I bought some soymilk yesterday and the date on top says it's ok until Jan 25th, is this true?

Also, my sister tried it and likes it, but she drinks anywhere between 3-5 sippy cups full of milk a day... so I figured it wouldn't be ok to completely change her diet from regular milk to soy milk, but would it be ok to mix the two? Maybe just one a day full of soy? Or would that be pointless?

Soy milk does tend to have a longer rated shelf life from what I've seen, but if it goes clumpy, you don't want to use it :no:
As for your sister - sounds like she's a young kid? Others here have more specific info on vegan kids, but I submit that cattle milk is in general bad for kids. I even know an omni who agrees that kids shouldn't get it for the first year or two of their lives.

Yep, there seem to be disturbing emerging connections between exposure to dairy early in life and auto-immune diseases later on, such as multiple sclerosis. You can read more about the dairy-immune connection in The China Study.

the date on the carton is if it's unopened. they generally say 7-10 days after opening, but many find that it lasts longer than that.

Yep, there seem to be disturbing emerging connections between exposure to dairy early in life and auto-immune diseases later on, such as multiple sclerosis. You can read more about the dairy-immune connection in The China Study.
I don't have access to a copy of that right now. If you do, I'd be interested in knowing if there's anything written about a link between it and a gamma globulin deficiency. I had that problem as a baby/toddler and my experiences with childhood diseases were not pretty :no:. My pediatrician wouldn't even let me have the polio vaccine until I was 16.

Yep, there seem to be disturbing emerging connections between exposure to dairy early in life and auto-immune diseases later on, such as multiple sclerosis. You can read more about the dairy-immune connection in The China Study.


Thanks, but I am guessing that too much soy milk would be bad for her too? She is 4, will be 5 this year.

the date on the carton is if it's unopened. they generally say 7-10 days after opening, but many find that it lasts longer than that.

Thanks!

So basically if I were to replace a small carton each week, I'd be fine?

Sounds about right. But you could actually go a little longer if you wanted to.

Thanks, but I am guessing that too much soy milk would be bad for her too? She is 4, will be 5 this year.
It's probably better for her to drink that much soy milk vs. cow milk, and I wouldn't worry about it if she's not eating other types of soy during the day, but still, it's better than cow milk. If she eats tofu/other soy a lot, you could consider mixing it up with some almond or rice milk if you don't want to give her cow milk. But, I think other soy products a few times a week plus the soymilk everyday would be okay.
I usually have 1-2 cups of soymilk per day, but if I have tofu or tempeh that day, I'll have only 1 cup. I'm also going to try drinking almond milk, if it's not too much more expensive.

P.S., I wish I had a little sister that I could teach about veg*nism and being nice to animals! My 11 y.o. brother just isn't interested at all.

After its been opened, I keep my soymilk for up to two weeks. As already stated, toss it if it looks chunky or lumpy. I find that usually happens at closer to a month of sitting around.

For the question of whether or not drinking 100% soymilk is good for her, you need to consider whether or not she has a soy intolerance of some sort. It would probably be best to start with a cup or two of soymilk a day and then work up from there. Plenty of children drink soy milk growing up. As long as, the soymilk is fortified, is the full fat full calorie version (try Silk Enhanced), and there are no allergies/intolerances she should be fine. I would not suggest the Silk Light products for a child that young. Their growing bodies and brains need the extra calories and fat. What do your parents think about all this?

Glancing at the book, I didn't see anything in The China Study that specifically points to gamma globulin deficiency.

How about mixing soy, rice and almond milk - instead of all soy milk?

I did this with my kids when I stopped buying cow's milk. They love chocolate soy and almond milk, but prefer rice milk for cereal in the morning.

Aseptically packaged soymilk has a shelf life of about 1 year from date of manufacture, unopened. Opened it lasts about two weeks.

From the open date it is generally 7-10.

best soymilk for children is Silk's Very Vanilla... it is specially fortified for children, and has a very vanilla flavor that children, and adults, love.

Thanks everyone. :)

I can't drink it past 10 days. Yuck. I find it starts to smell "beany".

As for the soymilk question, i think its fine to give her about half soy and half dairy, if she's been drinking dairy all this time. I am not a fan of excessive soy exposure, but that really isn't a problem except for the people who eat soy cereal with soy milk and soy fake meat with soy cheese on soy protein bread with a soygurt all in one day, etc ;-)

you can change her over to soy, she'll probally digest it better. It will last until the 25th, much longer then cows milk. It'll probally last a few days past the experation as well.

enjoy!

I'd encourage you to feed her soy milk if she enjoys it because it will make her more likely to enjoy it later in life. It can be a difficult taste for adults to acquire.

I'd encourage you to feed her soy milk if she enjoys it because it will make her more likely to enjoy it later in life. It can be a difficult taste for adults to acquire.

this is really true. I don't know any toddlers who would refuse a glass of soy milk! One of the kids that I babysit for has been found to be lactos intollerant, so his mother has been giving him soy milk. His sister wanted to try some, and she loved it! The lil' boy is two, and the girl is four. Both of them will happily drink soy milk. Another child who I use to babysit intermixed soy and cows milk. He also enjoyed it very much.

Yet how many adults of such a posative attitude? The ones who are actualy willing to try it (which arn't many) don't like it very much. Except for chocalot, everyone who's willing to try chocalot loves it.