is good?

Yes, and no.

Dairy is full of fat which gives little bodies the cholesterol they need to turn into bigger, stronger bodies. Cholesterol, like your college boyfriend, is complicated and has a bad reputation, but (unlike said boyfriend) you need it. Cholesterol lines our cells. Little bodies need cholesterol to protect their nerves and to make certain hormones, and cow’s milk is a great source for it. 

Cow’s milk is also naturally calcium-rich. You probably know calcium is important for strong bones, but growing bodies also need calcium for the functioning of the nervous system and to activate muscles during physical activity. Calcium is so important that if the body isn’t getting enough it will steal the calcium stored in the bones, which creates SO. MANY. PROBLEMS. In kids, calcium deficiency can cause rickets which softens the bones, delays growth and motor skills, causes pain and weakness, and is the stuff parenting nightmares are made of. 

Because cow’s milk is a popular, pediatrician-recommended beverage for children, most brands of milk add extra nutrients to help growing bodies get everything they need.  Cow’s milk is fortified with vitamin D, which is clutch (are we using that word in 2022?) because vitamin D deficiency also causes rickets. (See parenting nightmares above.)

Cow’s milk contains naturally occurring DHA and some milk is fortified with even more DHA. DHA is a type of omega-3 fatty acid found in oily fish like salmon and tuna. It’s essential for kids’ brain development, eye health, nervous system development, and heart health. DHA is so important for babies’ development that breastfeeding mothers produce it in their breastmilk and formula companies add it to their infant formulas. 

This all sounds pretty good, so what’s the problem?

The problem is that milk production in the United States is suspect.

1. Conventional cow’s take antibiotics

If you were around for the vegetarian food documentaries of the early 2000s, you may know the U.S. grows its cows quickly, cheaply, and in close, unsanitary quarters. The big ‘ol dairy cows American dreams are made of are given hormones to make them over-produce milk and antibiotics to keep them from getting mastitis, among other infections.

In conventional farming, animals get low doses of antibiotics to prevent infections like salmonella and campylobacter which probably won’t kill you but may make you wish you were dead. Besides keeping humans from contracting such diseases, the antibiotics keep the cows from getting sick. Milk is money and a sick cow doesn’t produce as much milk as one hopped up on a z-pak.

Remember: our guts are full of helpful bacteria that help us digest our food and are crucial for our immune health.

Antibiotics change cow’s microbiomes, killing off everything except antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria make eleventy million baby bacteria which can spread to humans if they eat improperly-handled meat or animal feces—like the feces in the fertilizer you’re using in your tomato garden. 

While antibiotic residue can transfer to humans through cow’s milk. There is mixed information on how likely it is that your milk has antibiotic residue in it. A 2019 Cambridge study found most samples from conventionally produced milks sold in the USA contained residue from at least one antibiotic. The dairy industry tells a different story. Big Dairy says they test every batch of milk for antibiotic residue, and if the sample tests positive, the whole tanker of milk (often $10,000+ worth) is discarded. Antibiotic residue in cow’s milk poses a public health hazard. It can damage your gut microbiome and cause antibiotic resistance which complicates things if you ever need antibiotics for an ear infection or to prevent certain death.

Even if we take Big Dairy’s word that they are pumping and dumping antibiotic-ladden milk (we don’t), we have to imagine some antibiotics will spill through the cracks. And that’s not a risk we’re willing to take.

2. Conventional dairy farming messes with cow’s hormones

bST is the growth hormone that regulates milk production in cows. It’s naturally occurring, but there is a manmade version called Posilac farmers can give their cows to increase their milk production. Posilac has been linked to health problems and is banned in Europe and Canada, but we’ve been using it in the U.S. since 1993, and the FDA has no limits on how much bST is too much bST. 

To be fair, because of its bad reputation, this manmade hormone is decreasing in popularity. But, if you’re buying conventional milk, it may be hard to ensure bST was not used. Even when milk is labeled as organic or hormone-free, there is no commercial test for synthetic bST. Farmers just sign an affidavit saying they don’t use it, and we take their word for it.

Growth hormones aren’t the only hormone used in dairy production. Conventional dairy farmers use fertility drugs to control and improve cow’s reproductive cycles. It’s hard to find information on how fertility drugs affect cow’s milk, which begs questions like should we be worried about this? Is there no information because it’s harmless or is there no information because no one has done any research on it?  These are questions we’d like the answers to before we fill our kids’ sippy cups.

3. Most cow’s milk in the United States is homogenized.

When you refrigerate a cup of coconut milk or chicken soup, the fat solids float to the top. When you refrigerate cow’s milk—even if it’s half and half or heavy cream—it does not separate. It stays together like a beautiful, creamy, drinkable cloud because this is America and we prefer milk that keeps it together. 

Homogenization breaks down fat particles and makes them extra tiny so milk doesn’t separate. The fat is removed from the milk, homogenized, then put back in standardized quantities. (Because this is America where our milk tastes the same no matter which cow it came from!) 

These new fat particles are so tiny they are absorbed directly by the bloodstream, giving the digestive system a little holiday from its life-sustaining job of filtering out what we don’t need. So, if the cow whose milk you’re drinking popped a z-pak before milking hour, you may be getting a second-hand dose of antibiotics straight to the bloodstream. The research on the effects of homogenized milk is inconclusive. But even if the unsubstantiated reports that link homogenization to cancer and heart disease are totally wrong, a shot of animal fat straight to the bloodstream is questionable. 

4. Milk is full of saturated fat

On its own, saturated isn’t necessarily terrible, but when combined with a lot of other saturated fats, it can raise LDL cholesterol which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. There are compelling studies that link saturated fat to inflammation—and we know inflammation plays a role in many of the most commonly seen diseases in the U.S., including Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Humans don’t need saturated fat to survive. We do, however, need fat to survive, and growing kids need a lot of it. When tiny babies are growing into big kids, ensuring they get enough fat is more important than the type of fat they get. Though, there is a point (usually after 2 years old) when you need to take a good look at where your toddler’s calories are coming from. 

We are of the opinion that if you have a kiddo who loves chicken fingers and french fries with a side of whole milk, the whole milk is not the concern, the fingers and fries are. This is part of a larger conversation about balanced diets and overcoming picky eating. 

If your tiny humans are amazing eaters, you have a huge opportunity to swap out some of their saturated fat for unsaturated fats by giving them less dairy and more foods like avocado, olive oil, pecans, flax oil, flax seeds, and other nuts and seeds. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend people older than 2 years of age get less than 10% of calories per day from saturated fat. For kids ages 1 to 3, 30% to 40% of their calories should come from fat. We just want to limit saturated fat if we can. 

Milk production in the United States is a problem 

Yep. We said it. 

We know milk is probably the most important source of nutrition for kids between 1 and 2 years old until they develop a hearty appetite for a variety of foods, but we have a problem. 

We pump cows full of steroids and hormones to make them bigger and expedite their sexual maturity so they can reproduce sooner. We push them to produce more milk with synthetic bovine growth hormones. They are prone to infections from being hooked up to an industrial breast pump in close (and probably gross) conditions 24/7. They get cow-sized doses of antibiotics to help prevent disease, but it doesn’t eliminate the risk of germs like Brucella, Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella.

So we pasteurize milk, which reduces the risk of getting listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, Q fever, or brucellosis from sick cows and mishandled milk. But, pasteurization also kills all the beneficial bacteria in the milk. Any microbes that could have improved your digestion and immune system and the enzymes that help break down fat are zapped by pasteurization, and you’re left with a glass of antibiotic-and-hormone infused, saturated fat that’s been robbed of its microbial benefits. 

The problem isn’t that pasteurization kills the good guys as much as we need to pasteurize milk because of how it’s produced.

The more you know, the more grossed out you get.

Well, I’m sufficiently grossed out by dairy now. But, what if I buy organic?

Whether you’re asking about mangoes or milk, organic is always a better option if it’s available and fits in your budget. However, organic isn’t always perfect. 

The USDA does not allow the use of antibiotics in cows that produce organic milk, which is an upgrade over conventional milk. Organic dairy farmers don’t use bovine growth hormones and they don’t use hormones to make the reproduction process more efficient. But organic milk is still milk. It has a lot of saturated fat; it’s still pasteurized and homogenized, and it’s expensive.                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Ok, so what should I do?

For busy parents whose kids are still drinking a lot of leche, cow’s milk is the most nutritionally dense option for growing kiddos. It’s not the only option though. 

However–and this is a BIG however—dropping dairy is not a simple 1:1 swap. 

Over the next month, we’re going to give you some plant-based cow’s milk alternatives to consider. Just like cow’s milk, plant-based milks have their benefits and their shortcomings. We’re going to help you make the best choice for your fam, but for now, keep doing what you’re doing. It’s gotten you this far, so you’re doing a stand up job.

Note:  If your kids are under two, or if 50% of more of their calories from fat still come from milk, don’t make any sudden changes. Your family’s immediate nutritional needs should take priority over the potential long-term effects of drinking cow’s milk. And you should always consult with your child’s healthcare provider if you have concerns about your child’s health. 

*I give my daughters a high quality fish oil supplement from Nordic Naturals because there are very few vegan sources of DHA and plant-based DHA supplements are less bioavailable than fish. DHA is super important for brain and eye health—and since my daughters’ prematurity has significantly affected their eye health, it’s not something I mess around with.