Dairy Intolerance Vanishes with Raw Milk

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Kate and her Kids

From Dairy Free to Raw Milk, One Family’s Journey

Guest blog by Kate, www.modernalternativemama.com

Two and a half years ago, I had no idea what I was in for.

I was 7 months pregnant with my first baby and we hadn’t yet started our “real food” journey.  We ate whatever sounded good to us, whenever we wanted it.  That meant a lot of boxed meals, restaurant food, and dairy — processed, pasteurized dairy.  Ice cream, cheese, etc.  I loved cheese and couldn’t imagine ever being able to go without it.

Fast forward about 15 months and I had a 13-month-old who we discovered couldn’t eat dairy. A 13-month-old who was still breastfeeding.  I couldn’t bring myself to give it up, and since she wasn’t breastfeeding too often, I just had a little bit.  Her favorite type of cheese was mozzarella — the kind you buy in a bag in a store labeled “low-moisture, part-skim.”  Unfortunately, it was also the type to which she reacted worst.  After eating this cheese, she would have horrible diaper rashes, bad diarrhea, eczema over her whole body, and she’d wake several times each night.  Once we took cheese out of her diet, she did much better.

It wasn’t too long after that that we discovered that my husband was sensitive to dairy, too.  He would get sick every time he ate it.  Then we discovered his father (who loves ice cream as much as I love cheese!) was allergic, too.  His initial reaction to being told to give up dairy was to say “No” and go get a bowl of ice cream!  Eventually, though, we ALL had to give it up — completely.

My son was born in July, 2009.  We sent my parents out for fast food right after he was born (he was born at home).  They brought back fake cheese and ice cream (okay, it was a Frosty, lol).  My son slept through the night that very first night, then spit up when he woke — hours after having eaten anything.  Then I noticed patches of eczema on his arms.  I was already on hyper-alert because of my daughter’s dairy allergy, so I decided that I probably should cut back on the processed dairy.

However, I continued to eat some “dairy” foods — salad dressings, sheep’s milk cheese, etc.  I figured these were “safe” because they weren’t ice cream, yogurt, or other obvious dairy foods.  But every time I would nurse my son, he would scream and arch his back away from me and continue screaming for a couple of hours.  Others would have simply said, “He’s colicky.”  But I decided that I had to finally give up ALL dairy…for real.

Two weeks after giving up dairy my son was a different baby.  He was calm all the time, slept through the night, never screamed or arched his back during or after feedings anymore.  Our house became entirely dairy-free for seven months.  We taught our family to use coconut milk as a substitute, and we used it ourselves.  We got very creative and were able to bake, make cream soups, ice cream, and other “dairy” foods using coconut milk.

It was in the middle of this dairy-free time that we learned about raw milk, and towards the end, we found a local source of it.  We waited until my son was 8 months old (we wanted his gut to be developed and healed before we tried to re-introduce dairy, and we actually even did GAPS for awhile).  Then, we tried a little raw milk cheese first, and we held our breath….

No reaction!  Not from any of us.  Both children were fine.  We had planned to wait awhile on unfermented dairy, but my husband was dying for some “real” ice cream, so we made some with raw milk and let the children eat it (we don’t cook the ice cream mix at all).  Still — no reaction!!

We’ve been eating raw dairy for about two months now.  We found a farm about two hours away (only ten minutes from my in-laws, though) and we get raw milk about once every two weeks.  I make my own mozzarella now, so my daughter can have it again.  Although, she currently prefers the raw sheep’s milk Romano cheese.  She eats quite a lot of cheese everyday and yet…she is fine!

My son loves his ice cream and yogurt and thinks cheese is okay too.  He’d suffered some eczema, too, as he was starting solids, which I feel has really gotten better since he started having raw dairy.  It’s actually been completely gone for a few weeks now (he’s 10 months).

It’s even gotten to the point where if we are out, I know we can eat a small amount of pasteurized diary and be okay.  Raw dairy has made all the difference for us!  It’s amazing.  We are able to eat and get great nutrition and feel totally normal.  I can make my yummy cheesy potatoes again now, and have cheese in my taco salads (can you tell I missed cheese?).  We are lucky that our local Trader Joe’s carries a very nice selection of raw cheeses — at least three kinds of cheddar, swiss, Gruyere (a couple varieties), Morbier, Romano, and a few others we haven’t tried yet.  All of them are safe, and beneficial — and I love knowing this!

Raw milk is excellent and has really helped our family.  And my husband swears it makes the best ice cream EVER!

Kate blogs at Modern Alternative Mama about real food, natural living, parenting, and other “natural” subjects.  She lives in Ohio with her husband, Ben, and their two kids, Bekah, 2, and Daniel, 10 months.  She also sells an organic skin cream that has a multitude of uses, from diaper rash to dry, cracked feet, to soothing burns!  Kate enjoys everything that has to do with an all-natural lifestyle, even if most people do think she’s a little crazy.

NOTE from Kimberly: Thanks, so much Kate for this amazing testimony. For those of you who need more information about raw milk, please visit The Campaign for Real Milk, a project of the Weston A. Price Foundation (I am their publicist). Just think of all the other families who have to suffer needlessly from dairy intolerance. If you have a raw milk testimony that you’d like to share, please send it to this blog, along with a family photo. See my contact page for details.