Mothering › Forums › Breastfeeding › Lactivism › Colostrum
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Colostrum  

post #1 of 27
12/29/07 at 3:41am
Thread Starter 
Any idea why they don't package a cow's colostrum for human babies?



I was wondering this today after visiting my new niece. It seems strange to me that a breastfed baby would only receive a teaspoon or so of colostrum from the breast but a formula fed baby is fed an ounce just after birth.



So any ideas on why they don't package and sell a cow's colostrum? After a cow has a calf, it produces colostrum and yellow milk for a few days. If humans can drink cows milk then why not sell the colostrum for newborns?
post #2 of 27
12/29/07 at 3:47am
Because it's not made for human newborns. BM and formula are made especially for human newborns.

It's not recommended that whole cows milk be given to children until at least one year of age because their digestive system can't handle it, so I can't imagine that they would be able to handle colostrum from a cow.

Plus I'm sure the average person would be squicked out by that. I can't imagine a profitable market for that.

Plus I don't know, it just seem kind of wrong to me. I'm not vegan or anything, but we already take their milk from them, do we have to take their colostrum too? I know it's hypocritical of me, being that I eat cheese and ingest dairy. (though I plan to move away from that too)
post #3 of 27
12/29/07 at 5:03am
I would think it probably also has to do with the difficulty to produce it.

Most dairy cows are kept in a false state of prolonged lactation, I believe. They didn't just give birth, they are given hormonal supplements and milked frequently to maintain their milk long after a calf would have weaned.
post #4 of 27
12/29/07 at 10:02am
I found colostrum at the health food store. DH was grossed out. I asked him "And how is that different from milk?" He didn't know. I found it weird.
post #5 of 27
12/29/07 at 1:47pm
Thread Starter 
When a dairy cow has its calf, the calf is taken away and bottle fed. The mom's milk is used only for that calf for a couple of day... the farmers make sure that the new calf gets the colostrum because of how important it is.



Formula companies could definantly package and market this to hospitals and new moms. It would be expensive but I don't see that stopping anything.



If colostrum is that important for a cow and we drink cows milk, then why not give our formula fed human babies colostrum? They drink the cows milk from birth so I am sure they could find a way to package the colostrum.
post #6 of 27
12/29/07 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by phreedom View Post
Because it's not made for human newborns. BM and formula are made especially for human newborns.

It's not recommended that whole cows milk be given to children until at least one year of age because their digestive system can't handle it, so I can't imagine that they would be able to handle colostrum from a cow.

Plus I'm sure the average person would be squicked out by that. I can't imagine a profitable market for that.

Plus I don't know, it just seem kind of wrong to me. I'm not vegan or anything, but we already take their milk from them, do we have to take their colostrum too? I know it's hypocritical of me, being that I eat cheese and ingest dairy. (though I plan to move away from that too)
Yet the average person is not grossed out by giving their baby formula from a cow?? The colostrum could be altered just like formula is.

I am picturing little yellow bottles....
post #7 of 27
12/29/07 at 5:54pm

Milking cows

Quote:
Originally Posted by JustJamie View Post
I would think it probably also has to do with the difficulty to produce it.

Most dairy cows are kept in a false state of prolonged lactation, I believe. They didn't just give birth, they are given hormonal supplements and milked frequently to maintain their milk long after a calf would have weaned.
For cows to produce they need to have given birth just like us. They are like pumoping moms. You milk them 2 or 3 times a day so they produce milk( if you milk them 3 trimes they produce more- family farms do only 2 times). Calves only nurse about hat many times too.
Cows will start drying up just like we do even if you are still milking them or when they are close to giving birth again.
Calves will nurse for a long long time if kept with their moms. They wean calves early like they do with kids. If you let them self wean some will nurse for al long long time until they are not able to or their moms push them away.
Hormone is given mostly in Mega Dairys to boost production not to make them lactate.
Cows produce more if they are happy, comfortable, have good and pleanty of water, nutricional feed and good tasting too. they also have to like the person milking, be healthy, not too hot and not extremely cold( they like cold), their feet must be in good shape and have nice firm udders and genetics - a major part in it.
Most of what is said around about Dairy Cows is untrue. Also they will produce more milk them its necessary to feed their calf if you are milking them( like some pumping moms). In other words they can feed their calf and have plenty of milk for us to use.
By the way they do have colustrum for sale for baby calves. Calves that get colustrum are 10 more likely to make it them calves that don't. Fresh colustrum is best. Frozen is second best and them you would buy some if you do not have any.
Does this surprise anyone????
Can you tell we are dairy farmesrs?
post #8 of 27
12/29/07 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
Where can you buy it? what would be the need? where is the mother cow? Thanks!
post #9 of 27
12/29/07 at 8:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by APmomto3boys View Post
When a dairy cow has its calf, the calf is taken away and bottle fed. The mom's milk is used only for that calf for a couple of day... the farmers make sure that the new calf gets the colostrum because of how important it is.



Formula companies could definantly package and market this to hospitals and new moms. It would be expensive but I don't see that stopping anything.



If colostrum is that important for a cow and we drink cows milk, then why not give our formula fed human babies colostrum? They drink the cows milk from birth so I am sure they could find a way to package the colostrum.
: Calves WILL die without their mothers colostrum.
post #10 of 27
12/30/07 at 1:15am
Thread Starter 
I don't think they WILL die... I think they might die. Just like humans.
post #11 of 27
12/30/07 at 6:17pm
Guess you learn something new everyday. I didn't know you could give cow colostrum to a newborn.

What would be the advantage of it? Would the baby get the benefits of the colostrum like the calf? (well not EXACTLY obviously...but you know what I mean) Could the baby digest okay?
post #12 of 27
12/30/07 at 6:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by APmomto3boys View Post
Yet the average person is not grossed out by giving their baby formula from a cow?? The colostrum could be altered just like formula is.

I am picturing little yellow bottles....
Duh...I didn't even think about that. I was picturing them just giving it strait up

It's funny how some people act when you inform them that they are essentially drinking breast milk from a cow. I like to mention that when people tell my my daughter should be drinking "real milk" now.
post #13 of 27
12/30/07 at 7:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by APmomto3boys View Post
I don't think they WILL die... I think they might die. Just like humans.
Nope, a calf will die if it does not recieve colostrum. Look it up. VERY rare is the calf who survives w/o it.
post #14 of 27
12/30/07 at 8:12pm

colustrum is species specific

Baby calves should get cow's colustrum, puppy dogs should get dog's colustrum, and human baby's should get mom's colustrum ( or human).
If you feed a newborn puppy some cow colustrum they will die 99% of the time.
They do have a packaged cow's colustrum for baby calves.
Its the 4 th choice after mom's colustrum, fresh from another cow, frozen colustrum and then packaged one.
I think some of the most important things on colustrum of any species are the anti-bodies in that milk. Those are also specific to the species, the mother, where they live ( as some diseases are not eveywhere), if they are premature ( colustrum of preamure births is also different)and so on.
You cannot duplicate that.
Taking cow's colustrum to feed newborn kids is just plain stupid. Sorry.
I think formula is a lesser evil in that case and I hate to say that as I hate formula ( but I know it is necessary in a few cases).
I am not going to go into all the details about how much better breast milk is for kids than any other milk as I know you alll probably know it.
But I got to say that once i read scentific book for my certification I was shocked that kids even make it without breastmilk. And actually some children don't make it .

Anyways maybe we should be asking ourselves about how they should have colustrum banked up on milk banks. I have seen some mons that produce lots of it. I did not .
post #15 of 27
12/30/07 at 8:43pm
Thread Starter 
OH, I know that it is stupid just as stupid as I think it is to give a baby cows milk.

I am not talking about the sticky stuff that first comes out... I am talking about the yellow milk. I pumped yellow milk for a week while my son was in the Nicu. I am just wondering why the formula companies havent found a way to benefit for this.
post #16 of 27
12/30/07 at 8:50pm
Most animals need that colostrum or they will either die or they are very high risk for dieing. Because many things that can make them very ill are passed to the baby from the mother before birth and the colostrum has the antibodies to combate those things.
post #17 of 27
12/30/07 at 8:53pm
Sometimes they're able to give some colostrum to the calf and milk some of it for sale.

I've never seen it marketed for human newborns though. Usualy it's marketed to adults for various health problems.
post #18 of 27
12/30/07 at 11:26pm
Plus, the majority of moms *do* breastfeed for the first few days, at least. Probably not a large enough demand...?
post #19 of 27
12/31/07 at 2:25am

Apologies

Quote:
Originally Posted by APmomto3boys View Post
OH, I know that it is stupid just as stupid as I think it is to give a baby cows milk.

I am not talking about the sticky stuff that first comes out... I am talking about the yellow milk. I pumped yellow milk for a week while my son was in the Nicu. I am just wondering why the formula companies havent found a way to benefit for this.
I just want to say I just read my post and I want to be clear that I don't think anyone here is stupid. I just hate formula......
Anyway. The first milk that the cow has is not sticky. It is kind of yellow like the milk you had. First is colustrum ans them it transitions to milk. So there is a transition time.
post #20 of 27
12/31/07 at 2:56am
I don't think babies need immunities from cows.

Recently, I was picking up a new bottle of probiotics and the HFS tried to pawn their private label brand on me. When I looked at the ingredients I saw that it had cow colostrum and I was throughly grossed out.
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Lactivism
This thread is locked  
Mothering › Forums › Breastfeeding › Lactivism › Colostrum