“di mana dia,
anak kambing saya?
anak kambing saya,
yang namanya aniq!”

… everybody now! :D

i started the ‘kid’ (ha ha) on goat’s milk after some researching (and soul-searching), and whaddaya know – he likey!

so much so that the two litres of hay’s goat’s milk delivered at the doorstep on the dawn of thursday morning was all gone in 60 seconds. ok lah, ‘kid’ding (ha ha), by saturday morning, actually.

since that went down well (literally), we scouted around mustafa centre for a powdered version. according to my colleague and fellow avid b/feeding mum who weaned off both her healthy kids on goat’s milk, you can get it for two dollars cheaper there than at ntuc.

and whaddaya know – he likes it very muchly too!

so the conclusion is: my anak kambing is a greedy little goat who will wallop anything that’s given to him.

or, it actually tastes good, contrary to popular belief.

i tried taking a whiff of the goat’s milk, and it was surprisingly quite… pleasant. no, err, goaty smell (not that i know what goats smell like, but i’m assuming it’s akin to someone who hadn’t bathed in a month), just a normal fresh-milk smell.

and for the powdered version, no goaty smell there either; it’s pretty well-masked by a nice vanilla smell.

after five months of plying cow’s formula on the little one, i can’t help but find the smell and taste rather… metallic, and unpleasant. my sensitive nose is quite turned off by it, especially when discarding unconsumed milk from the bottle. it smells… pukey. maybe it’s just me, but i simply don’t like the smell of formula. (yes, i’ve tried a couple of them). :S

i really can’t be too sure of the long-term benefits of goat’s milk, and i’m certainly not gonna declare that it’s better than cow’s milk (like i did, and always will, with b/milk) – i is no scientist after all. just a (cerewet) mom going with her gut feel.

well, a little googling helped too…

- goat milk is a far better emulsion than cow’s milk;
- the oil globules of goat milk are one-fifth the size of cow’s milk;
- the reaction of goat milk is alkaline (the same as mother’s milk), whereas cow milk gives an acid reaction;
- the curd in goat milk is small and flocculent, hence easily digested and assimilated, while cow milk has large dense curd that is largely indigestible and causes an excess of catarrh and constipation;
- the goat is a browser fond of herbs and barks (as opposed to a cow, which is a grazer), and thus its milk is high in silicon—silicon is the enemy of tuberculosis, which is never found among goats or goat milk but flourishes among cows;
- goat milk is naturally homogenized, but in our attempt to duplicate this process in cow milk something went wrong;
- and, finally, The Journal of the American Medical Association, the official organization of 100,000 physicians in the U.S., under the heading “Dietetics and Hygiene??? says: “The goat is the healthiest domestic animal known. Goat milk is superior in every way to cow’s milk. Goat milk is the ideal food for babies, convalescents and invalids, especially those with weakened digestive powers. Goat milk is the most healthful and complete food known.”
- from ‘the national association for child development’

there seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding cows versus goats, and it probably has little bearing to many mothers who are perfectly comfortable with their current choice of formula (if they are no longer b/feeding).

maybe i subconsciously resent the formula companies for marketing their products so effectively and successfully, and for taking over my milk-producing duty, that i kinda wanna rebel against them. macam personal vendetta liddat. and since the goat is the underdog (like b/feeding seems to be, sigh), i’m inclined to give them the support. (great, it’s not enough that human’s milk has been politicised, even the different animals’ milk has joined the fray!)

The nutritional value of goat milk has been acknowledged by many cultures for centuries. However, the cow milk industry around the world has developed in a more sophisticated manner in terms of production, marketing and research compared with the goat milk industry. The key benefit which the cow milk industry enjoys is that cow milk can be produced more economically than goat milk, largely due to the greater productivity of the cow. However, the economic advantages do not necessarily mean that cow milk is more suitable for human consumption. In fact, many consider that goat milk is closer to human milk.
- from Dairy Goat Co-op (NZ)

anyway, it’s a parental right for a first-time mum to experiment on her first child, isn’t it? hee. i’ll keep him on this for a while, and see if his very mild eczema (itchy and scratchy joints) and phlegm will go away for good. so far, the runny nose has stopped. then again, could be the antibiotics and snuffle babe vapour rub i’ve been slathering on his feet at night doing their tricks.

now, if only they sold human b/milk in the market…

(THEN i’d happily quit my job and ‘milk’ myself full-time – for $$$, yeay!)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 7:09 pm and is filed under Breastfeeding, Parenthood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.