Raw Milk as Baby Formula? Have You Lost Your F#@%ing Mind??

I'm not a doctor, nurse or an expert in nutrition and I won't pretend I know everything. I do know a few things in life though. I learned the hard way that selling raw milk is illegal for a very good reason. According to the CDC: 

"Before the invention and acceptance of pasteurization, raw milk was a common source of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, diphtheria, severe streptococcal infections, typhoid fever, and other foodborne illnesses.  These illnesses killed many people each year, especially young children." 

In 2007 my husband, who was raised on a dairy farm, started working for an award winning dairy in Monticello, WI. One of the perks of the job for him was access to fresh, raw milk again. I had never drank raw milk, being a "city" (OK, small town) girl all my milk came in plastic jugs from the store, safely pasteurized long before it got to me. My husband, on the other hand, was raised on raw milk and most likely developed an immunity due to some exposure early in his life.

I thought the worst thing that would happen from drinking raw milk was I might get something like food poisoning. While miserable and you may feel either like you are dying or wish you were, some vomiting or diarrhea isn't usually dangerous. I wouldn't want to get it, but I thought there was nothing too much to worry about. Boy was I wrong!

A month or so after leaving that farm I had to have TB clearance and got the skin test. It was no big deal, I had undergone the test several times in the past. You get a poke with a needle that injects a little liquid, a tuberculin, just under your skin on your forearm. Around 2-3 days later a nurse reads your body's reaction to the tuberculin. I had always checked out fine, before. When I went back for the reading this time, I was caught completely off guard by the nurse's reaction. Positive. I had tested positive for tuberculosis!

How could I have TB? I didn't feel sick. I wasn't coughing, let alone hacking and choking like I pictured a tuberculosis patient. I was about to find out more than I ever hoped to know about TB. I was sent for chest x-rays at the hospital immediately. Thankfully my lungs were clear! After that, it was off to see the county public health nurse, the first of many visits to the health department for the next 9+ months.

The very first thing the county nurse did was hand me a box of face masks and told to put one on any time I developed a cough. (I had to wear one the first week, until the chest x-ray was completed.) I was immediately started on a drug called Isoniazid (INH), which was dispensed to me by the public health nurse rather than a pharmacy. It was provided to me free of charge. INH is no picnic, it can be a dangerous drug. I had to have blood tests quite often, to check my liver function, and had to take vitamin B6 with it to prevent neurological issues of "numbness and tingling". I had to give up eating several foods while on INH, to avoid possible complications.

I couldn't understand how I could have TB, but not have TB, and how was I exposed. I wasn't around any sick people and hadn't been traveling. The nurse explained that I had latent TB, I had the virus in my body but my body was winning the fight so far. I was still curious so I did what little research I could at my local library. I'm not sure where I first saw mention of raw milk, but I suddenly knew I was onto something. Just recently I had spent several months stuck out on a farm, away from anyone who could have been sick, drinking raw milk. The county nurse said I was most likely right.

Things went fine for a few months, other than the hassle of seeing the nurse every few weeks for more drugs and to check in. Obla De Obla Da life goes on... Until I caught a slight cold, with an occasional cough. The public health nurse blew a freaking gasket that I didn't call her immediately and ordered me to wear a mask in public. ( I never did find out what the punishment was for failure to comply.) She made an appointment for me within days to have a very unpleasant procedure called a bronchoalveolar lavage. (The link doesn't mention that they have you at an angle, with your head lower than the rest of our body during it all, too.) The technician was mistaken when she said I wouldn't be conscious enough to know what was happening, I felt like I was drowning the whole time. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.

The bronchoscopy results were clear, my cough went a way and I was able to stop wearing the masks everywhere I went. All together, from the positive test to my last visit with the public health nurse I lost almost a year of my life. I barely went anywhere and I was afraid to be around any people, just in case I was contagious. I had been taking pills, vitamins, having blood tests, avoiding cheese and chocolate, having my lungs poked and dealing with masks for all of that time. All of that (and I wasn't even truly sick) caused by drinking raw milk. I don't even want to think of what kind of hell my life would have been if I had developed TB Disease.

I am begging you. DO NOT RISK YOUR CHILD'S LIFE by listening to some former banker turned food blogger!! I dodged a bullet, as an adult with a fully developed immune system. Children, especially babies, rely on us to do what is best for them. If you can't, or prefer not to, breastfeed for whatever reason - do not feed your child anything that your pediatrician is not fully in favor of and is accepted by the American Medical Association (or the equivalent where you are from). Raw milk is illegal for a reason. And TB is only one of several ways it can make you sick.