Dairy Question

[Analeah]

Okay so a couple days ago I was with the baby I help take care of who is about 15 months old and he has a cold. The mother gave him some chocolate milk and I said something like "oh do you think that is a good thing to give him when he has a cold"? I think she got kind of offended because she said oh I think you just believe like some people that milk isn't good for you but we don't believe that way here. I tried to explain to her that milk and dairy products can be especially irritating to the sinuses if you have a cold but she said she had never heard that before. Anyway, I am wondering if there is a simple and easy to understand way to explain this to someone? I feel so bad for the baby because he is having such a hard time breathing and snot just keeps pouring out of his nose day after day. I know it would help if he stopped eating dairy products but I don't know a good way to explain this to the mother or if it is even worth it to try or if I should just stay out of it completely....I do understand and respect that it is not my child but I don't know if there is anything I can do to help. Any advice?

[mwjeepster]

Is there a book you can give her to read? - tell her you just thought she might find it interesting. Now that I've been raw for a month, I'm interested to see if I get my usual fall cold. I have gotten one every year of my life when the cold weather hits, so this should be interesting - certainly fascinating to me was my dh got a wicked cold a couple of weeks ago and I did NOT pick it up. I'm wondering is this is because that's when I started to drink green drinks.... hmmmm... but you and everyone here knows how entrenched people are to cooked food. Where I think cooked food is poision, others see it as their life line. All I hope to do is be an example of fabulous health - and I can see that transformation already in process!!! I'm sure others here have better ideas.

Love to all,
Melissa

[Kristi]

Don't drink your milk by Frank A Oski, MD

www.notmilk.com

[Rawkinlocs]

Analeah, Sweetie, you're in a bit of a position here. The mother clearly is not trying to hear what you have to say and feels she knows best in this. You have already tried to explain it to her and as you said, she got slightly offended. The only thing you can do at this point is to back off for a while and then try it again later, maybe going to http://notmilk.com and printing out a few pages of info and leaving it lying around the house or something.

But she isn't going to receive what you are saying right now and it's apparent in her statement to you about you being one of those who believe milk is bad and that they don't believe that way around there...those words alone are clearly saying, "Hey you'd better back off lady!"

I know it must be VERY hard to watch the poor baby suffer like that and you knowing full well the truth that milk and chocolate milk at that is only making it worse, but you don't want to overstep your bounderies either.

Maybe even getting that book Krisi recommended and have it out where it's visible and maybe even as you're reading it and you get to certain parts, say, "WOW! This guy's a doctor and he says this about milk...check this out (or just read it to her)"

As a parent who currently has to fight off well-meaning family members who try and tell me that homeschooling my children isn't a wise decision...I know how it is when a mom believes what she believes and doesn't want others telling her contrary. Sometimes it's helpful, useful information and sometimes it isn't, and in the case you're clearly offering her useful information. But until she's ready to receive it, you might have to just leave it alone for now.

[Laurel]

VERY good advice Rawkinlocs. I agree with you, it is just what I was going to say. :)

[marigold]

this is such a dilema and comes up for me all the time..the most extreme one was my mum got cancer and still she ate dead animal and junk..i was like there is another way..i couldnt believe she may die and carried on as before..i tried to say there is another way and she just didnt want to hear it...i wondered what to do next..how can i just not say anything and so i had another go...in the end i had to let go and watch her die..all around me though i see my parner my friends with bad heath oomplaining of feeling ill and knowing if they changed how they eat they would feel beter...
i have to stop myself speaking out - i am learning by being an example is the most powerful thing i can do..in anything actually..i learn that unless asked its best not to speak out - its not welcome.its hard for me to do - and i wonder if if helps isnt it worth speaking out ? and it doesnt seem to work this way.
from being my parner is now eating fruit and veg and just asked to borrow my raw books!!!

i had a friend with a girl . when the girl was with my friends mum she insisted in feeding her milk and suger to feed her up even though it made her allergies worse and my frined asked her not to..we even gave her info to read bout milk and raw but she just thought we were brainwashed and thought it was disgusting that my friend was imposing this on her..

so its such a hard one eh ?

love marigold

[mwjeepster]

This must have been very hard on you. I can only begin to imagine. I'm very sorry about your mom. You are a powerful example - all of us are - because as we get healthy and our energy shines, people will want to know what we're doing and we can be honest and tell them - those that are ready to hear will, and those who aren't, won't. But this is all we can really do. I have one good friend who understands what I'm doing, but that's better than none! My family just tolerates what I do - my dh is good about making sure I have the food in the house that I need, but he doesn't 'get it' at all, which is fine.

Keep up the good work!

Melissa

[marigold]

thanks jeepster...yeah my mum it was a realy hard learning in letting others choose their path!!

[Analeah]

Wow marigold, that must have been such a hard experience to go through! Thank you all for sharing your experience and your advice. I think the main thing is that if a person has no interest in learning or has a receptive mind etc, then there really is no point to say anything. They are really not a closed-minded family for the most part and they do ask a lot of questions about most things and are curious about the raw food diet. If the subject comes up again I will definately refer them to the notmilk.com link but I think if it doesn't come up again there is probably no point in mentioning the link to them. It's neat when the baby gets to try the things I make though. I made watermelon flax fruit rollup and he really loved it. He usually has these cracker/bisquit things in the afternoon and when he kept refusing to eat them I gave him some of the watermelon flax stuff and he ate it right up. It's amazing how much you can tell that babies especially are good at knowing intuitively what is good for them and they will choose raw food in most cases I think. I was amazed when he ate grapefruit and loved it as he is only about a year old and grapefruit is so sour (the mother was surprised too because she always eats it with sugar). Anyway thanks once again for all the wonderful advice!