Monday, December 6, 2010

Monday's Menu: Raw Milk Formula for Babies

When it comes to feeding our babies, mother's milk is always best. Although, it's definitely true that a mother's milk is only as good as the quality of her diet. If a Mom's diet is full of caffeine, sugar, trans fats, and lacking in vital nutrients, that means her milk will be as well. Trans fats particularly affect the fat content of a mother's milk, making it much more like skim milk for baby.

So the best option is for Mom to be following an extremely high-nutrient diet that gives baby optimal nutrients. Check out my former post with the Weston A. Price Foundation's recommendations for what foods pregnant & lactating women should eat.

However, there are some instances when no matter how great her diet is, Mom just can't breastfeed. Maybe it's because of illness, another pregnancy, or traveling. For example, when I got pregnant with our third baby (I'm now 5 months) and once I was about 12 weeks along, I simply wasn't making more than 1 oz. per feeding. Needless to say, our 9 month old was not very happy about this situation!

At this point I switched him to Weston A. Price's raw milk formula. He did so great on it and has been on it ever since. With Nathaniel, our older son, I also put him on this formula when I weaned him, and he stayed on it until he was almost 2.5! I really give this formula credit for the exceptional health of my little guys.

The formula is made up of raw milk & cream, and a whole bunch of truly excellent fats for growing little ones- coconut oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, cod liver oil, (I usually leave this out and give it separately on a spoon!) nutritional yeast for various vitamins, acerola cherry powder for Vitamin C, and probiotics for a healthy digestive and immune system.

I've copied the formula from the Weston A. Price's website. You can view the original article here.

Note: I've always made this formula for older babies, so I usually leave out the whey, gelatin, and lactose. If I were making it for a baby younger than 9 months, I would add all of those ingredients. :)

Raw Milk Baby Formula

Makes 36 ounces.

"Our milk-based formula takes account of the fact that human milk is richer in whey, lactose, vitamin C, niacin, and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to cow's milk but leaner in casein (milk protein). The addition of gelatin to cow's milk formula will make it more digestible for the infant. Use only truly expeller-expressed oils in the formula recipes, otherwise they may lack vitamin E."

The ideal milk for baby, if he cannot be breastfed, is clean, whole raw milk from old-fashioned cows, certified free of disease, that feed on green pasture. For sources of good quality milk, see www.realmilk.com or contact a local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

If the only choice available to you is commercial milk, choose whole milk, preferably organic and unhomogenized, and culture it with a piima or kefir culture to restore enzymes (available from G.E.M. Cultures 253-588-2922 or http://www.gemcultures.com).

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole raw cow's milk, preferably from pasture-fed cows
  • 1/4 cup homemade liquid whey (See recipe for whey, below) Note: Do NOT use powdered whey or whey from making cheese (which will cause the formula to curdle). Use only homemade whey made from yoghurt, kefir or separated raw milk.
  • 4 tablespoons lactose1
  • 1/4 teaspoon bifidobacterium infantis2
  • 2 or more tablespoons good quality cream (preferably not ultrapasteurized), more if you are using milk from Holstein cows
  • 1/2 teaspoon unflavored high-vitamin or high-vitamin fermented cod liver oil or 1 teaspoon regular cod liver oil3
  • 1/4 teaspoon high-vitamin butter oil (optional)1
  • 1 teaspoon expeller-expressed sunflower oil1
  • 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil1
  • 2 teaspoons coconut oil1
  • 2 teaspoons Frontier brand nutritional yeast flakes1
  • 2 teaspoons gelatin1
  • 1-7/8 cups filtered water
  • 1/4 teaspoon acerola powder1, 2

1. Available from Radiant Life 888-593-8333, www.radiantlifecatalog.com.
2. Earlier versions of this web page called for 1 tsp of bifidobacterium infantis and 1 tsp of acerola powder--these were typos.
3. Use only recommended brands of cod liver oil. See our recommendations here.

Instructions

  • Put 2 cups filtered water into a pyrex measuring pitcher and remove 2 tablespoons (that will give you 1-7/8 cups water).
  • Pour about half of the water into a pan and place on a medium flame.
  • Add the gelatin and lactose to the pan and let dissolve, stirring occasionally.
  • When the gelatin and lactose are dissolved, remove from heat and add the remaining water to cool the mixture.
  • Stir in the coconut oil and optional high-vitamin butter oil and stir until melted.
  • Meanwhile, place remaining ingredients into a blender.
  • Add the water mixture and blend about three seconds.
  • Place in glass bottles or a glass jar and refrigerate.
  • Before giving to baby, warm bottles by placing in hot water or a bottle warmer. NEVER warm bottles in a microwave oven.





6 comments:

Nutrapro said...

I just want to let your readers know that now Grass fed High Vitamin Organic Butter Oil is available at reasonable price at NutraPro International Company.

http://nutraprointl.com

Anonymous said...

This is a terrible idea. Every major health organization warns pregnant mothers to NOT eat unpasteurized foods. Giving it to your child is also a terrible idea. The reason?

Unpasteurized (raw) milk is much, much more likely to contain dangerous bacteria that are known to (and have) caused miscarriages and serious illness. Don't gamble with your baby's life.

Catherine said...

Thanks Nutrapro, organic butter oil is an extremely healthy food!

Catherine said...

Anonymous, thanks for your comment! While it is true that every major health organization warns pregnant moms not to eat unpasteurized food, it is unfortunate that the majority of this country, who follows the advice of most of these health organizations are very unhealthy.

That being said, raw milk, when purchased from a clean & sanitary source, is infinitely more healthy, and less likely to cause illness than pasteurized milk. Pasteurization was never intended for milk (Louis Pasteur invented it for wine)Besides causing allergies & heart disease, pasteurized and homogenized milk is virtually complete devoid of nutrients, since all the beneficial properties have been killed, and your body cannot process whatever is left.

I have been drinking raw milk for the last 5 years and have not ever had any problems. I drink up to 1/2 gallon daily when pregnant & nursing, and have incredibly healthy babies! My babies also both drink raw milk and they do fantastic on it!

I encourage you to check out the following articles for more info:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/14/Choosing-Between-Raw-Milk-and-a-Dead-White-Liquid.aspx

http://www.realmilk.com

Blessings!
Catherine

JoAnne Markov said...

Why did you decide to leave out the whey, gelatin, and lactose? I am considering making this for my 10 1/2 month old son, (I find I'm having the same milk supply issues you were facing) and I don't know if I should include them or not. Also, great idea to keep the fish oil separate!

(I made this formula for my first son, but he rejected it outright as he was still nursing a bit. I wound up having to mix it in with purees, but he still didn't get as much of it as he should have. For this reason I am considering weaning my 2nd son outright, rather than limping along bfing until 21 months as I did with #1.)

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