I do rice/almond milk with my daughter because it creates a complete protein. My daughter could not handle cow's milk and after a serious stomach flu developed an inability to digest even raw goats milk. One thing that is important when not doing animal milk is to make sure your child is getting enough fats. This was the concern that my ped had, they need it for brain development. I supplement with fish oil and olive oil myself but flax oil and olive oil would work just as well, that gives a large range of vitamins and dha and other good things I personally think soy as a staple is a bad thing, especially processed soy. I did some research about this a while back when my daughter had to go on formula and I would highly recommend doing some research on the subject yourself. If I still had the papers I read I would link them but I don't.

if you read either of ina may gaskin's books, you'll find out that the entire farm community are strict vegetarians (a.k.a. vegans). they raise all of their kids on soy. not from birth, obviously, they advocate breastfeeding of course, but their entire community consumes soy. my family is vegetarian as well (the only animal product we consume is rennet-free cheese) & we use soy a lot. both my dh & my son have mild eczema & i suspect it might be a reaction to soy. it really is a small price to pay, as long as they're not convulsing or vomiting, but we don't go overboard. i watch his consumption & try not to base his diet on soy. my personal favorite is almond milk. i drank it by the carton during my pregnancy!

Allergies may be a good reason not to use soy (soy is in almost everything and would be a MAJOR pain to have to avoid,) but I think there are other good reasons not to eat processed foods on a daily basis. I also remember reading some research (although I am not sure where it ultimately led) on the negative effects of consuming too much processed soy. In fact I remember there being a lot of talk and debate about it on some of the mama tribes.

When we were first introducing milk to my daughter she wanted nothing to do with it. When we joined a local raw milk co-op she suddenly became addicted to milk. Is the only reason you don't want to give it to her because you don't like the way it tastes?

I can't recommend almond milk because my daughter is allergic to tree nuts and it could kill her to drink it. In fact, it is my understanding after having dealt with food allergies that you should limit a young child's exposure to all of the major allergens for the first two years.

I guess for us personally milk is a life saver because Aidan likes it, she not allergic, and it provides so many good things.