A father is left alone to raise a premature infant daughter. He decides to abandon conventional formula in favor of raw milk, and now, six years later, he is grateful for the decision he made. He has chronicled the story that follows, of his daughter’s early journey, under a pen name.
By Steve Wilson
Steve’s daughter, Elizabeth
Premature babies must overcome a host of health problems to survive the first few months after birth. These problems include lung conditions, hearing and sight difficulties, muscular weakness, intellectual and mental developmental disabilities, cardiac and high blood pressure problems, intestinal illness, cerebral palsy, behavioral and psychological problems, dental problems, and they are generally more prone to all other sicknesses because their immune systems are underdeveloped.
So, who’d choose to be a premy parent? Of course, by the time this all becomes apparent, you have no choice; you just have to deal with it.
When Elizabeth was born in Oklahoma in 2011, she weighed only 2 lb 10oz and was three months premature. With help from the wonderful doctors and nurses around her in the newborn intensive care unit, she fought for her life for three long months, and survived. Weighing in at over 5 lb, she was released to her Mom and Dad and taken home.
However, her initial fight for life was not over and during the next six months she was admitted back to the hospital twice with pneumonia. Elizabeth had been breast fed mostly for the first 4-5 months, with her mom expressing the milk for the nurses to feed Elizabeth and then trying herself to nurse her at home. Unfortunately, Mom’s milk dried up as a result of those hospital admissions, and we started giving Elizabeth formula.
Then when Elizabeth was 10 months old, her Mom left home under the stress of a host of problems, and her Dad, myself, then had to look after and raise her. You might be surprised to learn that this didn’t completely overawe me; I had raised four healthy kids before in a previous marriage, I was mature, (actually pretty old) and I had a small pension, so I could stay at home and care for Elizabeth.
I was also what others would call a health nut. I had read and researched natural health for over forty years. I took many supplements myself, and I had raised my other children using this knowledge.
Her Mom had made most of the decisions regarding Elizabeth up to 10 months, since I’m sort of old fashioned and believe it is the mother’s right to make most decisions regarding children. However, when her mom departed, I took over the driving seat as it were and one of the first decisions I made was to replace the formula Elizabeth was on with raw milk.
There were two issues. The first was that raw milk has a bad name in the established medical community and I didn’t want to handle attacks from doctors and nurses while I was fighting to raise my daughter in the most healthy way I believed possible. So I decided to keep my decision to myself. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Elizabeth’s doctors and I needed their help, but I was not ready to fight on two fronts at once—doing the best I could for Elizabeth and fighting off the medical/governmental/legal establishment that might attack me for my parental decision.
The second issue was where to find raw milk. Here I was lucky, I found a source in my home state through a friend. I won’t divulge the source, except to say it became a regular feature of our lives together—going to the farm, enjoying the animals and meeting other people who also journeyed a long way to get the precious milk.
I also admired the farmer, his wonderful cow hygiene practices, his care for the animals and for the land he farmed.
Elizabeth’s transition to raw milk was easy. I gave it to her in a bottle and I followed Margot Sunderland’s wonderful advice in her book The Science of Parenting.
Also, I added two drops of silver colloid, two drops of natural vitamin E, two drops of vitamin D3, and two drops of zinc solution to every bottle. Elizabeth consumed between one and one-and-a-half pints of milk every day. When we took a month-long vacation to England, I found a source of raw milk there and Elizabeth continued on her regime.
Elizabeth is now six years old and in the first grade. A little while ago she told me that she didn’t want milk anymore and although this made me sad, I respected her wishes.
She never went back to the hospital. She occasionally needed nebulizing breathing treatments during her first few years, but these have fallen away to nearly nothing. She has hardly any allergies, which is amazing for someone living in Oklahoma. She is very athletic, eats like a horse, has good eye sight and hearing, and is very smart. She is a happy wonderful child and it has been my privilege to raise her so far.
What a wonderful testament to the power of real food. Thank you, David!
Yes, thank you for sharing that! Our children, including a set of 7-week premature twins, were all raised on raw milk after breast milk, and all have thrived! Our heavenly Father’s ways are always best!
Thanks for sharing your experience Steve,
Thirty years ago tomorrow and within a couple of hours of giving birth to twins in the hospital my first wife passed away as a result of a prescribed drug induced massive brain hemorrhage. When I brought the babies’ home I threw the formula that the hospital staff gave me into the garbage. Being a Jersey dairy farmer I fed the babies raw milk mixed with raw honey and diluted it with fresh spring water. To this date they have not seen a doctor (no well baby visits) since their birth, they have not been vaccinated, and have not received prescription or over the counter medications of any kind. They are now both married and have healthy unvaccinated children of their own.
Hi Ken,
So glad to hear your story too. It’s so hard to make the right decisions in the teeth of authoritative opposition. Thank goodness there are some Doctor’s who evaluate for themselves and many lay people who have the strength and intelligence to insist on natural health.
In my State a child can’t go to public school if he/she has not had all the prescribed shots, and so, reluctantly, I allowed Elizabeth to have them with the hope that the Raw Milk and Zinc I gave her would protect her. It seems to have been OK, but it did feel like a little bit of parental betrayal at the time. How did you avoid this issue or was this not an issue at all in your State?
I’m a Canadian from Northern Ontario. Religious and conscientious exemption forms are available for parents who do not wish their child to be vaccinated. The Ontario government however is in the process of implementing new requirement for parents who seek a non-medical vaccine exemption. When in effect this new requirement will compel parent to participate in a so-called education session before granting exemption. In truth this is little more then a paternalistic scheme to indoctrinate and harass mothers and fathers who have gone out of their way to make an informed choice.
Mandatory indoctrination = subjugation.
This so follows a pattern.
I think Pharma and Food Industry money is a powerful influencing tool. Quite a few medical researchers decide to still promote their careers if funding comes along with unethical strings attached. For instance: In the immediate years after natural Laetrile was shown to prevent cancer, over 200 research projects were started to investigate the substance. Of these, 198 were to prove it didn’t work. Why? Because a natural cure for cancer is not patentable and it would have cost the Pharma Industry hundreds of millions in lost Chemo revenues, so they needed to change the research conclusions. Many, (but of course not all,) Politicians are willing to create bad legislation if there is so called research to support their rich benefactors demands for it. Once the law is set, departments of government are forced to react to it.
It’s all very wrong, but at least in a democracy we can make our views known, so I hope that good sense in human health will eventually prevail.
Steve Wilson … I hope that in your neck of the woods, you can continue to make your views known. When we were put on trial in British Columbia, for the sake of being the directing mind of the Our Cows raw milk cowshare, one of the charges against me, was ; that I had convened a public meeting and advertised it as ‘raw milk information night’. Believe it or not!
I was looking forward to having that utterly UN-constitutional piece of idiocy, canvassed in the appeal. But the govt. succeeded in having me compelled put up $8000 in order to proceed. I didn’t have that much $ so my appeal was derailed. The government agency effectively “bought the pot” in poker-playing terms. As the Chief Justice of BC once said = “justice beyond one’s pocketbook is justice beyond your reach”.
when battling in Her Majesty’s Courts all the way from Victoria BC to the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Old Bailey in England, My hero Doug Christie said :
“Freedom of Speech IS the issue”
So it was gratifying to see one of the AntiFa thugs who stormed the campus at Berkely, last year committing assault /arson/ rioting etc… now sent away for a few years in the penitentiary. The very same guys whom Mark McAffee praised at that time … domestic terrorists preventing someone from ‘making his views known’.
Ken,
Isn’t honey something else that the white coats say shouldn’t be given to babies?
Yes it is, and their concern for the Clostridium bacteria spores responsible for botulism is one of the reasons why they advocate not feeding raw milk, even though… the standard milk pasteurization treatment does not eliminate the spore. Having said that, there are many cultures that continue to give babies honey almost from birth and incorporate it early into baby’s diet.
If an infant is receiving vaccinations and drugs such as antibiotics that alter and compromise its gut flora and immune system, then it would be wise to steer clear of honey or anything else for that matter that comes into contact with soil and dust where the Clostridium bacteria spores are widely found. I suppose if the official recommendation to avoid exposing an infant to botulism spores for the first twelve months is strictly applied, then it would be wise that anyone caring for an infant should avoid gardening and not let their child eat and or play in the dirt during that time frame.
This is an inspirational story. Thanks for sharing! I hope Elizabeth continues to grow in health.
Thank you Shana, you are very kind, she will continue to be the focus of my care.
Such inspiring stories from both Steve and Ken, and thank goodness common sense still has a place in this world.
30 years ago, when I was 34 years old, our youngest son presented the exact opposite problem – – he was 3 weeks overdue. He went from being an almost 8 lb baby to being 3 lbs 14 oz at birth. The doctors called it regression. Thank God he was still very healthy, passed all their APGAR tests with flying colors, just needed to gain weight. I kept trying to tell the doctors that I knew my own body (and calendar) well enough to know when I was due, and that I felt like the baby was losing weight; after all I’d had two other babies so I wasn’t exactly a novice. But doctors seem to think women know nothing about anything at all, especially their own bodies.
At any rate, my youngest was breastfed and when I discovered no matter how much milk I produced it just wasn’t going to satisfy him, initially, I contacted the hobby farmer down the lane from us and procured some fresh goat milk every day. I added nothing to it and warmed it only to the point where it was about the same temp as breast milk. By the time he was 6 weeks old he weighed 11 lbs. The doctor was astonished and wondered, joking, what in the world I was eating that would make him gain so strong and so fast. I never did tell him, none of his business I figured.
That boy just had his 30th birthday about 2 months ago and is still strong and healthy and has 7 children of his own and 1 adopted child (which they had fostered since birth).
Many good wishes and much luck to you & Elizabeth in future, Steve. Keep on keeping on . . . ;-o)
key point in that anedotal evidence, being : that the goat’s milk was fresh every day, and close to hand. Probably consumed within hours of milking ? In his book “Goat Milk Magic”, Dr Bernard Jensen reported that he kept goats for 50 years. His opinion was = as it comes from the mammal, milk has an electrical component which last for a couple of hours.
@ Gordon: Yes, actually it was fresh twice every day because he (the hobby farmer) brought me whatever he had left at the end of the day. We lived in a small town at the time, we lived on the outskirts of town and wanted to have a small hobby farm of our own, just hadn’t gotten that far yet. Our neighbor was also a friend so we knew his ways and I felt good about getting the milk from him. He was an older guy and knew the value of proper collection of milk. He also had a couple of Jersey cows, but at the time my grandma told me to use the goat milk because it was easier on the baby. I took that to mean it was easier to digest although I don’t know that my grandma knew to explain it in those terms. She just knew what she knew and I figured she raised 9 kids without a problem so she must know something about these things, right? Seems she didn’t lead me wrong!
The baby was also still breastfed, and I drank some of the goat milk too, so he was actually getting sort of a double whammy at times. 🙂 It sure did work.
what’s going on with Pride & Joy raw milk dairy, is worth paying attention to. Washington being one of the most intelligent of the States … actually sympathetic to producers of REAL MILK.
Usually, Food Safety News mercilessly slangs /mocks anything to do with raw milk for human consumption. so this report is surprisingly objective.
see the article on Food Safety News website
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/10/raw-milk-dairy-out-of-time-to-appeal-retail-license-suspension/
apparently, Pride & Joy is doing their own testing at an independent lab, which is NOT finding the ominous strain of bacteria in their milk samples. The explanation of how testing is NOT perfectly conclusive, is very interesting. Apply that to every other foodstuff!
We’ve seen a few such situations around the U.S., and the state’s results (when they show pathogens) always take precedence over outside tests ordered by farmer….for better or worse.
“It is inaccurate to say that the results of any pathogen testing are ‘negative.’ Our lab, like most accredited regulatory laboratories, reports results on pathogen tests as either ‘not found’ or ‘detected.’ This is because a test that does not find pathogens in a sample is not a guarantee that no pathogens are present, only that they were ‘not found,’ ” according to the WSDA.
In other words, a positive test is a “fait accomplis!!!
The above emphasis on the “detected” result rather then the “not found” result, coupled with little regard for the possibility that the sample taken may have been seeded down by an external source is indicative of selective and irrational bureaucratic arrogance… in other words, “I’m right and you’re wrong, I’m big and you’re small, and there’s nothing you can do about it”. Roald Dahl
One cannot help but shake their head at this perpetual cat and mouse game or if you will, this futile, never-ending, contrived constant pursuit at isolating and controlling a so-called pathogen.
Add yours to the list of inspiring stories, D. Smith. I am so glad to hear that all these babies (Steve’s, Ken’s, and yours) who started out with some risks are now thriving!
Hi D,
Thank you for your good wishes, and what a lovely story? I believe the globular fat content of goats milk is smaller than cows milk and closer to human milk, and it certainly made your son thrive.
Western Society appears to be getting more physically sick every year and people are being forced into poor food and health choices by misinformation and the force of bad law. I think I’d like to write an article about this for David’s blog if he thinks it isn’t too far off the subject.
If it’s about milk, it’s right in David’s roundhouse I’d guess. I know I’d like to read it.
@ Steve: People are getting sicker all the time because of the amazingly poor choices being forced upon us by our gov’t “authorities” who seem more interested in their bottom line than in the health of the nation (i.e., the people and/or the countryside). We’ve personally seen trees and other vegetation destroyed, or mutating into something far different than the original, and something about all of that isn’t normal, no matter how they try to convince us that things are just fine.
So more allergies, more food sensitivites, more illness, more childhood problems and pregnancy issues – – those things are to be considered normal and fine?? Hardly. As I often say to people I distrust – I was born at night but not last night.
I think you should write an article. The more voices for choices, the better.
Hi D,
I put a proposition to David re an essay on Drug Cartel market control methods, but he declined because it moved away too far from the object of this blog, which is something I agree with. I also think the arguments have been well aired by others, so there’s not too much lost. I may write an offer to David an essay on the human microbiome based on Martin Blaser’s book – Missing Microbes , as I think this gave me a much better understanding of how and why Raw Milk and Unprocessed Food is so important to the human body. However, if I don’t write it or David doesn’t publish it, I hope you may find time anyway to read the book.
@ Steve: I would like to read the book by Blaser, it will just have to go on my list of things to do this winter! I read the book called Swindled by Bee Wilson several years ago and it’s pretty darn good. I also read both of the books by Nina Planck called Real Food: What to Eat and Why (there’s the original done in 2007- which is the one I read – and a re-write done in 2016) and she also has a book called Real Food for Mother and Baby, also rewritten in 2016 from the original in 2009. Excellent stuff. She now has a cookbook out, as well, but I haven’t looked at that yet. Since I provide infant-only day care, I have recommended Nina’s book for Mother’s and Babies often, and to friends and relatives who are trying to have children, as that’s what the book is really all about.
If you write something let us know. If you write an essay, you could always put it at my forum, although there isn’t a lot of traffic there anymore, since they changed the formatting. People didn’t want to deal with learning the new method so they just left, although I think quite a few people still read there. Actually, I have two forums and I kinda keep both of them going by switching back and forth! If this would be of interest to you, ask David to give you my email addy and send me a message, I will in turn send you the links to both forums. Also, I can then pass it on, as well, to other forums where I belong, which would be cool since most of them are foodie forums.
@ Steve: Sorry, I forgot to mention another book that I recommend to young parents quite often, and it’s 30+ years old already but I’ve never found better info for misguided, often uninformed young parents. It’s called How to Raise a Healthy Baby in Spite of Your Doctor by Dr. Robert Mendelsohn. He was a pediatrician for many years until he finally decided he needed to make people aware of the utter nastiness of the entire realm of medicine – especially for babies and young children. Terrific reading. A few things I don’t agree with, but all in all some excellent advice for young people just starting a family.
He also wrote the book called MaLePractice which is an excellent book that everyone should read, male or female. Also his book called Confessions of A Medical Heretic is excellent. Nothing in his books about food, really, but they are darn good reading even 30 years, almost 40 years later.
Maybe looking over all the books I mentioned will help you get started writing something of your own!
Steve–Thanks for sharing. If you are still in Oklahoma, you should be able to get an exemption, which I did some years ago when I needed to work part-time and use daycare. But the other, and arguably better, solution, that covers a lot more than just the vaccine issue, is to homeschool, and Oklahoma is one of the best states in which to do that. Blessings to you and your girlie. 🙂
Hi Judy, I considered Homeschool, but didn’t think it was right for Elizabeth as it would isolate her and she is so gregarious. I didn’t know about shot exemptions, how do you go about getting an exemption?
@ Steve: Search your State dot gov site for exemptions, as each State is different. My State only permits religious or medical exemptions, whereas some permit religious, medical and/or philosophical.
I must disagree with you about putting your daughter into a public school simply because you think she needs that companionship. There are multiple ways to take care of that, school being the least friendly of all those choices.
Thank you for sharing your raw milk health stories.
In efforts to legalize access to raw milk in all 50 states may be it would help to call it “Medical Raw Milk”.
Over the weekend I attended a lecture by Dr. Apple held at Princeton University entitle: “Legalized Pot: What are the Consequences?” Link to a youtube interview of Dr. Apple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Xi37vOr-s
As I sat there listening to Dr. Apple I thought about the parallels to legalizing raw milk. Apparently one way the marijuana lobby made progress towards legalization is by first advancing their cause by calling it “Medical Marijuana”. Who wants to be accused of denying someone suffering of a potential medical treatment?
There is probably an even stronger scientific basis in support of health benefits from drinking raw milk. Hence the original establishment of a Medical Milk Commission: Late 1800’s New Jersey Hospital Provided Certified Raw Milk http://hartkeisonline.com/2011/05/10/late-1800s-new-jersey-hospital-provided-certified-raw-milk/
Hi Joseph, It does feel a little like supplying and obtaining milk where it is impossible to get it legally is akin to drug trafficking. It also endangers the quality of the milk as it could be obtained from sources that have lower cleanliness standards than Certified Dairy Farmers.How awful that the food conglomerate’s rottweiler, the FDA, have forced normally law abiding people to act in this manner.
I’m sure if the medical marijuana movement establishes the right of individuals to use it medically, the FDA will have a harder time abolishing the Raw Milk Movement.
Agree or disagree, an interesting article on alternative science:
The Grandfather Of Alt-Science
Art Robinson has seeded scientific skepticism within the GOP for decades. Now he wants to use urine to save lives.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-grandfather-of-alt-science/
Michael Olson’s “the Food Chain” radio show is archived here: http://ksco.com/shows/39598-the-food-chain
Here’s the reason that I bring this up- The show from Saturday, September 30, 2017 may be of interest to the readers here.
It pertains to the Federal Government and how it interacts with small-sized meat processors.
I believe this show airs live at ksco.com on saturdays from 9 to 10 am PDT.
All the best,
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
“Raw Milk Advocate Guilty Of Obstructing A Peace Officer”
“Peace Officer”???
More accurately… “disturber of the peace officer”
http://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/midwestern-ontario-news/2017/10/19/durham-area-raw-milk-advocate-guilty-obstucting-peace-officer/
and = for supreme irony = click on the link on the Blackburn news page report about Michael Schmidt, relating to testing of water quality,
http://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/midwestern-ontario-news/2017/10/19/possible-water-testing-water-filter-scam-south-bruce-peninsula/
in the very same neighbourhood, from time to time, South Bruce County will issue a “boil water advisory”. Authorities knows for sure that water coming out of taps into households in its jurisdiction, has a pathogen. Yet residents are free to drink aforesaid water, or not! At the same time, people who produce their own foo – to a higher standard than required for the same stuff on retail store shelves, that’d be MILK – are outlawed. Make sense? America is ruled by people who hate us.
@ D.Smith.
Thx for recommending those books, I know MaLePractice blows the lid on conventional big pharma controlled medicine.
One book I read recently which I think every health alternative thinking person should read is ‘Missing Microbes’ by Martin Blaser. I got it as Christmas Present from my daughter who is married to a Homeopathic Lecturer, and I felt obliged to read it in front of my long list of other must read books, and my goodness, it brought so many strands of alternative health theory together and explained why they worked to me: Why drink raw milk? Why take supplements? why is IBSD so prevalent? why is natural child birth so important? on and on.
You can probably guess I went straight back to the beginning of the book and read it again, and at my age I really don’t have time to read a book twice!
@ Steve Wilson: You’re very welcome. I’m an avid reader so you could name just about any subject (except sci-fi) and I’d be able to recommend something!
When my kids were in high school, I made them read 1984. With our political landscape what it has been for the past two years, they’ve all thanked me for doing that and helping them to understand how life isn’t always what it seems on the outside. They all mentioned they feel a little more aware of the world around them and are more alert because of that book.
A great Dad and a lovely story! The Mom probably bottomed out on nutrition and a good microbiome, poor thing. Oh, and congrats on the daughter’s wide dental arches!
Thanks for sharing this excellent journey. Regarding respecting her wishes not to drink milk anymore, I wonder where she got that idea. You might want to dig into it some – for example, perhaps a schoolfriend said it was babyish or that she would get fat (this is the age it starts with girls) or that it wasn’t cool or that she should drink a packaged drink (happens all the time with the advertising mindset). It will be the beginning of you helping her filter the wishwash from the outside world. It isn’t as if she did research and decided not to drink milk. It is also a good thing to start. For example, my friend noticed that her eight year old daughter and friends were making little wristbands, but her daughter somehow only had one and was sad about it. And the other girls were giggling about it. My friend focused on paying attention, creating a stress free dialog with her daughter… it turns out the different colored wristbands represented sexual acts with the opposite sex! Yes, the girls were eight! Instead of freaking out and burning the wristband, her daughter only had the one, thankfully, my friend talked through the issues with her own daughter and then spent tons of time dealing with the other girls and their families. So, ask about the little things. I mention all this because you are a man. And you have this amazing change to help your daughter grow into a very special woman with a solid and unique perspective on life. Fathers usually miss out on these parts of their girl’s lives, so she is lucky to have you there on the front lines. Oh, on the milk, maybe you can introduce your grownup drink of egg yolks with raw cream and milk and nutmeg for the holidays!