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Australia’s Own Like Milk Pea Protein | Chewsday Review

You might have caught my rant last week about cow’s milk and why I get SO MAD about people telling you not to give it to your children. You can watch the rant on both Facebook and Instagram if you missed it. Anyway, as I said, we WOULD avoid cow’s milk for babies and children if they have an allergy. Yet interestingly, there’s very few nutritionally equivalent milks to cow’s milk for these kids. Most are missing the protein, the fat or the calcium content of cow’s milk. Today’s Chewsday review features Australia’s Own Like Milk, made from pea protein. Here’s what I think.

Ingredients

Positives

Same protein content as cow’s milk. This is 8 times more than some almond milks and 4 times more than most oat milks. Whilst kids don’t need heaps of protein, most of the alternative milks have almost none.
Fat within healthy guidelines- about equivalent to reduced fat milk. Fat is an important nutrient for growing children. Most plant-based milk have inadequate amounts of fat for kids.
Sodium content is within healthy guidelines, but just under double that of cow’s milk.
Fortified with calcium at 120mg/100mL. This is essential to look for on any plant-based milk.
Unsweetened. Most soy milks have added sugar, so this is good to find one without add sweetener.

Negatives

Marketing

Alternatives

I think this is a great option if your child has a cow’s milk protein allergy or intolerance. I would always recommend getting this properly diagnosed before trying to eliminate cow’s milk without any guidance. This is totally appropriate to give to babies in SMALL amounts (like on cereal or in baking). It is not a suitable replacement for breastmilk or formula under the age of 12 months.
Nutritionally, soy milk is a comparable option. Many people are wary of giving their children soy milk because of pervasive rumours about phytoestrogens. I’m happy to recommend soy as a drink, and debunking those myths is a rant for another Thursday!