What Milk to Give?

I can no longer count how many times I have received this question via blog comment, email or text:  What milk should I give my child?  If you are a regular reader of this blog, you would know my stand that toddlers do not need to be given formula milk.  I further expounded on this here.

So next question: does my toddler need regular milk?  Well, this depends per family.  Some families are dairy-free ergo totally no milk or they make their own milk from nuts, rice, etc.  Perhaps it is the Western influence on us and the brainwashing made on our doctors with Western education — we are made to believe that milk is an essential part of a balanced diet.  However, if you read Dr. Sears, milk is not really necessary but we give it because it is an easy source of calcium, protein, fats and Vitamin D (if fortified).  There are other sources of these nutrients and you can choose to give these instead of milk.