Should Babies and Kids Drink Raw Milk?
If there’s one sector of the population that we should all want to protect, it’s children. The mama bear instinct is real and very much so needed. We want to keep our kids safe from predators, illness, and evil. We want to give them the best education, the best care, and the best food possible.
What about raw milk though? We’ve heard it’s full of harmful bacteria and disease. Is this true? Should we only serve our children pasteurized milk and milk products?
In a sense, the answer is, it depends.
First, what kind of raw milk are we talking about? If we’re talking about raw milk intended for pasteurization, then that raw milk should not be given to anyone, especially children. On the other hand, if we’re talking about fresh, unprocessed, whole milk produced carefully by farmers with the intent to be consumed raw, then that milk is great for everyone, especially kids!
It’s true raw milk contains bacteria. But not all bacteria is bad! In fact, we in our overly sanitary culture buy bacteria in pills, in liquid, and if drops for our babies. The sale of probiotics only became necessary after we stopped getting them in our foods by pasteurizing everything. We mentioned this and the beneficial lactase in raw milk in the blog Nature's Supplement.
How can this help kids? There is many cases of skin issues like eczema that have been resolved in children and infants after regular consumption of raw milk. Fresh, unprocessed, whole milk can help children be more resilient towards allergies. The fact that the nutrients in raw milk are more bioavailable help kids absorb essential nutrients like calcium. And the probiotics can help with regular bowel movements in constipated babies!
For my breastfeeding moms out there, I like to think of raw cows milk similar to human breast milk. Would we consider pasteurizing our breast milk for our children because the milk is not sterile? No! We appreciate the living aspects to human milk for our babies. Why would we discount the living aspects of cow’s milk?
The Weston A. Price Foundation has a raw milk formula recipe that many parents have benefited from giving their infants. Also, for further information, check out their website and in particular this article from them called "Is Raw Milk Safe For Babies?"
We believe that the best people to make health choices for children is not some government agency or a pediatrician or even us here at MarGro Farms but loving, well informed parents. YOU have your child’s best interests in mind. YOU can make the best decision for them. If you decide that fresh, unprocessed, raw milk is the best decision for the health of your child, we would love to help you with that when we open up our herd share program. Contact us if this is a way you want to feed your family!
