Cow milk - good or bad?

[minkajane]

DS rarely has cow milk. I'm wary of the antibiotics and hormones in it. He's switching to a new daycare and I know they're going to give me grief about it. I'm also finding myself concerned that he's not getting enough fat in his diet, especially lately since he's been on this apple/cracker kick and that's all he'll eat half the time.

So lay it on me - is cow milk good for toddlers or bad?

[Attached Mama]

IMO a small amount of dairy is good if one is not lactose intolerant- but only if it's raw organic dairy. I would never do non- organic because of the great amount of pesticide residue in it and the growth hormones too.

Raw dairy is as God/nature intended it to be. Did you know if you feed a calf pasturized dairy they will get sick? It has been heated to such a high temp that hte nutrients in it are altered and there are no enzymes (which help with digestion) left in it. That's a simple explanation of it - haven't read up on it in a while so a bit rusty on the info.

As for fats, fish oil supplements which are rich in omega 3's which are lacking from most people's diets are really good. Flax seed oil if cold pressed and very fresh is also good. They make little gummy fish oil supplements for kids - you can find them in any health food store.

Also nuts, espec walnuts, avocados, olive oil, and even eggs are all good sources of goood fats.

[minkajane]

Probably should have mentioned that we're vegetarian, so fish oil is out. Besides, DS is allergic to strawberry, which every single gummy thing I've ever seen has in it.

Will work on the nuts and things more, thanks!

[Attached Mama]

Originally Posted by minkajane

Probably should have mentioned that we're vegetarian, so fish oil is out. Besides, DS is allergic to strawberry, which every single gummy thing I've ever seen has in it.

Will work on the nuts and things more, thanks!

Actually I am vegetarian too - but we were taking flax oil and besides it tasting disgusting it wasn't helping DD's dry skin. So I felt I had no other recourse but to do the fish oil. KInda gross I know - I don't eat any other fish, flesh, animals etc. Not sure what else I could do tho. I have another friend who is veg who does the same thing - she's allergic to flax seeds.

[vgnmama2keller]

Cows milk is for cows. It is designed to bulk up a baby cow not a human. It isn't good for our systems and we nutritionaly don't need it. Your child can get the best food through your breastmilk. if you don't breastfeed your child can get fat from so many sources, olives, flax oil, organic canola oil, avocadoes, nuts, sunflower butter, and so on.

would you drink the milk of a dog? a giraffe? a lion? it is just that in our country we have been led to believe that a cow or goat is better nutritionally for our bodies than our own milk and that people won't thrive without it. This is the wonderfully smart work of the dairy lobbyists and company.

You really don't need it nor does your child. besides all that the poor mama cows have their newborns ripped away from them and they both cry out for each other- imagine if this was you and your child right after giving birth.

Come on over to the veggie thread and I am sure you will get some wonderful ideas about not serving cows milk. Good luck.

[Cru's Daddy]

Cows milk,just fine

Nothing wrong with drinking cow's milk,sure its meant for Calfs but nutritionally Raw Cow's milk has many benifits for fighting certain disease.

And yes go for Mother's milk,but mother's milk is not avaliable for everyone.

[rareimer]

another great source of fat is coconut oil.

[vermontgirl]

Originally Posted by vgnmama2keller

Cows milk is for cows. It is designed to bulk up a baby cow not a human. It isn't good for our systems and we nutritionaly don't need it. Your child can get the best food through your breastmilk. if you don't breastfeed your child can get fat from so many sources, olives, flax oil, organic canola oil, avocadoes, nuts, sunflower butter, and so on.

would you drink the milk of a dog? a giraffe? a lion? it is just that in our country we have been led to believe that a cow or goat is better nutritionally for our bodies than our own milk and that people won't thrive without it. This is the wonderfully smart work of the dairy lobbyists and company.

You really don't need it nor does your child. besides all that the poor mama cows have their newborns ripped away from them and they both cry out for each other- imagine if this was you and your child right after giving birth.

Come on over to the veggie thread and I am sure you will get some wonderful ideas about not serving cows milk. Good luck.

This is what I was going to say. I really dont think humans should comsume cows milk or products from it.

[guestmama9916]

I agree that raw dairy is the best way if you are going to consume cow's milk. My son's daycare serves organic milk which I'm OK with. He doesn't drink much of it at daycare and the caregivers do not push it. At home he gets about 12 oz of raw cow's milk a day, sometimes more if its a weekend. We've been on raw dairy for about 3 months. DS is thriving/growing, has more energy (even though he was energetic before!) and he doesn't get sick. I haven't been sick with any of the colds going around either and I only drink a small glass of it a day. We do raw milk for the vitamins that are in the fat. Pasteurized milk's vitamins are greatly diminshed plus all the other living components of the milk such as enzymes, good bacteria, etc are killed. If you can't do raw milk, try Kerrygold butter. Its not raw but its a high quality grass-fed butter that is high in vitamins A and D. I have no problem getting my DS to eat butter. I just melt some on popcorn or on whatever he's eating for dinner. Coconut oil as another poster mentioned is a very good source of fat for growing kids too but it doesn't have the vitamins. It does support the immune system and metabolism though. Someone else mentioned eggs - if they're the free range kind, they'll be a good source of Omega 3's. The yolk should be bright orange, not yellow like most commercial eggs, for optimum nutrition. HTH

Kim

[minkajane]

How would I go about getting raw milk? I live in Dayton, OH, if that helps.

[egarcia76]

I personally don't think cow's milk is suitable for human consumption. As far as your daycare giving you grief, it's YOUR child. My dcp is very aware of mine & dd's vegan lifestyle. Sure, it's taken a little bit of education & enforcement on my behalf -- and there were some honest mistakes in the beginning, like offering her jello-- BUT, they gladly give dd the soy &/or rice milk I provide while giving the other children cow's milk. And I don't get grief, never have. I was upfront about the veganism from the beginning when I enrolled her @ 6 wks old.

However, you must trust your instincts. I guess if you do end up feeding your dc cow's milk, organic would be the way to go. Just my .02.

[pampered_mom]

Originally Posted by minkajane

How would I go about getting raw milk? I live in Dayton, OH, if that helps.

www.realmilk.com has a listing available by state.

[gardenmommy]

Originally Posted by vgnmama2keller

Cows milk is for cows. It is designed to bulk up a baby cow not a human. It isn't good for our systems and we nutritionaly don't need it. Your child can get the best food through your breastmilk. if you don't breastfeed your child can get fat from so many sources, olives, flax oil, organic canola oil, avocadoes, nuts, sunflower butter, and so on.

would you drink the milk of a dog? a giraffe? a lion? it is just that in our country we have been led to believe that a cow or goat is better nutritionally for our bodies than our own milk and that people won't thrive without it. This is the wonderfully smart work of the dairy lobbyists and company.

You really don't need it nor does your child. besides all that the poor mama cows have their newborns ripped away from them and they both cry out for each other- imagine if this was you and your child right after giving birth.

Come on over to the veggie thread and I am sure you will get some wonderful ideas about not serving cows milk. Good luck.

Depending on where I was, I would most certainly drink milk from a giraffe, water buffalo, etc. I think that milk from other species can be a very good addition to the human diet, esp. for picky young children who may be at risk for consuming insufficient calories/nutrition.

Animal milks have been used in the human diet for many thousands of years with no adverse effects. It is a traditional food.

I think it's important to get your milk as close to the source as possible: ideally it should be raw. Cultured milk (yogurt, kefir, creme fraiche, raw milk cheese, etc.) is much easier to digest.

[tboroson]

I don't think any human being needs milk. Clearly, our society survived for milennia before figuring out how to milk other species. Much of the world thrives with little to no dairy in their diets.

That doesn't mean that I think all humans should, therefore, abstain from drinking it. It's a culturally important food product, and has incredible emotional and social connections that are hard to deny. Further, while it's certainly not the "perfect" food that the dairy industry would have us believe (especially in the horribly damaged form they sell to us, pasteurized and homogenized), it is a nutritionally dense food. In our current environment of processed, severely nutritionally diminished foods (i.e. juice and crackers), I don't think that it's wise to disparage one of the few nutritionally dense foods that remains readily and inexpensively available to us just because it's imperfect.

My opinion is, while cow's/goat's milk is not *neccisary* for anyone, the one group that most benefits from it is toddlers who are not still nursing. I believe that toddlers need a lot of cholesterol, efa's and minerals. If you're still nursing your son, I don't think he needs supplemental milk at all. He gets plenty of good stuff from your breastmilk. I don't feel it would hurt to give him some, unless he turns out to be sensitive to it; but I don't think he needs it. For a toddler who is weaned, though, milk is a very effective way to deliver those factors, especially within the constraints of a vegetarian diet.

[minkajane]

He is still nursing, but I think he's headed towards weaning. He usually only nurses once a day now, if at all. I'm leaving this weekend for a two-week business trip and I have a terrible feeling that he won't be interested in nursing when I return. *sniff*

[newcastlemama]

I think raw, organic milk can be a good addition to the diet (esp if you have a picky eater). Ds can only have goat milk and I am not supposed to have any so I put up with this a lot.

Don't be bullied by your day care provider. If you don't want your kid eating something then that is your right and be firm. You could also send sncks with dc. That is what I do with ds when he is babysat so they don't even have to think about it.

Jen

[rachelagain]

I think some amount of Dairy is good, but not as much as the government recommends. I think milk has it's place- like Gardenmommy said, it's been around for thousands of years- in the Bible it talks about "a land flowing w/ milk and honey"... if you eat too much honey you get sick, but it has alot of great stuff in it- I think it's the same w/ milk.
We grew up on raw milk-- the neighbor had a cow, it was great. My mom would make butter with the cream and everything-- I think that's the way to go.

[guestmama9916]

Originally Posted by pamered_mom

www.realmilk.com has a listing available by state.

Realmilk.com is a great resource for info too. Download the powerpoint presentation for an eye opening look at raw milk versus pasteurized milk. I found my raw milk source through a Yahoo group. Search Yahoo groups for key words like WAP or WAPF which is the weston a price foundation - a big supporter of raw dairy. You can also search on key words like dairy or milk or your city/state. You can also use google to look for farms near you that have websites. My farm has a website which helped.

Kim

[4lilfarmers]

Originally Posted by gardenmommy

Depending on where I was, I would most certainly drink milk from a giraffe, water buffalo, etc. I think that milk from other species can be a very good addition to the human diet, esp. for picky young children who may be at risk for consuming insufficient calories/nutrition.

Animal milks have been used in the human diet for many thousands of years with no adverse effects. It is a traditional food.

I think it's important to get your milk as close to the source as possible: ideally it should be raw. Cultured milk (yogurt, kefir, creme fraiche, raw milk cheese, etc.) is much easier to digest.

I totally agree with you! Raw and cultured dairy in moderation... we have a very loved family cow for our milk...(and we share the milk with her calf!) but if we lived somewhere else--who knows, maybe it'd be a giraffe

[Cru's Daddy]

Cows milk

One thing we must all remember is that nutrients are absorbed differently from person to person,too much of one type of food might work well for another but be counter productive for another.
Nutrients work in groups,they all need eachother for many growth functions of the body,an example is drinking calcium enriched low fat milk,the chances of absorbing the calcium needed from that type of milk is very slim unless there is a good presence of fat soluble vitamins A D E K
A good way, is to determine what foods are best suited for your metabolism,and if this means that dairy products are ok than so be it,Raw milk as stated has many nutrients,why not consume more good nutrients,especially with the growing fear mongering towards Fats.

And remember True Vitamin A absorbtion can only be produced in the presence of Vit D