Today Smiley is trying almond milk. I wondered how this cost compared to the formula he has been drinking.
So I did the math.
Enfamil Lipil formula with iron costs about $0.95 per liquid cup.
Blue Diamond Almond Breeze costs $0.25 per liquid cup.
That's quite a savings! Of course, the formula has much more protein and many more nutrients. Aside from waiting until the child is a year old to introduce nuts as food, the almond milk requires eating other foods to get the right nutrition. To be fair, those other foods should be considered a small hidden cost of using almond milk, but I cannot estimate it well.
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I have been known to make my own almond milk--the kids don't like it either way (they prefer rice milk.) On the other hand I don't like them drinking/using rice milk because of its lack of protien. I would think that by this time Smiley would be wanting to eat regular foods anyway, regardless of whether he has formula or no, so it may be less of a factor.
Yes, Smiley is eating plenty of regular foods by now.
Which is why I cannot estimate the "hidden cost" of his nutritional needs beyond almond milk: he is eating a balanced diet *anyway* so it is neither fair to criticize almond milk for not providing as many nutrients as formula, nor fair to blithely overlook that lack.
The major difference nutritionally is that formula has half its calories from fat (tangentially, so does Greek style yogurt and many flavors of Ben & Jerry's) whereas almond milk has a whopping 3/4 of its calories from fat.
So if we completely traded all of his formula for almond milk then we would be noticeably increasing his fat intake.
But we're not doing that. We're just introducing him to almond as a new food, and continuing to transition from formula being his only drink.
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