There's multiple different products with different features including sugar content - try more than one before deciding none made from a particular material (like almonds) are any good.

In addition to sugar content another thing to look for on labels is carageenan - you might want to avoid products that contain this. Also males should not have soy above a fairly small daily amount due to its estrogen content.

Not only males should not have soy but anyone that has to take thyroid medication as it also interferes with the usage of other hormones.

Depending on the type of cereal no milk of any kind may be needed. I have known people to eat it dry, with water, hot or cold, orange and other juices, coffee or tea. If the cereal is larger some people just like to eat it with their fingers. Think cheerios being used as a snack but for meal time.

Has he tasted the two? What does he think?

His taste reaction could be different from yours. If it's for him, let him decide.

I would buy a few small bottles of different types and let him try. Coconut milk is also really good. I like the unsweetened Vanilla almond milk. Trader Joe's has a good one - it tastes like marshmallows to me, in a pleasant way!

Non-dairy milks can vary a lot by brand as well as type so experimentation is necessary.

Rice Dream Original Enriched is what we use. You can also get it with vanilla.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rice-Dream-Organic-Original-Rice-Drink-64-fl-oz/28645690

or

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rice-Dream-Vanilla-Enriched-Organic-Rice-Drink-64-fl-oz/28645398

I steer clear of rice milk because of the arsenic in rice (I worry it would be even more concentrated in the milk). I like organic valley soy milk in the refrigerated section. Original, unsweetened. Their unsweetened coffee creamer is good, too. eta: if you read about soy and men, you can see that even a cup of soy milk a day on cereal is not going to adversely affect a teen.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like Hemp milk. I like the Tempt brand but not another I tried (Pacific, I think). I don't like flavored or sweetened dairy substitutes, so always buy the unsweetened kind. Make sure it's cold before opening it, as it wouldn't be good right off the shelf.

some facts about hemp milk:

https://www.self.com/story/hemp-milk

I really like hemp milk too! I was hesitant to try it but it's really nice. I haven't had it in a few years - I'll have to pick some up.

Homemade almond milk is delicious! Lots of “how to” recipes out there.

Is coconut anything like coconut water??? I tried coconut water ONE time ;-) Hopefully I can find some small bottle of these different types of alternatives to try. Costco had good selection of alternatives to milk but they come in bulk...Maybe once I pin one down we like, we can buy the bulk at Costco.

The eczema could also be caused by gluten, which his cereal is probably full of. An elimination diet might be helpful to determine the cause of his skin condition.

According to Food & Wine, this option is "the only alternative milk that behaves just like milk."

http://www.foodandwine.com/news/oat-milk-non-dairy

nannygoat18 that looks great! I'm going to try to find it in my stores to try! eta: well, that doesn't seem available except from the company by mail order and it's sold out! Double+ the price at Amazon :-(

There are several companies that make oat milk. Some you will find in the dairy case, others on the shelf. Pacific is a brand that I have seen at the grocery I shop at.

Soy is so bad for you. Have you tried coconut milk?

Oly, please report back!!

Two of my kids were allergic to milk, had eczema, and other allergies. They were both raised on Rice Dream milk. Our dr at that time did not like soy milk for kids who had allergies due to soy being a common allergy. I use Unsweetened Almond milk now, but when my kids come home I have to buy something else.

nannygoat, I'm not paying amazon prices for it, so it's just unavailable right now.

I think the difference between it and other oat milk brands is they process it specially so it doesn't separate or curdle when added to an acid like coffee (which is all I use it for). The amount of soy I use isn't enough to be any kind of health risk. I did research before I decided to use soy and found Organic Valley is one of the very few brands that uses organic soybeans grown in North America (USA and Canada). The rest use soybeans grown in China, which I won't buy.

Almond milk is such a terrible environmental choice...a gallon of water for each almond grown! Not something I can support.

And cow milk is awful too because cows emit greenhouse gases.

No matter what you eat, animal or vegetable, water is required to grow it. Unless you're eating only seafood and marine plants. It's reasonable to promote efficient use but non-use, no, not so much. People should be able to choose what they want and stuff that's more expensive to produce (for whatever reason) will always cost more. Food choices shouldn't be accompanied by a guilt component or shaming from others, in my view.

Yep, agree about dairy. I think we can make responsible and informed choices to minimize impact on the environment. Can't do that unless we have information. And actually, when I tried to get stats on how much water it takes to grow the almonds in a quart of almond milk, I found that there are very few almonds in almond milk anyway!

"I think we can make responsible and informed choices to minimize impact on the environment."

Sure. Those who want to, can. How about those who don't want to?

(I'm not saying which I am. I think I live pretty responsibly, impact wise, and probably with less impact than many. But I don't feel a need to minimize my impact at every turn or worry about every choice I make. Or, even most, if that's my choice).

Yes, and unfortunately for the planet and future generations, too many people don't want to.

"I think we can make responsible and informed choices to minimize impact on the environment."

Sure. Those who want to, can. How about those who don't want to?

Those will be the people that make things crap for everyone else in the long run and the first to cry about it after the fact. Everyone should do their part. Just simple common sense stuff can make a huge difference. Like stop throwing your trash out the window expecting someone else to pick it up. :\

always1stepbehind removing dairy will be good. Dairy can cause skin and tummy issues in many.

Hareball: He used to have stomach issues and I did think it was dairy related but that seems to gone away. But in the last year or so, he's had eczema pop up. Started with a small spot on his neck. He had the double whammy, acne and aczema on his face.

Just because the issues seem to have gone away doesn't necessarily mean his body doesn't have an issue with it. They body has a way of adapting to things to take care of what's most important. But definitely try some gentle things. His skin is already upset. And don't forget if he's a teenager hormones will also be playing a part.

I would use cashew milk, if you like the flavor. For almond milk, I like Silk much better than Almond Breeze. It's a little less watery. I have not used dairy milk for a few months now, and almond milk mostly works for baking, too!

Our area will always have years of water shortage and your Pac NW area will have an excess for the foreseeable future. California supplies your area (as so many others in the US) with many food products. Imagine what the reaction would be if someone were to propose a big pipeline to supply water from, say, the Columbia River to our water system, to produce the food consumed up your way.

Can't have it both ways.

I did forget to mention that both my DD and myself have problem with raw almonds -- for some reason it causes our lips to crack and peel, probably really is a mild allergy. So you might want to choose something other than almond (or cashew) milk in case it might be a problem for him, since he seems to have some kind of sensitivity triggering eczema. I get red, peeling patches on my face around the eyes, nose and mouth with exposure to tobacco smoke also -- an unusual allergy and cause of an eczema like symptom but maybe not as unusual as we assume.

I have Hashimoto's Disease and suppose to refrain from using dairy products . I have been using Hiland Vanilla almond milk...but I admit that I use the sweetened kind.

I picked up Dream Rice yesterday at Wal Mart. They only had 1 kind to choose from. I think it was Original, enriched. I poured some in a glass...it was nice and white like milk, a little thin maybe like a skim milk...maybe not that thin. Taste on its own was ok, not yummy but with cereal it was fine.

Always1stepbehind, my oldest grandson is allergic to dairy (cow and goat milk). (not lactose intolerant, stage 5-epi pen-hit the emergency room-allergic) He and the other two had always used soy. They stopped, because too much soy is not supposed to be good for you. They just use the rice milk on cereal and to bake. I do think it tastes better in baked goods than soy. I could sometimes taste the back taste of the soy milk and I can't with the rice milk. Yes, it looks thin to me.

ETA: He is also allergic to nuts, so cashew and almond is also a no go.

I picked up Silk coconut milk this morning...then did a re-tasting of them all....Silk Soy, Rice Dream and Blue Diamond Almond Original, I think the Almond milk tastes the best. I started buying the almond milk for DD but I think its close enough to regular milk that my son will also use it.

Funny how I circled back to liking the almond milk best so far.

I drink Silk Almond Milk. I love chocolate milk and the dark chocolate almond milk is so much better than regular dairy chocolate milk. Not too fond of the vanilla but I sometimes drink it or use it in recipes. I don't touch soy milk at all.

unsweetened almond milk here!! been using for about 2 1/2 years. we all use it. very little to no cow's milk used.

It's not milk, but there's some chocolate coconut water that tastes just like chocolate milk. I didn't try it for a long time since chocolate water sounded gross, but it's a nice treat if someone misses chocolate milk!

I provide coconut milk for my dairy free friends visiting, after vetting the source to make sure there is no additional sugars added in.

I personally like the Califia (sp?) Almond Milk better than the Silk almond milk variety. I like the taste of the Silk Soy, but can't decide if soy is safe to drink or not. There is so much conflicting information out there so I try to limit my consumption of soy. I am highly lactose intolerant and love "milk" so have tried it all. It all comes down to personal taste - what one person loves, another will find icky.

Cashew milk is the best, thick and creamy, no sugar