About Me

It's fun to be there, too!  I don't have a lot of time but I'll be there occasionally.  Some days more than others for now.  I have five infants right now; I usually only take four, but one is a special SPECIAL case.  Spina bifida, leg braces - the whole nine yards.  One kid has a helmet for the next four months because of a suture that hasn't opened in her head yet.  Two are one oxygen, and one is one oxygen and a monitor.  It's a struggle sometimes, but I manage.  I'll be sad to see my little helper leave at the end of the month!  She's been a Godsend, not just because of my leg, but things are just so much easier when there are two of us! Go figure.  Just can't afford to keep her on a permanent basis though.

Talk later.  8)

Hi Altrude and Honey, The big question is to which component of these different milks are you truly reacting. Goat milk does contain lactose as well as some proteins/glycoproteins that is shares with cow's milk. The biggest difference is in the casein component, particularly the alpha s-1 portion- the most troublesome fraction when it comes to serious symptoms (e.g. immune-mediated diseases). There are goats out there that have no alpha s-1 casein in their milk while the others have much less of this fraction than cow's milk. So, you will hear conflicting reports of people who tried swapping from cow's milk to goat milk. Many will tolerate goat milk just fine, especialy children who are not yet lactose intolerant. But if one is highly allergic to cow's milk, there is a reasonable chance they will be allergic to goat milk due to other shared proteins. The good news is that the casein in goat milk is different and the worst damage to the body- that induced by alpha s-1 casein- can be avoided by using goat products, especially from AS1-free goats. However, allergies may persist and the individual who is seriously lactose intolerant may still have significant issues. This all depends, once again, on which of the components the individual is really causing the most problems. Some assume it is the lactose giving them fits when it is actually the proteins in the cow's milk. This is illustrated when babies do so well on goat milk after rejecting cow milk, both of which have lactose. People naturally assume that it is the lactose causing the problem because that is really all they have heard about when it comes to milk issues. But many are having much more of a problem with the proteins, such as the alpha s-1 casein or beta lactalbumin in cow's milk. The terms A1 and A2 milk typically apply to the kinds of cattle used for dairy products. The A1 cow is the western European cow (Jersey, Guernsey, Holstein) from which we get most of our milk products. A2 refers to the Zebu (the Brahma), the species which the Hindus worship and the Masai of Africa use as the source of their milk. It turns out that not only did we choose the wrong animal for milk when we jumped ship from goats to cows but we chose the wrong cow! Here is a great link: http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/news?article=1d81b30f-8bf3-4db3-b838-e5210fead0d9 I hope this helps, John

Hi Altrude,

I've recently found out that i'm not lactose intolerant.  I wasn't before as far as I know, but my symptoms came on a few months after a course of antibiotics.  I used to drink goats milk as cows milk made a mess of my skin.  Unfortunately I now can't even drink goats milk so i'm not so sure that the lactose intolerant can take goats milk.  I'm on rice milk now (rolling eyes)

Regards,

Honey