I’ve been jumped on for admitting that not only do I give my son goat milk but unpasteurized goat milk – and I’ve been “informed” of “things I might not know” as if I hadn’t thoroughly researched it and given it serious consideration. ALTHOUGH. Wonderfully, I’ve also heard even more from people who were raised on goat milk themselves, their parents were raised on goat milk, or have given it to their own kids. All who grew up perfectly healthy.
And might I also add that most people, who have knee-jerk reactions to such things and who typically follow mainstream “rules” don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when it comes to alternative anything.
The other day we had our first 100% milk poop. Well, not “we”, but Felix. I felt vindicated. You know how they say that you can judge a person’s overall well being and the goodness of their diet by POOP? Well, have y’all seen formula poop? It’s disgusting. It’s got a weird consistency, is a horrible shade of green, and stinks to high heaven. If an adult pooped like that, you’d wonder what’s wrong.
But goat milk poop? (With the occasional bottle of pumped breastmilk)? LOVELY. It barely smells (I had no idea it was even there until I changed his diaper), it’s a good consistency, easy to clean up – and looks exactly like all-breastmilk poop. Seriously. That, to me, says goat milk (unpasteurized) is a good thing for him. He even seems to love the stuff, along with having far less gas and spitting up less often.
Yesterday I went to pick up more raw goat milk at the co-op, only to find that all that was left was a little pint container. I grabbed it, then stood there staring at the cartons of “ultra-pasteurized” goat milk. I hemmed and I hawed… ultra-pasteurized is worse than pasteurized. Then I decided that I would just go right to the farm to stock up and turned away from the ultra-pasteurized stuff. Indeed. Not only do I feed him unpasteurized goat milk, but it seems I now REFUSE to feed him pasteurized. Knowing what I know, I don’t see the point in pasteurized anything. Goat milk is already lacking in some nutrients – pasteurization only compounds the problem. (It’s absolutely true. Ever notice those cartons say “vitamin d added”? Pasteurization destroys all of the natural vitamins.) I want him to get as much as he possibly can from the goat milk.
So today, we made the half hour trek to the farm. I pulled my car up to a gate, opened the gate, drove through, closed the gate behind me, waved to the goats & dogs wandering around… grabbed the three remaining half gallons left in the cooler, left my money in the jar and repeated the open/close/drive process through the gate again and made our way home.
There’s something very refreshing and salt of the earth about going to a farm to pick up milk.
I’ve always been a very hot headed, opinionated person. I’ve never really had a chance to test my convictions, though – how far was I really willing to go for what I believed in and how much did I really believe?
It’s become increasingly obvious that I’ve finally found my passion. Since having Felix, there are things that I’m really willing to “die on the hill” for. I fought to breastfeed for awhile, because formula didn’t sit well with me. When I couldn’t manage the pumping anymore, instead of just sucking it up and doing the popular thing (formula) I went out and searched for a solution that I was comfortable with.
I have to say that, as a mother, I’m pretty damn proud of myself. I’ve made choices that aren’t easy or convenient and definitely not popular. I’ve stuck to them and if I don’t like something, then I’ll keep working at it until I find a solution that I DO like. I take the time to seek out answers, to research, to go beyond the popular parenting advice and to risk being called crazy for going against the grain, for things that I truly believe are best for my son. And for once, I’m not being contrary just for the sake of arguing. This time, this rebel has an actual cause.
(I’m also happy to report that because of my chatter on Twitter about goat milk, someone else who was in the same position with pumping has asked me about goat milk and they’re eager to make the switch. )