Hmm... I much prefer soy milk. I think soy milk is better nutritionally (more protein), and usually has a lot less additives than almond milk. Almond milk has so much fillers.
The hormones in soy can be a lot for littles ones. And it is not flat out better nutritionally. Most of the dairy alternatives have different areas they are better than.
Sources tend to be pro almond (soy tends to be more controversial) so I'm intrigued as to your sources. The protein thing is undeniable, or course.
This is along my line of thinking. The estrogen thing is inconclusive. Cow milk has a lot more hormones, and I don't know why people don't question cow milk as much as they question soy milk. I grew up in Asia, where soy milk is consumed in much larger quantities than cow milk. For what's worth, breast cancer rate is a lot lower among women in Asia than western women (including Asian women living in the US/Europe).
DD actually doesn't drink much milk straight up (still breastfeeding). But she likes soy milk with her Cheerios (only about 1/4 cup a day). For me the main reasons to give milk are for protein and calcium. Almond milk has so little protein that it's just not worth it for me to push it (as DD doesn't like to drink any kind of milk).
More on goat's milk. I'm always really surprised by the number of people IRL who are surprised I drink it. It doesn't seem to register on most people's radars.
Other than lactose intolerance, why no cow's milk? I've been hearing this lately and I'm concerned b/c DD1 drinks a lot of cow's milk.
I really wouldn't worry. It's trendy to hate on dairy. That's pretty much it.
I actually wish it were trendier to hate on WCM. It bothers the crap out of me how much WCM is pushed everywhere in our society. At DD's school, there's a huge directive to make the kids drink milk instead of water at lunch time. I had to talk to DD's teacher so that DD would be allowed to take her water bottle to the cafeteria for lunch instead of being basically forced to drink the milk they give out.
When she was younger, I tired of how many times I had to repeat "she gets plenty of calcium from yogurt and cheese" to well-meaning preschool teachers, sitters and nosy parents who found out DD didn't drink WCM.
I think many kids are given too much milk, generally.
We switched Bbot to goat's milk because it was the most similar to cow's milk and because he was having a lot of constant phlegm/ear infections based on the ped's advice.
I can't prove causation v. correlation, but it's been well over...8 months? And not an ear infection since. And generally less snotty all around. We've tried switching back to WCM twice cause of the cost, but I'll be damn if he didn't get snotty all over again. But maybe he was just getting a cold both times. I don't know. I'm still going to try again and see if getting past winter/getting him a little older fixes the issue.