raw, baby, raw

Someone (you know who you are, and THANK YOU, this is awesome!) sent this to me the other day – it’s a video of a family talking about giving their infant son raw milk instead of formula. It’s so nice to see other people spreading the word, and more people doing the same things I do, so that when people call me crazy, I can say “YOU KNOW, I’m hardly the only person doing this.

In any case, I think that making my own video is an awesome idea and I’m going to think about what I want to say over the next couple weeks.  (Ahem.  I have a problem with being really long-winded about everything.  I know this.)

But if there’s anyone else out there who’s had a good experience with raw milk (Velvet?) maybe you’d be interested in making a video, too?  I wish we could all make one together!  I just think it’s so important to talk about these things.

I will say, though – I’m really tired of people saying that “breast milk is best and cow/goat milk is for baby cows/goats.”  I think, for the majority, people are in agreement that breast milk is best.  But sometimes it just isn’t possible, for physical reasons, mental reasons, emotional reasons.  Once upon a time, we lived in a society where, if you couldn’t nurse, there were plenty of women around who would help you and/or do it for you.  We no longer live in those days.  New mothers are, for the most part, isolated.  Some mothers of new mothers will be supportive of breastfeeding troubles, some will not.  My own mom couldn’t understand why I was putting myself through so much trouble and told me to just give him formula, numerous times.  A friend of mine’s mother in law thought breastfeeding was terrible and all babies should be raised on formula.  Many women have to go back to work and it is NOT easy to keep up a pumping schedule while working – hell, it’s not even easy to keep up a pumping schedule while staying at home.  And if you are having trouble and need help, lactation consultants aren’t cheap and most insurance plans don’t cover them.  (I have a lot of interesting news & links to sift through about how this new healthcare reform will affect pregnancy/maternity/pregnant women’s rights, etc.  I hope it’s mostly all for the good, because I’m very much for reform.)