Infant Formulas: Which Brand is Best?

Posted By Kimberly Turner on Oct 8, 2009 in Healthy | 0 comments

A mother’s breastmilk is the gold standard for infant nutrition.

There’s nothing like it – they simply cannot duplicate this rare commodity in a laboratory.

It has vitamins, minerals and substances that are essential to a baby’s immune system.

If a woman is able to breast feed for the traditional 12 months after the birth of their child, that’s fabulous, but many women simply aren’t able for many different reasons…

…maybe it’s too painful, they’re on medication, need to return to work in these tough economic times, they have multiple births.

Many women experience feelings of guilt if they are unable to breastfeed at all or for the entire duration of time expected. That’s when they go and buy a very expensive infant formula to compensate for these feelings of guilt instead of the less expensive store brand formula.

Not only that, in many areas of life, we often feel that you “get what you pay for”, so a more expensive formula, which is a safe alternative for babies, must be better and have more nutrition in it. They’re expensive, well advertised and come from a “reputable” pharmaceutical company…Hmmm…

Not so! The FDA regulates infant formula closely to ensure that they’re all nutritionally equivalent. That means that store-brand formulas are just as good for your baby as any other brand out there.

Good to know, right?

Apparently, as of October 1, 2009, WIC (Women, Infants and Children program) is aiming an initiative to increase breastfeeding rates amongst families. They are decreasing their subsidies for infant formula up to 20%, as well as monies for baby foods, juices, and fresh fruits and vegetables for babies.

Not only is breastfeeding the gold standard for nutrition – the best nutrition you could give your baby – but it is cheaper and doesn’t always have to be something a woman can choose to have subsidized if they’re able to breastfeed, unless they want to pay for the infant formula themselves.

So, for these families that either need to or will choose to purchase infant formula on their own, the fact that store-brand formulas are created equally with the much more expensive brands, is very helpful information.

If I need to feed my baby formula, when I have one, I would try to get an infant formula, if at all possible, that’s organic though…

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I hope you found this Healthy Eating information helpful on Cooking With Kimberly! Until next time…

Eat Deliciously,

Kimberly Edwards 🙂

P.S. Subscribing to my Healthy Eating Blog is the best idea you’ve had all day!

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[tags]infant formula, store brand formula, formula, baby formula, WIC, Women Infants and Children, Women Infants and Children program, government assistance, breastfeeding, breastmilk, breastfeed, baby food, infant nutrition[/tags]