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Those of us who have exclusively nursed a child know the heavy responsibility that comes with knowing that you are another human being’s sole source of nourishing sustenance.
I remember so well nursing my first son and worrying about what would happen if I was in a car wreck or got ill and was unable to nurse him for even a short period of time.
I never wanted a single drop of commercial formula to pass my baby’s lips even in a dire emergency!
While I usually managed to keep a day or two of frozen breastmilk in the freezer, I never seemed to have enough extra stocked up should an extended separation unexpectedly occur. As a result, you can imagine my relief when I discovered the recipe for a nourishing, homemade baby formula using grassfed raw milk while pregnant with my second child.
Even though I nursed my second and third children exclusively as with my first child, having the ingredients for this nourishing, homemade formula ready to go in the pantry as needed gave me such incredible peace of mind!
Motherhood has a way of really impressing upon us Moms our vulnerabilities – can you relate?
Since then, as a Weston A. Price Chapter Leader, I have always counseled nursing mothers in my local community to keep the homemade formula ingredients on hand for emergencies. I also recommend that they make the formula a few times so that they know what to do and have any other primary caregivers in the home do the same.
Homemade Formula to the Rescue!
The critical importance of having an “insurance policy” for your exclusively nursing child was impressed upon me once again while reading a recent story on the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund website.
Just last week on April 7, 2013, law enforcement officers came to the home of Colorado farmers Ethan and Renee Abbott and ended up arresting Renee for a misdemeanor offense that had occurred several months earlier.
The incident involved a breach in the Abbott’s fencing which Ethan suspected was the result of vandalism on their property that had allowed some of their livestock to get free and graze on the municipal right of way. Despite the fact that she was exclusively nursing a 4 month old baby, the officers hauled Renee off to jail for this minor offense.
Fortunately, the Abbotts were able to call the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund hotline. The attorney on call at the time, Elizabeth Rich, immediately returned Ethan’s call. Going above and beyond her duties as legal counselor, Elizabeth read out to Ethan over the phone the recipe for the homemade baby formula as she could hear the hungry baby’s cries in the background.
She then contacted the Office of the Weld County Sheriff and spoke sternly to the deputy on duty about dragging a mother exclusively breastfeeding an infant off to jail for a minor ordinance violation. Ms. Rich further discovered that there were absolutely no extenuating circumstances such as threats or disorderly conduct which could explain the severity of Renee’s treatment at the hands of the officers.
Fortunately, the deputy agreed to release Renee from custody after talking with Attorney Rich. Ethan was able to pick her up a short time later so that she could nurse her hungry baby!
Nursing a Baby? Have a Backup Plan
The moral of this story is to have a backup plan should you have an exclusively nursing infant in the household. Fortunately, the Abbotts had the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund to turn to which took care of the baby’s immediate needs as well as returned Renee to her rightful place – with her baby at home.
An exclusive nursing relationship between Mother and child is precious and yet perilous in the face of unforeseen events. Freeze some breastmilk if you are able, stock that pantry with the ingredients for the homemade formula and source out a supplier of clean, grassfed milk for your baby should the need ever arise.
And, if you have a small farm or buy products from one, join the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund to protect yourself from overzealous bureaucrats intent on trampling your rights who may unexpectedly come knocking at your door and haul you away over a misdemeanor ticket!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Disclosure: cmp.ly/4 and cmp.ly/5
This is ridiculous. Ever heard of pump and freeze?
If you have a spare freezer and produce tons of milk, yes this would be an option. My body was such that I produced EXACTLY what the baby needed almost every single day. I rarely had any extra to pump. I did manage to have a day or two extra in the freezer most of the time, but not enough if there was a more extended separation.
Emergencies don’t always send us a notice. In my case, and I am sure others, I could not have saved milk ahead of time, and definitly not enough to last a year+. My sister offered to ship me milk from several states away, but she wasn’t due for a few more weeks, and to do that for over a year??? Be grateful if you can store up extra milk, but be careful to support people who put in a very tough situation must find a solution. I am not talking alternitive to breastfeeding, but an alternative to commercial formula.
It was one of the hardest things I had ever had to deal with (My mom was a veteran LaLeche Leader – and I was training to be one myself) and I am glad I can look back without regrets.
Some women have a hard time pumping any extra. I was one of those. Try being an advocate and encourager of other moms instead of judgemental and condescending. I’m so sick of seeing moms tear each other down.
Athena, did you do that yourself? I did and it worked for me, but not everybody’s body as mine. Some babies suck you dry every single time and don’t really have nursing strikes like mine did. Some women barely have enough milk for their babies. Did you read about that woman who end up in jail in the above article? Do you think that place had a pump? Be reasonable, dear, and stop being so rood. There are many moms who have tough time with breast feeding and your “smart” comments may hurt them. You try make them feel stooped. “Ever heard of pump and freeze”. Yes, we all did. What is your question? Or what is your problem?
I have nursed 7 children to age 2 (or more) without ever supplementing, but with my fourth child, due to medical reasons I was unable to nurse him. Thank the Lord for this recipe!!! It WORKS!! This was 11 years ago and I had to search for the ingredients, but the help of our grass based dairy farmer and his wife (the Nolts) we were able to pull it off. He was on the formula for a year+ and is a solid, athlethic, smart boy turning 11 today. It is a lot of work, (especially if your used to nursing) but so worth it. And now you can get the kit!!
Thanks for a great article getting this information out!!
The Weston Price Foundation gets rave testimonials all the time on how babies absolutely thrive on this homemade formula.
Luckily the ingredients are now offered in a kit through Radiant Life Catalog, except for fresh grassfed raw milk.
I think it would be best to NOT have the insurance policy. This way you can say “I am exclusively bfeeding and I need to be w/ my baby.”
You can still say that can’t you? Having the homemade formula ingredients on hand wouldn’t change the fact that you are exclusively nursing your baby. In Renee’s case, it didn’t help anyway .. she was hauled off to jail nonetheless.
I had to spend the night in the hospital when my son was 4 months old. They would not let him in to see me because of flu season. They could care less that he was exclusively breastfed. This is a common practice among hospitals so just assuming you will be allowed to breastfeed your child if you had to be in the hospital is not a good backup plan.
I love this post!
My husband and I are considering adopting/fostering and it is so great to have something like this to use. I do not want to use commercial formula and I do not know if I will be able to do induce lactation (even if so that would probably be considered “inappropriate” in a foster situation).
I have had this recipe for a while but I will practice making it.
I love the homemade formula! I have a 19th month old and a five week old. My 19th month old still drinks the formula every morning along with raw milk throughout the day. I was freaking out about giving my children store bought formula. With a little research, I found Western Price and it saved me from a heart attack! I am nursing my son but my milk supply is not enough. I have to supplement with the homemade formula along with me nursing. Any more tips on how to up my milk? Im on the vitamins, raw milk, water, etc. Any tips would be great!
One way you could get tips and a lot of other great info is by getting the Spring E-Book Bundle offered on yesterday’s post for just $39.
Heather,
Fennel and basil essential oils can increase your supply dramatically. Rub them on your chest and take internally, just be sure you are using a brand that is safe to take internally. I’m not here to sell or promote a certain brand, I just know that this works and I like to pass on the info! Good luck!
I improved my supply drastically by increasing skin-to-skin contact. I think the best was letting the baby’s face just sit on my bare breast.
That, and I’m sure you’ve heard to get plenty of rest!
The best piece of advice I ever received was to eat lots of protein. I never had as much milk the day after not eating lots of protein. Lots of people I know reported the same thing. I used to eat way more protein than my husband – to the point of eating almost a double portion size in the evening. I posted above about my weight loss – I ate soooo much and yet the pounds dropped off.
Goodluck! 🙂
When you supplement, try giving it in a SNS or Lact Aid device which attaches to your breast to deliver the extra nourishment while still encouraging a good latch and driving demand. (Breast feeding is supply and demand- the more your baby nurses, the more your body receives hormonal signals to make more milk.) Also if you can, try the “rest cure”. Spend a day or weekend doing nothing but snuggling skin to skin with baby and nursing as much as possible. You should only get up to use the rest room. Otherwise just cuddle and sleep with baby on a bed made safe for cosleeping. If that’s not possible (try to have someone around to help with 19mo or try to set up an area next to you to safely play on the floor), then try to get as much contact with baby as possible. Babywearing makes nursing on demand anywhere and everywhere easier as it’s hands free and often very discrete. Cosleeping makes middle of the night feedings much simpler, just be sure to follow safe cosleeping guidelines. Those middle of the night feeds are super important to your supply as your levels of prolactin peak in the wee hours.
Heather, “more milk plus” tincture by motherlove is my go to if I need to increase my supply. I just pumped a 6 week supply for my cousin’s adopted baby, while nursing my own infant. Good luck!
freezing your own breastmilk is even better. freeze a little at a time and getting a month or two’s supply is very do-able.
Since I worked outside the home, I have MASSIVE amounts of frozen breastmilk. It turned out to be a great thing about the 10 month mark. At that point not only did I not know about homemade formula, but would have had no clue where to even find raw milk. I think this is an issue that weighs heavily in the mind of a nursing mother, so the more options you have, the better! I would say frozen would be best, followed by the homemade if you have good raw milk.
For anyone looking to lose the post-prgnancy weight, I tried Adiphene from
I found it did the job perfectly, and now I am almost back to my original weight after only a short number of weeks.
i don’t think these are good to take they block the absorption of nutrients
So sorry, I did forget to mention that it’s not a good idea to take these if breastfeeding, as with all supplements. I am not breastfeeding so I don’t run any risk in trying them out. But the product is 100% natural and I thought it was worth mentioning for those of you who are having difficulty losing the pregnancy weight. Each of us has their own preferred method, so try what works best for you and what you are the most comfortable with.
I breastfeed and cut out all processed foods and sugars and went from a size 8 to a size 4 in about 3/4 months. No need to take products and pay money. Just do it naturally 🙂
hahaha I lost 20lbs preg boo hoo I gained 20 nursing. starving i was first 6 m. 11m better now as she nurses 4 or 5 times aday.
Home made baby formula is good. But human milk is the best for a human baby. I would say that the easiest way to prepare for such emergencies is to store some of your own mothers milk i the freezer. Or maybe you are lucky enough to have a sister or good friend who is also nursing a baby, then you can be each others backup! If it`s a permanent or long term situation it´s a different story and home made baby formula might be the only practical choice.
Unfortunately, this is not something to be relied on either. I always had frozen breastmilk in the freezer but not enough to cover more than a day or two. Few women have enough breastmilk stored up for weeks which is what would be needed in the event of an injury from a car wreck or other unforeseen circumstance that caused extended separation of mother and child.
Also – some of us can’t pump – no matter how hard we try!
agree. i could get enough for on the road so we didnt have to stop when out all the time but beyond 4 ozs in a few days of hand pumping or trying to use pump which made me sore, no way. good write up Sarah wish more of those I know would breastfeed or use this recipe instead of corn syrup garbage!
It would be good to see some resources listed here. When Moms can’t pump it is most likely the pump and not the Mom. When you were nursing and you hit a bump where did you get your information? It would be good to see links on your blog for quality breastfeeding information.
llli.org
breastfeeding.org
Kellymom.com
breastfeedinginc.com
bflrc.com/ljs/breastfeeding/bfnotwk/htm
Wow! I read the link for the recipe. Very interesting! Likely, I am done breastfeeding, but will certainly keep this information in mind when I come across new mothers.