Page 18 - Special Issue: Healthy Baby

Skim milk calcium absorption, but the complete destruction Actually, raw milk is safer than pasteurized

has none of the enzyme phosphotase (needed to assimilate milk. Raw milk from healthy, pasture-fed cows
has been a staple in many cultures for centuries,
phosphorus) is the standard test for the pasteur-
of the fat- ization of milk. But instead of recommending and has contributed to fabulous health, not caused
soluble raw milk—Nature’s perfect food—they all warn disease.
vitamins in against it! “Drink and eat only pasteurized milk Most of the books recommended using skim
products, and avoid all soft cheeses such as brie, milk, reduced-fat cheese and avoiding butter, in a
milk fat that Camembert, Roquefort, feta, and Mexican va- misguided attempt to keep women from gaining
Weston Price rieties. These cheeses, as well as unpasteurized too much weight or to restrict saturated fat and
found so milk and raw foods made from it, can give you cholesterol—oblivious to the fact that cholesterol
and saturated fat are needed for brain develop-
a form of food poisoning called listeriosis.”
3
important to “Pregnant women should completely avoid ment. “Opt for lower-fat versions of the dairy
maintaining . . . raw (unpasteurized) milk or foods that contain foods that offer such great nutrition benefits:
superb health. unpasteurized milk.” 4 low-fat or nonfat yogurt and milk, nonfat cream

INFANT FEEDING ADVICE FROM THE PAST
Nutrition and Diet Therapy: A Textbook of Dietetics by Farifax T. Proudfit, published throughout the 1930s and
1940s (the eighth edition came out in 1945), provided dietary recommendations to physicians for a variety of disease
conditions. Chapter 13, “Artifically Fed Infants,” gives us a good example of the collective wisdom of the period, and
while some of his suggestions appear to us ill-advised, his advice on the whole is vastly superior to any found in today’s
infant nutrition texts. “Nature does not always confer upon a woman the important capacity for nursing her baby, but
the women who are able should do so. . . the logical substitute for human milk is cow’s milk (or goat’s milk).” Proudfit
recommends a formula of cow’s milk diluted with equal amounts of water and the addition of a small amount of sugar.
His first choice for the formula is certified raw milk, “the purest form of raw milk obtainable.” He also recommends beef
juice, liver and egg yolk as some of baby’s first foods. According to Proudfit, baby should recieve a few drops of cod liver
oil daily, beginning at two weeks, and gradually increasing to 2 teaspoons by the age of three months.
Unfortunately, he also endorses infant formula made with pasteurized, sterilized, powdered and condensed milk
and suggests introducing cooked cereals at the age of four months.
Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock, first published in 1945, specifically warns against raw milk and, if the
milk comes from Guernsey cows, suggests pouring off some of the cream. The emphasis is on formula made with evap-
orated or powdered milk, with sugar added, and skimmed milk when the baby has diarrhea, because “milk is easier to
digest when there is no cream in it.” He makes no mention of cod liver oil but recommends “vitamin drops” to provide
vitamins A, C and D. Empty calories get introduced early in Dr. Spock’s regimen, either as orange juice (fresh, frozen
or canned) or sugar water given in the bottle. The best weaning food for baby, according to Spock, is cereal, followed
by fruit, vegetables, egg yolk and meats. (Baby does not get butter on his vegetables—there is not a single mention of
butter in the whole book.) Puddings made of milk, egg and starch (tapioca, rice or cornstarch) can be given to the baby
“for lunch or supper any time after 6 months. . . supper can be fruit and pudding, or vegetable and pudding.” Spock
has nothing against puddings “in jars or cans for babies” except that “saliva introduced into the container can spoil food
rapidly,” so baby should not be fed pudding directly out of the can or jar.
Babies can transition to pasteurized milk at nine months, says Spock, but in answer to the question, “When do you
change from evaporated to pasteurized milk?” he gives the following startling reply: “The really sensible answer would
be ‛Never.’ Evaporated milk is sterile, cheapter, easier to store, easier to digest, less likely to cause allergy. It’s only slight-
ly less convenient to serve. When the baby is off formula, you merely mix equal parts of evaporated milk and boiled
water in the cup or bottle just before feeding. . . there’s no medical reason why a baby needs to change, so keep him
on evaporated milk as long as you are willing to.”
Much of Baby and Child Care deals with the emotional development of the child. Spock has been criticized for
ushering an era of permissiveness, but most of today’s readers will find these sections of the book infused with common
sense. “A boy needs a friendly, accepting father,” says Dr. Spock, “You can be both firm and friendly.” The bitter legacy
of Dr. Spock has more to do with his prejudice against dairy fat and his emphasis on highly sweetened, sterile, cheap and
easy convenience foods and the ensuing behavior problems which even the best “firm and friendly” parenting cannot
solve.
Sally Fallon Morell

16 Wise Traditions