I guess that it is a common myth in a lot of societies, and the US must
be one of the ones this is most pervasive, but the UK has its adherents
too, that kids need to be fed at least one glass of opaque white liquid
a day in order to be "normal".  Its just not true.  The usual opaque
white liquid is cows milk and parents whose kids can't drink cows milk
can get into quite a tizz about replacing it with another opaque white
liquid when in fact there is no earthly reason why their child *has* to
have opaque white liquid at all.  In fact millions of people live quite
successfully and extremely healthily with not a single glass of opaque
white liquid (be it of animal or vegetable origin) in their *lives*.
Your son will probably be healthier with a glass of juice (watered down
if its citrus).

What human babies do need is to be fed for a significant portion of
their first 18 months with their mothers own milk, and a ridiculous
number of mothers still don't do this, even though there is absolutely
no reason for them not to.  Other than that, well, human milk is for
human babies, cows milk is for baby cows.  My dietician once said "you
don't need it, your not a baby cow".

Like Beth says, there are plenty of other ways to get the nutrients in
cows milk, in fact you are actually less likely to get them from other
opaque white liquids than from looking at the diet in general.  (Soya
milk, for instance, is far lower in fat, which children *need*, has
almost no natural calcium, although its often added, and contains less
vitamins than cows milk).

That said, opaque white liquids have their uses, they do add a certain
creamy opacity to a lot of our food which we find attractive, so I have
nothing against using, say, soya milk or cream in cooking (in which case
taste shouldn't be much of an issue although sensitivity is) instead of
cows cream, indeed I often do that myself, but its more about texture
and aesthetics than nutrition (I don't *need* to have it, but I like to
have it, much like chocolate).

I found that dealing with food allergies (and milk is the least of my
problems really) needs a step back from western eating habits and think
whether I really *needed* those foods or ingredients, i.e. whether they
could be omitted or needed to be substituted, whether I liked them and
whether substitution was really any good.  I also think a lot about
whether I want to buy a substitute that often contains chemicals to make
it look and act like a dairy product, or whether I want to think
creatively and adapt the recipe to use a completely different
ingredient.  Sometimes its worth thinking it through, sometimes I take
the easy option and use the substitute.  And sometimes I take the really
unhealthy option, like a couple of drops of cochineal in a curry to make
it orangey (hubby and I have no problems with that, and no kids yet!)

Anyway, enough of my rant on substitution

Megan
no allergic kids (yet)
Allergic to tomato, onion, red and green peppers, aspartame.  Lactose
and casein intolerant.