Dairy milk and babies (now without tollfree numbers)

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:23 pm

OK, when my sister had her first kid, the doc told her not to give the kid cow's milk. My doc said the same for my kid and all the other kids in the family. The docs told us that the baby will not digest the milk.

My mother talked about giving us cow's milk and, even, honey from when we were a few days old.

All of India still does this.

I've heard that european countries did this as well in the past.

I'm just curious why it's prohibited now?

edit: removed the toll free number from the title.. I must have done an accidental copypasta.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:51 pm

There are enzymes and bacteria in cow's milk and honey that can interfere with a newborn infant's development, leading to damage to the intestinal tract and death.

They grow out of it really quickly, though.

Off the top of my head, I can't remember what it's called.

-Crissa

erik · Post by **erik** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:51 am

No honey til 1 year old, though my wife insists it is more like 6 years old... she is subscribed to a message board of crazed housewives with questionable sources and beliefs, however.

1 year for cow milk too, however I know plenty of folks get by perfectly well by starting earlier. Upset stomachs are more common for babies younger than that starting on cow milk.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:17 am

erik wrote:No honey til 1 year old, though my wife insists it is more like 6 years old... she is subscribed to a message board of crazed housewives with questionable sources and beliefs, however.

1 year for cow milk too, however I know plenty of folks get by perfectly well by starting earlier. Upset stomachs are more common for babies younger than that starting on cow milk.

For our child, we were told to wait a year for all of that stuff. We were also told to wait a year for common allergens like chocolate and peanuts, because I guess it makes them more likely to develop an allergy.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:49 am

again -- my mom swears on feeding us honey from day 1 and everybody she knows also did it and so do my sis's friends still in india.

it seems to be india's alcohol for soothing colicky babies.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:00 am

Yeah, but india also has higher child mortality.

So take that with a grain of salt. Sure, it probably doesn't hurt the majority of children, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt the bottom line.

-Crissa

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:02 am

Babies don't have much of a native immune system until they are six months old. As such, it's not really a good idea to expose them to any animal products that you don't have to before then. Mother's milk is of course, a huge exception, because it actually provides a supplemental human immune system and strengthens rather than threatens the baby (unless the mother is herself sick with something extreme). There is some slop on that, it's not like babies hit 6 months and suddenly level up - there's simply a gradual development of the baby's own immune system that is mostly online in most babies at 6 months. So from a safety standpoint, you'd hold off on things that contain animal proteins (other than of course mother's milk) for a couple of months after that.

So milk and honey would be reasonable to feed a child at like 8 or 9 months. But holding off until they are a year old is totally reasonable. There is even some inconclusive diabetes research that indicates that waiting until they are a year old is a good idea. And honestly: with all due respect, India has the most diabetics on Earth and has a quarter of the world's child mortality. So really, having someone tell me that such and such a manner of feeding babies in India is traditional is an excellent piece of evidence for me to not do it.

-Username17

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:09 am

So Doc Frank, what's your take on formula?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 8:43 am

ckafrica wrote:So Doc Frank, what's your take on formula?

It's basically the same as mother's milk if you have clean water to make it with. Except that it doesn't have a mother's immunoglobulins. So if you have access to mother's milk, you should use that instead. If you're in Africa or something and you don't have very clean water you should bend heaven and earth to use mother's milk instead.

But if your milk is drying up and your baby doesn't do th solid food thing yet, it's fine. And if you're in some situation where you for whatever reason can't breast feed (like say: you're the father), formula is a fine alternative.

-Username17

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 9:20 am

That's basically what I was taught at the pharmacy course - even the reps for formula companies straight-up said "Breast is Best". And that's something I can totally get behind, even as a general life motto.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 8:48 pm

Koumei wrote:That's basically what I was taught at the pharmacy course - even the reps for formula companies straight-up said "Breast is Best". And that's something I can totally get behind, even as a general life motto.

You just say that because you're a girl. Of course, I know a girl that has the motto of "I'm right because I have boobs," so I can't pretend to be surprised.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:21 pm

ubernoob wrote:"I'm right because I have boobs,"

My response to that.

"Prove it."

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 3:30 am

Prove that she's right or that she has boobs?

Nicklance · Post by **Nicklance** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 3:34 am

Prove that she has the right boobs.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:06 am

ubernoob: incorrect. I say that because boobs are awesome.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:08 am

Yes, yes they are. Still, I like big butts and I cannot lie.

koz · Post by **koz** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:44 pm

Meikle641 wrote:Yes, yes they are. Still, I like big butts and I cannot lie.

Yeah, I also prefer ass to boobs. Although size isn't the only factor that matters.