A Melbourne mother has described how her son turned grey when he became seriously ill after drinking raw milk.
The one-year-old boy suffered kidney failure after contracting hemolytic-uremic syndrome – a serious complication of an E. coli infection.
The Melbourne baby’s mother, who spoke to Fairfax Media on the condition of anonymity, said her son developed diarrhea and vomiting, which lasted 10 days, after he had sips of her smoothies made with Mountain View Organic Bath Milk.
“He turned grey, became extremely lethargic and extremely thirsty and was he still sporadically vomiting,” she said.
By the time he reached the Royal Children’s Hospital Emergency Department in late October, his kidneys were failing.
“He had 20 per cent kidney function,” the mother said.
The baby remained in hospital for a week as doctors worked to increase his red blood cells. He is now expected to make a full recovery.
University of Melbourne food microbiology expert Said Ajlouni said he was aware some people may drink raw milk to treat serious medical conditions but warned against it, saying children and people with depressed immunity were more susceptible to infection.
The Australian Medical Association’s Andrew Miller said drinking unpasteurized milk could be fatal or lead to lifelong disabilities, multiple organ failure or brain damage.
“Because these kind of outcomes are relatively rare, people may get away with it [drinking unpasteurized milk] for a period of time, but there are reasons we have food safety laws and that’s so we don’t see children die unnecessarily,” he said.
The mother acknowledged she had been blinded by the wider trend towards raw food, but said she was not aware of the serious risks associated with raw milk.
“If I had heard of anything like this happening to anyone I wouldn’t have brought into my home – I wouldn’t have consumed it myself,” she said.
“It was a wake-up call to make sure I’m no longer blinded by the latest trends. It was a wake-up call to make sure I’m making informed decisions for my family.”