The journey of motherhood is the most beautiful and rewarding experience I have ever had. It has also been the most challenging in so many ways.
As someone who really values making the healthiest choices for my life because of the health journey I have been on, it only makes sense that those same values spill over to my family as well.
I am truly of the belief that in the vast majority of cases, a mother’s breast milk is the most nutritious option for her nursing child. I have 4 little girls, the first of which I nursed until age 4 and the second of which I am still nursing at age 3.
My third daughter Ya’el, however, was born with a birth defect called esophageal atresia. This meant that her esophagus was not fully formed in the womb. When she was born she had to undergo immediate emergency reconstructive surgery so that she would be able to properly eat and breathe – essentially to survive.
Praise Adonai, her surgery was successful and she healed and progressed quickly. On her 8th day of life I was finally able to hold her and nurse her and miraculously she did outstanding. I took her home from the NICU on day 11 of her life and I was able to breastfeed her for one month following our return.
Sadly after about a month she began to choke every time I fed her and displayed a large amount of distress. We had her evaluated by her surgeon and it was discovered that a pin-sized hole had formed at the site of where the two ends of her esophagus had been surgically attached. This was possibly from a small growth spurt she had had just days before.
In order to close this hole, her surgeon requested that they insert a nasal tube that led to her stomach so I could pump and administer my milk via the tube so it would bypass that little hole and allow natural closure.
That plan lasted a month and upon reevaluation, it was determined the hole had indeed closed up, praise Yah, but through testing they were able to see that the consistency of my breast milk was causing her to aspirate large amounts of milk into her lungs. By adding a thickener to the milk, they could see that much less aspiration was occurring.
I left the hospital that day in a mix of emotions. In one way I was so thankful the plan had worked and her esophogus was once again in working order. But I could not deny that I had gone into that room that day hoping and praying I would be able to breast feed her directly once again.
Instead, I needed to continue to pump and then thicken my milk with a special thickener and give her that mix in a bottle from then on. This worked well for her but I was honestly never very good at pumping. The process was very unnatural for me, I would get pretty stressed out, and the added stress was having a noticeable effect on my milk supply.
By 3 1/2 months, I felt like I was constantly consuming water and healthy foods to be able to barely pump the amount I needed to get a bottle for her every 2 hours. And on several accounts, my body just wasn’t replenishing and I sat there with a screaming, hungry baby while I sobbed. It felt like an increasingly hopeless situation.
As a successful breastfeeding mom with my first 2 children, I had such a hard time giving up on breast feeding exclusively. I felt like if I had to supplement formula with my milk that I was a failure as a mom. I now know this isn’t true, but those beliefs were very strong. Her surgeon kept telling me her weight was not where it should be, but I tried my best to ignore him and keep doing all I could do anyway.
Finally at about 4 months, I threw my hands up. I faced the reality that whether I liked it or not, my child needed more sustenance. It was becoming more harmful than good to only feed her breast milk of which was dwindling every day while her need for more grew.
On a trip home from Sukkot we visited my sister in law. She could see the distress that both Ya’el and I were going through.
Thankfully she reminded me of the Raw Milk Baby Formula recipe from Weston A. Price foundation that I had shared with her about a few years earlier for another family member. She encouraged me to give it a try because she knew it aligned with my health standards.
That day I began looking for a raw milk source in my area and ordered all of the other ingredients off of Amazon so they would get to me asap. Praise HaShem, I found an ad on facebook marketplace for a local farmer who had grass-fed A2A2 cows of which I could buy several gallons of raw milk from every Monday. Within about a week I had everything I need to make the recipe and I got to work.
Most satisfying of all, the first time I gave a bottle of this formula to my baby girl, she guzzled it down without hesitation and fell into a deep sleep. She woke up happy and had no signs of stomach upset or anything else.
Saying I felt a sense of relief would be an understatement.
This raw milk formula would go on to feed my child from age 4 months to 14 months, or until we sadly lost our raw milk source. Ironically though I had been planning to wean her off of it around that time anyway so it was cool to see how Adonai provided this need for our family for the perfect amount of time.
Ya’el THRIVED on this formula. She never had any issues with it; never gained too much weight. She grew steadily and hit all her milestones on time and was always the picture of health. She is now 18 months old and is so smart and strong and displays all markers of good health just like her older sisters.
I felt a desire to share my experience with others so that in the event another mama needed to provide formula to her baby, she could have evidence from someone else that this option was a possibility and also one that avoided the unhealthy ingredients in pretty much all of the baby formulas on the market today.
I made this Youtube video detailing how to put together this recipe and how I personally would quadruple the recipe so that I could make 144 oz twice a week instead of having to make it every other day.
*****UPDATE: MY YOUTUBE VIDEO SHOWING HOW I MAKE THIS FORMULA WAS REMOVED BY YOUTUBE BECAUSE THEY CLAIMED IT VIOLATED THEIR MEDICAL MISINFORMATION POLICY. I HAVE REVIEWED THEIR POLICY SEVERAL TIMES AND DO NOT BELIEVE I BROKE THE RULES, HOWEVER UPON APPEALING THE DECISION THEY HAVE UPHELD THEIR ORIGINAL STANCE. The New video that is out hopefully is within their strict guidelines.
If you are interested in getting the ingredients necessary to make this formula at home, I first suggest looking for a raw milk source in your area on realmilk.com. If you can’t find a source that way, try searching for raw milk on facebook marketplace, craigslist or ask a clerk at your local health food store or farmer’s market if they know of anyone. It’s important to find grass-fed cows that are fed organic or at least non-gmo grain when they are milked, as well as a farmer that does not use antibiotics.
The following links are to the ingredients I personally bought from Amazon. Some of the items linked are a different brand than what is shown in my video because I either switched to the following brands later on or the brands I had used were no longer available so I sourced an equal product in value for you to get instead.
Raw milk baby formula ingredients:
// Lactose (5 pk)
// Infant Probiotic
// Cod Liver Oil
// High Vitamin Butter Oil
// Sunflower Oil
// Olive oil
// Coconut Oil
// Nutritional Yeast
// Grass Fed Gelatin
// Acerola Powder
Helpful Tools I use:
// Nourishing Traditions Book
// Milk Freezer Storage Bags
// Half Gallon Mason Jars
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.