I get frequent questions about childhood illness. These problems frequently revolve around food sensitivities (dairy, sugar, peanuts, soy), malnutrition (e.g., eating-food-that-isn't-food),  and iatrogenic disease (caused by doctors), including overuse of pharmaceuticals like antibiotics. 

ON ANTIBIOTICS & THEIR LIFE-LONG CONSEQUENCES

"Every year, up to 10 million U.S. children receive antibiotic prescriptions that are unlikely to do them any good, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. A new study of antibiotic use in mice by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers suggests why the dangers of repeated and potentially unnecessary antibiotic use, especially early in life, may extend well beyond immediate side effects and eventual bacterial resistance. ..  “We have been using antibiotics as if there was no biological cost,” says senior author Martin Blaser, MD, the Muriel G. and George W. Singer Professor of Translational Medicine and director of the NYU Human Microbiome Program. “Our latest experiments are yet another piece of evidence suggesting that overexposure to antibiotics indeed has long-lasting effects.”

READ:  Antibiotics in Infancy Linked to Lifelong Metabolic Disorders

"...both the beta-lactam (amoxicillin) and the macrolide (tylosin) significantly affected early growth, lean muscle mass, bone development and hepatic gene expression. Because the antibiotics used represent the classes most widely prescribed to children, and that our findings were consistent with effects of early life sub-therapeutic antibiotic exposures, this new model extends hypotheses that early-life antibiotic exposures could have long-term developmental metabolic effects, as supported by animal models and human epidemiological studies. In addition, early-life PAT had extensive effects on the gut microbiota that continued at least 120 days after the last exposure, involving changes in both richness and community structure; an unexpected finding, but clear and consistent. "

DAIRY IS A COMMON NEXUS

"According to worldwide research, 80% of children with ear infections improve ON THEIR OWN within a few days and most (over 60%) experience pain relief within about 24 hours.  This is vastly different from the mind-set that we have in this country (in establishment medicine) where we think that if you don’t get that kid on antibiotics, something dreadful will happen.  There have been many studies which have pointed out that antibiotics actually DO NOT shorten the amount of time before ear infections get better.  All they do is help to create antibiotic-resistant species of bacteria, [which can cause more dreadful things to happen]....However, when we are talking about chronic childhood ear infections, there is really only one solution (usually).  Get the kid off dairy.  In mine and my colleague’s findings, well over 90% of chronic ear infections is due to nothing else other than a simple dairy intolerance.  I have seen it over, and over, and over again.  It pains me to no end to see the amount of antibiotics that many kids go through, and then the ear tubes, and then they develop [life-long] asthma, or eczema, and they’re constipated, and they have sinus issues all the time, etc, etc.  All of this can be avoided if dairy products were simply removed from the diet."  http://www.drstadtmauer.com/Articles/Articles%20folder/EarInfxn_Art.html 

WHY MODERN MILK & DAIRY HARM

Milk is the #1 Cause of childhood earaches, colic, mucous diseases, and behavioural maladies

Sometimes called dairy "allergy", most illness resulting from dairy are better categorized as  "sensitivities" or immune responses other than classical IgE-mediated responses. Dairy is also correlated with chronic inflammation and general mucous problems even in adults. That's why singers never consume dairy before performance. 

Here is just one research article on childhood earaches and milk-drinking:

Acta Otolaryngol. 1999;119(8):867-73. doi: 10.1080/00016489950180199.

Cow's milk allergy is associated with recurrent otitis media during childhood

 Remember how many ways today's American milk is increasingly different than other cultures and older times - even just 20 years ago.  

- Milk had always been drunk whole. 

- Natural organic milk has healthier Fat:Protein:Carbohydrate ratios - although not at all like human milk, but better than anything store-bought.

- Milk was and stil is either boiled or fermented traditionally, worldwide. Very rarely consumed raw.

- Milk was not homogenized and pasteurized - both of these processes are very harmful to the consumer. The pasteurization removes beneficial bacteria and favors pathogens. The homogenization process weaponizes milk into a pathogen. Ultra-Homogenization creates lipid micelles that bypass the gut barrier so to introduce milk antigens and cause an immune response. Mysterious hypersensitivities, chronic inflammation, autoimmune diseases, and other diseases result. etc. Dairy farmers who drink commercial milk instead of raw milk from their own farm commonly develop diabetes, obesity and arthritic diseases.

- Milk was drunk by people who had robust gut flora from the fields and farm as well as natural flora in the milk (which are now destroyed during pasteurization)

- Milk was drunk by extremely active people who burned it quickly

- Milk wasn't chemicalized with Roundup, 2,4-D, atrazine, GMO proteins, antibiotics, soy by-products, etc 

- Milk has, through history, always come from grazing cows - not cows pushed artificially with excess proteins and grains and sometimes even BST

-  Milkfat and milk protein profiles are radically different in grassfed versus American grained/soy-protein-pushed cow's milk. 

- Even animal by-products (from dead animals) are fed to dairy cattle in the USA risking prion disease and silent diseases in both cattle herds and humans.

- Milk contains hormones from many sources including grain (estrogenic soy), chemicals, farm hormone supplements, and natural cow hormones all of which may be bioactive when digested by humans 

- Many of the health risks associated with drinking commercial milk revolve around the milk processing and industrialization of production

- American commercial milk is tightly correlated with childhood Type I diabetes (through abnormal immune response, not CH metabolism)

- Milk from European breeds have A1 proteins which cause less disease & inflammation than American breeds (Holsteins are A2 casein)

- Milk from other parts of the world use very old breeds of cattle or goats or sheep or oxen that raise less of an immune response in humans and are raised traditionally (not industrially)

Other thoughts:

- Most of the carbohydrate content of human milk is not directly assimilatable by the infant - those carbohydrates from mother's milk must first be processed by the gut flora - first benefiting the gut (flora) and then the baby

- Gut flora/Microbiome health is the center of vigor, emotional balance, nutrition and immunity. If your baby has ever been exposed to antibiotics, make sure you are providing supplemental organisms from fresh, live, raw sauerkraut (from health food store), kimchi, miso, and similar foods. Playing outside in the dirt also helps immunity and the microbiome. Grow organic carrots and don't wash them too well before eating. Eat young dandelion roots straight out of the ground. 

MOM'S & DOCTORS THOUGHTS ON MILK:

Got Milk? Got Ear Infections?

The Dangers of Cow's Milk
by Linda Folden Palmer, D.C.

Dr Axe:  Ear Infection Symptoms, Causes & Risk Factors to Avoid

Dr Axe:  Milk Allergy Symptoms + 7 Healthy Ways to Go Dairy Free


VIDEO:  Nutrition Scientist talks dairy

Milk: It Does a Body Good? (Hazards of Modern, Processed Milk)

Traditional Remedies for Childhood Illnesses

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PRODUCTS USEFUL TO HAVE AROUND:
 

ChildLife Essentials- Aller-Care - Natural Grape Flavor (Also provides antibacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory benefits)