Warning to all parents who use a homemade baby formula recipe for their children instead of feeding them toxic, GMO laced commercial formula.
DON’T tell a conventionally minded doctor it is made with raw milk else your baby might end up in foster care!
This is the nightmare Alorah Gellerson of Brooklin, Maine is experiencing right now because she made the mistake of telling her doctor about the homemade goats milk formula she proudly and carefully makes for her healthy, happy, three-month-old son Carson.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) quickly responded when the doctor reported Alorah and that’s when things got messy.
The state came in and threatened to take Carson away and put him in foster care unless Alorah followed DHHS orders to go and have the baby examined by a doctor. Â Unbelievably, DHHS also mandated an overnight hospital stay and a switch back to store-bought GMO commercial formula.
Despite complying with every single DHHS demand, Gellerson, who receives state benefits, is still being harassed with threats of foster care for her son. Â “I hope this all goes away. It’s been so terrible and hard on us. We’re just trying to live our lives and they keep bothering us. I just want it to be all over”, she said.
Tania Allen, Gellerson’s mother added,
It’s so frustrating. She’s a great mom. The baby has a great dad too and they love this baby very much and they would never do anything to hurt him and if we thought the formula was harming him, we would not do that.
DHHS refused to comment and instead directed inquiries to its website for the procedures they follow, one of which is from the USDA which states that goat milk is not recommended for infants because of inadequate quantities of certain vitamins.
Jack Forbush, DO, of The Osteopathic Center for Family Medicine in Hampden, Maine disagrees with the state saying,
 I don’t know what’s really driving it other than perhaps some different cultural belief system. I’ve got plenty of kids in my practice that have been given goat’s milk, for example, and they’re growing and developing fine.
The Weston A. Price Foundation concurs with Dr. Forbush’s assessment. Homemade formula from goat or cow milk is much better for baby than commercial formula as this chart listing the nutrients contained in goat milk formula illustrates.
State Violation of Parental Rights Becoming More Common
This is not the first time a parental judgment call regarding the health of a child has landed a parent in hot water with the State. Â This type of violation of basic parental rights is becoming more and more common.
Recall the story of Alex and Anna Nikolayev just a few months ago who had their baby forcibly removed from their home (with the entire assault captured on home video) simply because they took their baby to another hospital for a second opinion regarding their child’s heart condition. In both cases, the children were eventually returned to the parents, but not before much grief and stress were endured by the family.
References and More Information
Brooklin Mother Says State Not Happy With Her Formula Choice
Baby’s mother in trouble with state over homemade goat’s milk formula
USDA: Infant Formula Feeding
Camel milk baby formula
Homemade sheep milk formula
Cindy L.
Advice for this young mama and loving grandma, who both seem well informed, well educated and plain old savvy. GET OFF GOV’T. BENEFITS. With such a good support system, why is she allowing the daughter to do that anyway? The father is involved, and the Grandmother doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. Let them both get jobs, let the grandparents help, and pay their own way. Then the govt can’t get involved…. Sheesh!
and WAPF, where are you lawyers to help this young mother out???
trsedwards
@cindyL even those of us who are not on the government ticket are still in danger of DCSF through the schools based on anything a child might talk to his classmates about from bad gothic poetry to the pocket knife his daddy gave him ((yes, true story from yours truly. He did nto even have it on him at school, simply told his classmates that he had gotten a new pocketknife… in fact the school sent two dcfs workers because the first one was superstitious and would not enter our house because we had cats. yes. really)). Then, even if you have talked t o your children very carefully from birth about what not to talk about at school, you still have to take them to the doctors office for, minimum, the required check ups and booster shots and gods help you if you ask too many questions about those shots. Diets?? dont even think about anything non standard…..you cannot escape DCFS in this country, on or off the social service benefits, they will come for you if you step out of mainstream line.
Jezebelle
DHHS has entirely too much power and often times huge egos to go along with it. Babies and very young children go for top dollar. DHHS literally cheers and celebrates when a parents rights are terminated. I have witnessed this with my own eyes as a professional who has worked with the so called “offending” families. Unless you follow a text book outline of parenting, don’t tell them what you do. Yes, there are families that need DHHS involvement, but this kind of thing here happens entirely far too often.
Rich
There is actually a very simple solution to this dilemma: if you don’t want to comply with state’s rules and regulations, then don’t take the money.
I think it’s pretty hypocritical to take the money and then turn around and whine and complain about the strings attached to the money.
Perhaps they should have thought of that before they cashed the check?
Thelma
Rich there are many parents in Maine that have had their children stolen by DHHS that have never taken a penny of state money. They take healthy happy kids from their family and adopt (sell) them out to the highest bidder. The trend here right now seems to be adopting them out to homosexual couples.
Jen
Your comment regarding this family receiving aid has nothing to do with an idiot doctor and idiot officials of Maine trying to steal a young mother’s baby because she cares enough to make a homemade goat’s milk formula for him. The two are not related.
PJ
This is a pretty silly statement. So if you take state money then any ridiculous requirement is OK? It is not in the state’s interest to have starving children hence the benefits, nor is it in the state’s interest to punish good nutrition with said funds.
Helen T
My grandnephew was put on GMO formula when my niece couldn’t breastfeed and I raised such a fuss when I heard about it, they went to organic. BUT, when the doctor found out on the next visit, he put the baby right back on GMO formula! And guess what? The baby didn’t do so well that a visiting nurse recommended going back on non-GMO formula.
WHY ON EARTH are doctors the last to know….is this intentional? One wonders…..
Jennifer
This is bullshit my daughter qas on goats milk for most of her infant ear my doctor reccomended it and the state wic paid for it. I as a child was raised on goats milk as well
Jennifer R
It’s not too late to relactate, she can use a supplemental nursing system (SNS) to feed her baby at the breast. I don’t know how state services would deal with it, but there is also donor milk if formula is not agreeing with her baby (or she doesn’t think it’s healthy, which is true). She could tell the state that she is pasteurizing the donor milk to deal with the germaphobes. It really is too bad when we try to improve on the offerings of the system and the system reminds us that underneath the kid glove is an iron fist.
Here is some information about supplementing at the breast:
Here, Jack Newman has a list of things to determine if a medical professional is supportive of breastfeeding (and one of them is that if they state nipple confusion doesn’t exist they are not supportive):
There are more info sheets as well as videos at the above site.
This is a totally unrelated post, yet it speaks to how the modern medical system has messed up the way we raise our children:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/women-and-children-first/419301.article
Deanna
Her lawyer should be bringing up all the food the US allows to have poisons in it and then how CPS is a racket for making funds for the local county. If he doe not do either of these, she needs a new attorney.
Peter Spotts
Can she compromise and breastfeed instead? I’m probably not helping much, but I mean if nutrients are the issue…
Nikki
I would assume that if she cares enough about her baby’s health to be using goat milk formula vs. storebought she probably has a legitimate reason that she isn’t breast feeding.
Sandi White
That’s a breach of doctor/patient confidentiality. She should sue the doctor for that.
Sarah
Actually, a doctor is required to report suspected child abuse.
Jen
Yes, but making a homemade goat’s milk formula for your baby is NOT against the law. Nor is it child abuse. I’d be suing every single person involved in this ridiculous action, starting with the doctor.
Bianca Bradley
You get a lawyer stat, and hopefully pro bono and have THE LAWYER talk to the state. The harassment will stop. And Maine is more then redamndiculous on this.