Goat milk for children. The harm and benefits of goat milk for children. Is it possible to feed children with goat milk?

The article describes the beneficial properties of goat milk and cases when it can be harmful, and also tells at what age you can give it to children and in what form.

A significant share in the human diet is dairy products that differ in a wide variety of shapes, taste, consistency and composition. Nevertheless, traditional cow's milk often acquires the status of an outcast on the table of families with a small child due to frequent cases of casein allergies (protein matter of cow's milk).

You can not see goat milk on store shelves not so often, but many heard about the healing properties of this product, and thought about replacing cow's milk in favor of a goat in the children's menu.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of goat milk, and what is its nutritious role in feeding children? We understand the intricacies of goat milk.

The benefits and harm of goat milk for children

Goat milk has a number of useful properties due to its rich composition:

• the presence of calcium, potassium, manganese, phosphorus, iron, magnesium and other trace elements in high quantities
• more vitamins A, C, B, PP and D than in cow's milk
• the presence of vitamin B12, with a lack of which is disrupted by the division of bone marrow cells and the formation of red blood cells in the blood
• a small content of alpha fraction in casein, which are the main culprits of allergies to cow's milk
• high fat content due to unsaturated acids that the body needs, in particular, to reduce "bad" cholesterol
• less lactose (dairy sugar) than in mother's milk, which makes it possible to use this drink with people with intolerance to lactose

Thanks to these properties, the competitive advantages of goat milk include:

• the best balance of trace elements

Important: goat and cow's milk in their composition have the same vitamins and nutrients, but the proportions in goat milk are more advantageous.

• prevention of rickets in children, strengthening the bone system
• a lower percentage of allergies
• good digestibility by the body
• the beneficial effect and help in the treatment of gastritis, ulcers, dysbiosis, diabetes, obesity
• the best digestion compared to cow's milk
• restoration after stress, weakening immunity due to diseases, strong physical activity

Despite this, a number of positive characteristics of a goat milk turn out to be a negative effect on the body of very young children.

The negative side of goat milk is due to the following:

• the low content of folic acid, which due to the deficiency of admission to the body can lead to the development of anemia
• high concentration of trace elements, in particular calcium and phosphorus, which increases the load on an immature excretory system of infants
• the content of casein, which is digested by young children heavier than women's breast milk
• high fat content, which for children under 2-3 years old can be associated with the problems of normal assimilation

In addition, the use of raw milk carries the danger of antibiotics that often give animals into the human body, and infection with diseases such as:

• brucellosis
• tick -borne encephalitis
• tuberculosis

The risk of developing these diseases can be leveled in the consumption of boiled or pasteurized milk, but then the advantage of the high content of vitamins will also lose its significance.

Can a goat milk to infants?

Despite the fact that goat milk exceeds the cow in many respects, it cannot become a replacement for breast milk.

• Firstly, it does not have all the nutrient elements necessary for the infants, the deficiency of which can cause serious disorders in the development of the child and lead to the occurrence of diseases
• Secondly, as well as cow, goat milk is casein (the content of casein is more than 75%), which affects the child’s digestive in the best way, unlike the milk of a mother, which mainly contains albumin protein, easily digested by a child

Important: mare and donkey milk include albumin milk (closest to the female).

• Thirdly, goat milk contains more trace elements and vitamins, which can learn the body of the infant

Important: animal milk is a perfect source of feeding the cubs of the corresponding animals, for humans it is a foreign protein.

Thus, the consumption of goat milk, as well as the cow, is not recommended for children under a year. The best diet for infants was and remains breast milk.

As an alternative, it is possible to use adapted mixtures based on cow or goat milk.

Is it possible to feed the baby with goat milk?

For growing children's body, goat milk is a storehouse of valuable vitamins, calcium and other trace elements, as well as a source of beneficial fats. Therefore, goat milk can be used to feed the baby as an additional product on the children's table.

However, one should adhere to the recommended age restrictions.

At what age do goat milk give the child?

The child is fully able to feel the advantages of goat milk after 2-3 years. It is by this age that the digestive organs and the excretory system reach the necessary level of maturity, a sufficient number of appropriate enzymes appear for normal digestion and assimilation of animal milk.

Nevertheless, doctors call the age up to a year as a strict recommendation to not give children a whole cow or goat milk. After this age, animal milk can be introduced into the diet of a healthy baby in small quantities.

Can a child have an allergy to goat milk?

In cases of quite common allergies in young children to the protein of cow's milk, many parents are in a hurry to replace it with goat milk. However, despite the existing opinion about the hypoallergenicity of the goat milk, this is not true.

Any product with whole protein is a potential allergen. And goat milk is no exception.

Moreover, varieties of proteins of this milk are similar to the composition of proteins contained in cow's milk. Only proportions differ. In goat milk is less than S-1 casein, more beta-casein. The first usually provokes the development of food allergies.

However, even that small amount of CASINA S-1 may be enough for the child to have signs of allergies when consuming goat milk.

Important: the level of C-1 casein can differ in milk of different goats, depending on the nutrition of the animal, its species or seasonality.

The studies have shown that in 90% of cases in children with sensitization to cow's milk, a reaction was also noted to goat milk. In fairness, it should be noted that the maximum dose of goat milk, which provoked the occurrence of allergies, was higher than the threshold value of cow's milk.

Two types of potential allergies are distinguished:

• on cow and goat milk
• on goat milk in the absence of allergies to cow milk

The second case is rare, but studies confirming such probability exist.

Thus, goat milk is definitely less allergenic than cow. However, if an infant is an allergy to a mixture based on cow's milk, replacement with an unhydrged mixture with goat milk, cannot always give a one hundred percent guarantee of solving the problem. In this case, an alternative should be sought in a hypoallergenic mixture based on hydrolyzed protein.

What milk to give a child: goat or cow?

Comparing two types of milk of these animals, we can conclude about the greater nutritional value of goat milk.

However, it should be noted that it applies to fresh milk to a greater extent. Considering that not everyone has the ability to purchase proven fresh milk from a home goat, they mainly consume pasteurized milk bought in a store. After heat treatment, the nutritional value of goat milk is reduced. In addition, despite the advantages of the goat above cow's milk, the latter contains more folic acid and vitamin B12.

In other words, it is impossible to unambiguously say that cow's milk is less useful than goat. Nevertheless, if the child has lactase failure or allergies to cow's milk, there is a chance that goat milk will be a good replacement.

Do not forget about the specific taste and smell of goat milk, which not all adults like, not to mention children. Therefore, in the absence of contraindications to one or another milk, you should focus on:

• personal preferences of the child
• the presence of a safe opportunity to consume fresh milk from a domestic animal

How to feed the baby with goat milk? How to introduce goat milk to the child?

• As already mentioned, it is not recommended to give goat milk, like the cow, children up to a year due to enzyme failure and overwhelming load on the body of the baby
• Enter the goat milk into the child’s diet should be caused with caution, like any other new product
• You should start with a teaspoon, gradually increasing the dose
• Small children should boil and dilute the milk
• At an older age (at least 3 years after 3 years), the milk will be more useful in fresh unprocessed form, provided that sanitary standards are observed
• Due to high fat content, older children should limit the amount of goat milk per day 400 ml

Do I need to boil goat milk for children?

After heat treatment of milk, not only pathogenic bacteria die, nutrients are also destroyed. However, the potential danger of infection with dangerous infectious diseases in children, especially in small ones, still outweighs. Therefore, doctors recommend boiling milk before feeding a small child.

Children at an older age with confidence in milk safety, you can give it without boiling.

How to dilute the child with goat milk?

To dilute goat milk for children under three years old is advised due to the high level of fat content and the concentration of nutrients that are difficult to learn to the child's body in such quantities.

• First you should boil goat milk, then dilute with boiled water in a ratio of 1: 4

Diluted goat milk loses its advantage to the high content of vitamins and trace elements, so older children can be preferable to give milk in its purest form.

Feeding the baby with goat milk: tips and reviews

• It is better not to risk the health of the crumbs and not experiment with goat milk until the baby gets stronger (up to a year)
• If the ability to breastfeed is completely absent, and the desire to introduce the baby to the beneficial properties of the milk of the goat is large, you can use a special mixture on goat milk, which is adapted for the child's body
• How the animal fed, on which pastures it grazed, and how fresh milk was stored - important criteria that should be paid attention to before feeding the baby with fresh milk
• In the presence of individual intolerance to cow's milk or lactose, you can try to replace it with goat milk, which will fully satisfy the body's needs in nutrients obtained from cow milk

Thus, goat milk with proper use and observance of all recommendations is really extremely useful for health, especially for a growing child's body.

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