Host of questions for the crunchier mamas...

[aliceinwonderland]

I know these are very random, but I wanted to wait till I had a "critical mass" of questions before posting... Any help is appreciated :)

--Raw milk--do you heat this up before giving to your child? I am worried a bit about the potential bacteria, etc. 90% of the milk E gets is on his oatmeal in the morning, and that is microwaved, but what about his occasional drink?? So far I have heated it almost to boiling (this is what my parents used to do)

--What kind of thing/oil/whatever should i place in his vaporiser (thing that makes steam) instead of the VapoSteam bottle stuff? I read the ingredients and some don't sound so good. Perhaps I don't need to put anything in there, just steam would work???

--Mamas who use vinegar and baking soda to clean: What are some recipes you can suggest for your floors?? And, do you mix the paste with water afterwards? I am not sure if I am doing this correctly. Oh, and what kind of vinegar do you use? I have been using the White, but I hear Apple Cider vinegar is supposed to be good...

I think this is it...Again, sorry for the randomness of this...:)

[ellies mom]

I'll answer the floor question. I just use some vineger (kind of a large splash) in water when I damp mop my floors. I usually use white vineger.

[brittone2]

Eri-for the raw milk, maybe try posting over at MDC? DH and I drink raw milk but we don't give it to DS. I'd consider it if it was tested for tuberculosis and brucella (?) but I'm not 100% sure ours is. It is a very small family owned farm with a small herd of cattle so the risks are quite low in our case. In PA since raw milk is legal, I think it has to be tested. In any case, I am not sure if I want to give it to DS or not...
If you heat it it should kill the bacteria as you said. I would think just to boiling or just under? FWIW, it does kill the beneficial enzymes in the raw milk once you go over 118 F I believe so that's something to consider. Anyway, we drink it but I don't have experience w/ giving it to DS as he doesn't drink cow's milk. He does eat organic raw milk cheddar though and loves it...but his constipation issues don't ;)

In the vaporizer you could try a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil I would think? I used to add a few drops to the bath water (like 3 drops) when DS was sick or stuffy, and when he had the croup. The steam alone would probably work fine. I don't want to break your vaporizer though so you might want to double check with someone else about whether or not E.O. is okay to put in there ;)
For floors I just use vinegar and water (white vinegar because it is cheaper) and my schmop which is a microfiber mop. Sometimes I add a few drops of essential oils...tea tree, lavendar, whatever I'm in the mood for :) For scrubbing most things I use a paste of baking soda water or baking soda and vinegar.

[aliceinwonderland]

Thanks, I was hoping you'd reply!

DO you cook with raw milk though and then feed the product to DS?? Quiches, french toast, oatmeal, etc??

[brittone2]

Well, we just started back with the raw milk. We had to wait and be put on the subscription list...we basically pay up front for X number of weeks at a time and then we drive to pick it up on Saturday mornings. So I actually don't think DS has had any yet because we have been using the Costco organic stuff up in the meantime.

I personally feel okay with giving it to him cooked, but I would hate to give you that advice and although it is unlikely, have Eri get sick, kwim? Because I suppose it is possible, even if it isn't probable. If your raw milk source is tested though, i'd be much less worried in general. That's one of the advantages to keeping it "legal" to sell...I'm pretty sure the farmers have to test. There are a lot of raw milk drinkers over at MDC that would probably have better advice for you. I'd say the chances of it being a problem are small but it might be worth looking into a bit more...

[aliceinwonderland]

and were you able to get organic raw milk? As it is, ours is just antibiotic, hormone-free. The only organic source close enough to us had closed its list :(

I think we will for now alternate between this and the store-bought stuff. Thanks :)

LOL I'm sitting here trying to figure out exactly what you mean by "crunchier". :P

[brittone2]

The farm follows organic farming principles, but I guess their dairy stuff can't be certified organic because it is illegal here in NC to sell raw milk. So it is quite the covert operation to get it LOL. I wouldn't worry about antibiotic and hormone free at all. I'm not sure if the farmer we buy from uses organic feed or not, but I'm fine with antibiotic and hormone free if I trust the seller. It sounds like yours is coming from a small Amish farm and I would be fine with that for us :) Our source is a small Mennonite-run farm :)

We also picked up a quart of organic cream this week...mmmmm :)

[psophia17]

Too bad you don't live in upstate NY near my parents - I'd send you to them to get raw milk. I know there are regularly TB and brucella tests that the herd goes through, and I think I remember hearing before that if one animal in a herd did have TB or brucellosis, the whole herd would be euthanized. Also, in case an animal needs antibiotics (for infections, mastitis most often), there are really stringent rules in place to see that no antibiotics make it into the milk supply. I've posted about it in feeding before. Essentially, there's no way that you would find antibiotics in milk you bought in a store, ever. It's just not going to happen.

If you can find a local source of raw, I'd go for it. I grew up on raw milk, as did all the kids I babysat for, and no one ever had any ill effects from it. In fact, we're all healthy as horses...or cows ;)

[mudder17]

I agree with Veronica--use white vinegar to clean. I think it's because you might have to worry about staining with Apple Cider vinegar. Granted, I only use Apple Cider vinegar (Bragg's) to drink with all my water and as a skin toner, so no real experience with it staining. Still, white vinegar is dirt cheap, so it would be great for cleaning, stains notwithstanding.

Recipes for cleaning floors:

Baking soda scrub: Baking soda + 10-20 drops of an essential oil
Scented vinegar: 50:50 white vinegar:purified (filtered) water +10-20 drops essential oil
For wood floors and furniture, I do something similar with scented vinegar but have a tiny bit of olive oil in it for seasoning the wood (I think that's the correct term).

Here's a former link on these cleaners:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboar...8526&mode=full

For the vaporizer thing, IMO, adding the essential oils may help with the breathing a little, but it's not necessary. I don't have a vaporizer/humidifier, but I have one of those EZ-vaporizers (basically a hot light) that you can put a soaked pad of essential oil on it. I use eucalyptus oil usually, but you can also use Lavender oil. Also, Kaya has a runny nose/cold right now, and I just tried the one ounce of grapeseed (or olive) oil + 10 drops each of lavender and eucalyptus oil as a massage oil for her chest, back, neck and feet (I know Kaya doesn't have any senstivities at all to eucalyptus or lavender oil) and I think it helped her breathe a little easier. In any case, you can use that as an alternative to Vick's vapor rub. You can use the same recipe, but stronger, for adults.

HTH!


Eileen

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