As a mom I have to make decisions for myself and my child. One of those decisions is to allow my daughter to self wean and not give her cows milk. I often get the question "What's wrong with cows milk?" and usually I respond with "nothing!" because I don't like confrontation. However, now I feel the need to explain myself (so people stop thinking I am so crazy!!)
Reason #1:
If you know me you know that I LOVE ice cream and milk chocolate and pretty much anything with dairy in it. BUT, it makes me sick. I am just one of the 66% of people who have lactose intolerance. That's right, you heard right, 2/3 of the worlds population have lactose intolerance. Why is that so, you may ask. Humans need an enzyme called lactase in order to digest lactose. We stop producing that enzyme between 2 and 5 years old. (Makes sense right? That's when babies naturally wean from their mothers breast!)
Reason #2:
Did you know that we are the only mammal that drinks another species milk? ALSO, did you know that we are the only species that drinks milk past infancy?
Human milk is the perfect mixture of fat, protein, lactose and vitamins made for baby humans.
Cows milk is the perfect mixture of fat, protein, lactose and vitamins made for baby cows.
I am not raising a 200 pound child with 4 digestive compartments. (She is barely 20 lbs actually.)
Cows are much larger than us and grow much larger and much faster for a reason!
Reason #3:
Cows milk has 59 active hormones and tons of allergens, cholesterol and fat. In fact, most cows milk sold in America is genetically modified! Have you ever wondered why the average American cow is twice the size of a naturally grown cow raised elsewhere?
See the difference in size? That's what those lovely growth hormones do to a cow, what are they doing to obese America?
Reason #4:
The number one reason people drink cows milk is because, milk has a
lot of calcium and calcium builds strong bones. In a way, that logic could make sense. But let's think about that for a moment. There are approximately 35 mg of calcium/100 ml in human milk and a whopping 130 mg of calcium/100 ml in cow milk, but those facts look only good on paper. The amount a child will actually absorb into their non-cow body is less than 30%! So at most they are getting 39 mg/100ml but their bodies won’t use it the same. Studies have shown that people that consume dairy on a daily basis actually have less calcium in their blood than those that get their calcium from leafy green vegetables. Interesting isn't it? Let me show you a study showing that calcium from cows milk does NOT make strong bones. <<Click here to see the full text!
In the Harvard study, women consuming greater amounts of calcium from dairy foods had significantly INCREASED risks of hip fractures, while no increase in fracture risk was observed for the same levels of calcium from nondairy sources.
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Reason #5:
Three of those 59 active hormones found in cows
milk are testosterone, estradiol and progesterone. They sound familiar huh? That's because two of the three hormones are found in birth control!! These hormones are used to prevent pregnancy. Ever wonder why there has been such a decline in fertility in the Western World? This may answer that question.
I have barely touched the subject as there are many more reasons scientists believe that cows milk is detrimental to our health. These are my personal reasons to have made the decision not to wean my daughter and give her cows milk. That said, I am not against cow's milk. I believe that everyone has the right to make an educated decision for themselves and their children. All I ask is that you respect ours!
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