Member-only story
Did Raw Cow’s Milk Cause the “Crib Deaths” of Two of My Cousin’s Babies?
Coroners ruling: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
In the 1960s my oldest cousin Stella* married a guy named Stanley* whose family owned a dairy farm. (* not their real names)
The couple was able to buy a home right across the road from the farm and Stanley worked there with his father.
Stella and Stanley started having children and soon 7 baby boys were born.
The eighth boy Stella had, Jeffrey, died from SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, frequently called “crib death”.
He was 2 months old.
It was very sad and shocking when Stella had another baby boy a little over a year later who also died from SIDS.
His name was Joey and he was less than 2 months old.
The questions were rampant. Two babies dying from SIDS that close together?
What was going on? What could have happened?
The talk amongst the grown-ups in the family was Stella and Stanley were feeding the babies raw cow’s milk from the dairy farm. They said that the milk was unsafe for babies to drink.