Got Milk? How About Human Milk?

You make some valid points.  I've never given this any thought, even when I was nursing my kids.  Interesting.

Nursing my 3 kids was what initially got me thinking about this.  I had so much extra milk I would call myself a "milk factory".  I used to wish I could be paid for the extra then I could earn money while being a SAHM! 

With my first I had excess milk and this time around too. I bottled all my excess and gave it to my sis who was having problems producing, she paid me with appriciation and some clothes. Oh well, money would've been nice too. hehehe... btw, if you have more babies and more excess milk, you could always donate to a company which stores the milk for premmies who can only survive on it.

We also have a harder time digesting cows milk.  Even goat milk is better for our digestion - but then again, it is another animal.

You are absolutely right.  My brother is allergic to milk and he's one of the healthiest in the family.  Many people go without milk and dairy products - just like there are people who go without gluten-containing products, and other food allergies, and still survive.  There's no nutrient where you get it from just ONE source that our body NEEDS - is there?  :)

Great article!

Both of my youngest kids have a very hard time digesting milk.  Camden is lactose intolerant and Chloe is even worse.  She has one sip of milk and it rips her stomach up.  Like instant diarhea (sp?) and then a diaper rash from hell wherever the poop touched her.  Our experience with Cow's milk is what made me originally start thinking about how pervasive dairy is in this country's food supply.  It is so frustrating and hard to find food without dairy in it!  Even most bologna has dairy products in it!

I can't consume dairy right now (my son has eczema and we're trying an elimination diet) and you'd be surprised at how many people don't understand that breastmilk is NOT dairy! It's breastmilk!

Oh, and as for consuming human milk-- I have put it in my cereal before, lol!

I have been making it a point to call cow's milk "cow's milk", and to call human milk "milk". It makes more sense that way!

Yeah, most people are pretty ignorant to the whole breastmilk not being dairy!  Maybe we'll educate a few people with this article!?!

We're so propagandized to accept dairy as a healthy choice.  It's not, and for many reasons.

It's interesting to me that so many of us are grossed out at the thought of a human baby getting milk from another human, as in breastmilk banks or wet nursing, yet this was the only option if mom couldn't nurse for most of our history.  Giving the milk of animals or the highly processed, overly sweetened, questionable nutrition of a milk replacer is more acceptable.  (Nobody feel attacked by that, when I was in ICU my kid got formula, too.)

And the interesting thing is that this post is probably the first time most people will even hear about the propaganda and that dairy isn't as healthy as the government and dairy companies would lead us to believe!  I mean, it is healthier than drinking soda every meal, but that's about it!

I've never been a milk drinker (unless there was chocolate in it) and I'm pretty healthy.  So, I agree that it's not essential to the health of our bones or bodies.

I will admit that I am addicted to milk.  I crave it.  I fault society for getting me addicted to it because it is "healthy" only to discover as an adult that it is totally unnecessary and potentially harmful in some cases.  I am down to drinking milk occassionally now, and using in my cereal a couple times a week, but darn if I can shake the "habit" completely!  I wonder if they have rehab for milk drinkers?!?  LOL

I do have my kids mostly weaned off of it, but they like me LOVE cheese... I just need to start a company that makes things like cheese and icecream using breastmilk... I think I could make a mint... as long as no one knew it was breastmilk! 

Now cheese is another thing entirely.  I'm not sure I could give up cheese. :))

Yeah, dairy products are in practically everything --- bologna, hot dogs, baked goods, etc.... Those dairy people knew what they were doing to make dairy in indespensible commodity!

Did you by any chance read the book "Skinny Bitch?" It has a lot of this same info. My daughter just read it recently and shared some of these facts with me. Interesting food for thought, isn't it?

No, I didn't read that book.  I will have to check it out! 

By the way, after your post about your entry in the Chicken Soup for the Soul book being published, I clicked on your link and entered a few of my stories about the kids.  We'll see if anything comes from it!

yeah u r right most of the babies drink other animal milk, but i think if we give our baby mother's milk its great.

to see the mother feeding Benefits

http://trusted-breast-pumps.co.uk/Breastfeeding_Benefits.htm

I hear you! We are weird critters, no doubt. I don't drink much milk, and soymilk is just as good on my cereal as cow milk. I couldn't give up my many cheeses though! Mmm! Some are actually quite put out over this topic though...

http://www.killsometime.com/animations/animation.asp?ID=74

 

:) wishing you laughter

Wow, that's an intense video!  Thanks for commenting and for visiting my content!

My calcium checked out fine recently and I don't drink milk. I remember my mom taking a swing at a second grade teacher for forcing me to drink milk at lunch,as it made me ill! Cheese doesn't tho....so don't take That away,lol.

My middle child can't have milk, but he does fine with cheese and yogurt, so I totally understand!  He would "die" without cheese too!

Well, when I was recovering from a fracture and one of the surgery technicians was breast feeding, I suggested that breast milk might help my bones to heal faster and she just blushed.

All right John... that would make most nursing women blush!  I have been talking to my husband about why humans don't drink human milk and he has a hard time separating breast milk from breasts... Anyways, so I asked him, so when you drink cow's milk are you sucking from an udder?  I think that helped him get his mind off the boobs and more focused on the milk!  LOL!

that is so true of my hubby too!

From "Sciencedaily.com:

Scientists had previously established that certain types of aphids live in colonies where they are used as a food source by a neighbouring colony of ants. The ants have been known to bite the wings off the aphids in order to stop them from getting away and depriving the ants of one of their staple foods: the sugar-rich sticky honeydew which is excreted by aphids when they eat plants. Chemicals produced in the glands of ants can also sabotage the growth of aphid wings. The new study shows, for the first time, that ants' chemical footprints -- which are already known to be used by ants to mark out their territory - also play a key role in manipulating the aphid colony, and keeping it nearby.

I know, ants are not mammals and aphids don't produce milk, but I find it to be a fascinating analogy to us keeping cow herds for their milk.

That is pretty fascinating!  Ants herd aphids, we herd cows...  :)

BRAVO Heidi, my thoughts exactly!

I agree with you, im still breastfeeing my 18 month old son and i get comments all the time about why don't i give him cows milk yet.  Well because i firmly believe my milk is made for my child and cows milk is made for cow babies lol

I nursed my first until he was 22 months old.  I was also 7 months pregnant with my 2nd and every time he nursed I would start getting serious contractions, so I thought it best to stop.  Anyway... human milk IS the best thing for humans!  A novel thought indeed!

Your last sentence is very interesting... would their udders simply blow up and then they would die? No, the baby cows would nurse from their mothers. The momma cows milk supply would be regulated by the baby cow's demand for milk and when the momma cow weaned the calf, her milk would go away. I've never heard of cows dying from over producing milk. Dairy farmers take the momma cows AFTER they have had a baby (otherwise they wouldn't produce milk --- they only produce after they have had a calf) and continue to pump them so that their milk supply will meet the artificial demand. Do you contend that dairy cows produce milk their entire lives without having to procreate in order to do so? They aren't dairy cows because they produce milk from the time they are born until they die. The milk production HAS to be initiated by a calf being born...

And, well, I didn't say cow milk consumption was a new phenonmenon, but that doesn't make it healthy for humans to drink cow's milk... but you won't get that information from the government or the dairy industry. Yes, it's healthier than drinking soda with every meal and that is what most of the science is based on --- "well, milk is better than _____. So we can tell people, "It does a body good."

I'm not suggesting we drink milk at all after we are weaned and as for that cake recipe needing milk... well... cake's not high on my nutrition list either. I'm talking about a global rethinking of how we as westerners do our food consumption. There are other types of "milk" we can use for recipes, they don't have to come from an animal and don't necessarily have to ne a STAPLE or foundational block for health --- milk is quite unnecessary after age two.

"Cows are made to be eaten, and if we didn't milk them, they would die. "

Umm. Wtf? O.o

Yeah, that's news to me! LOL!

So, are women endanger of dying if they don't pump their own milk too? Heck tons of women don't even breastfeed, so is that fatal as well?

Haha. We'd just be exploding all over the place.

I have done real research.

I have not addressed anyone woman who has lost her breast and can't feed in this post. You question regarding this is irrelevant and a deflection of what this post is actually about. I am not talking about breastfeeding... I'm questioning why humans consume other mammals' milk --- no other species does this unless a human gives it to them (a cat drinking cows milk, etc...)

I am not callous and haven't said anything to substantiate your claim to that. Your sentence just didn't make sense. No lactating person or animal HAS TO BE MILKED in order NOT to die. Mastitis does happen, but it isn't caused by milk not being pumped or sucked... it is an infection that clogs the milk duct and yes nursing does help "clear it up" as do antibiotics. But to say the statement that if we don't milk cows they will all die, is completely erroneous and makes no sense.

"Cows are made to be eaten, and if we didn't milk them, they would die. "

This is your statement above and it is simply not true.

You didn't bring up mastitis until we questioned the logic behind your statement and yes, any animal (humans included) who lactate can get the infection.

I'm not being callous, I'm just questioning your logic. If a cow who has a calf is left alone to nurse her calf, the chances of her developing mastitis are a lot lower than a cow who is turned into a dairy cow (forced to produce WAY more milk than she would if she was nursing her calf and rarely are they even allowed to nurse their newborn). The dairy industry is to blame for putting the demands on the cows that create the risk of infection, not someone like me (who has done a lot of research by the way) and is simply questioning why we as humans drink another mammals milk, but are grossed out at the thought of drinking milk created by our own species. I'm just pointing out that in my brain, that makes no sense at all.

Anyone with a basic understanding of how lactating works knows your statement is bull, so I shouldn't even have to bring up that as someone raised on a farm, whose parents worked dairies for most of my childhood, I found your claim ridiculously ignorant.

Heidi's right on, and you're... what, trolling? Defensive? Don't know, don't really care at this point.

"One reason is that milk doesn't get drained, bacteria builds up, causes infection and kills the dairy cow.

Worked at a dairy farm, seen it...and it isn't pretty."

Well I have one up on you as I used to raise, breed and show dairy goats (essentially the same thing only two less teats). If a doe or cow is left to raise her kids/calves she only produces enough milk for them. If she is milked by a human (or machine) she will produce more. Once the artificial stimulant is removed (human or machine milking) the animal then begins to resume normal milk production.
Mastitis is very uncommon if reasonable milking practices (i.e. most NON-commercial farming and natural offspring rearing) if the animal is in a clean and sanitary environment (again, most non commercial farms. Commercial farms are disgusting in their sanitation as well as their treatment of animals)

And Goat milk is better for you than cows milk because the structure of goats milk is more close to the structure of human milk.

So. . . if you're gonna drink milk. . Goat is the way to go. Plus you get to make goat milk fudge. . . and if you don't like that . . . well something's wrong with you IMHO :0)

Heidi and Heather are providing simple biological facts. As anyone with any degree of knowledge about lactating knows, a mammal naturally produces sufficient milk for their offspring according to the demands of the nursing of that young. When man gets in there and effs with the process, yes, problems come up. But to assume the effed-with process is the natural order of things takes a degree of ignorance I'm glad not to possess. As I said, I grew up around milking animals, both cow and goat, as well as other mammals, and have nursed all of my own children as well. If you don't like the fact that I'm not bloody stupid I guess you'll just have to deal with that. Your opinion certainly does not matter to me.

Well here's one good reason not to drink human breast milk...people can pass diseases to each other through breast milk, including fun things like HIV, HPV, and a host of other things. Not to mention that trace amounts of prescription and OTC drugs can be passed as well. Yes, yes...human milk can be screened like cow and goat milk...but I can't get AIDs from a cow or a goat.

Obviously IF we were going to consume human milk as adults the milk would be screened, pasturized, homoginized, etc...

There are programs already in place for women that donate breast milk to donor banks and also a company that sells breastmilk to hospitals that has a special process done to it that makes it the best nutrition available for micro preemie babies. I am not suggesting that we just start drinking human milk willy nilly, in fact we should probably quit drinking any kind of milk after age two... but that's not what the government or the dairy industry would tell you.

I just wanted to add to the last few sentences on your post, that I think it's pretty cool that they have a good human milk bank in Sweden.

I would have never thought of this. It is kind of funny.