A reader emailed me a few days ago asking which formula is closest to breast milk since she was going back to work and would no longer breastfeed.
My email reply suggested that learn how to make homemade baby formula. While not as good as breastmilk from a well nourished mother, it is the next best alternative and certainly better than any commercial formulas on the market.
This reader emailed back saying that she didn’t have time to make the homemade formula or use a breastmilk donor bank and pressed for a commercial formula recommendation.Â
I responded that I could not recommend any commercial formulas, not even the organic ones. She really needed to find the time to make the homemade formula or have a relative or friend make it for her. The long term health of her baby depended on it!
The reasons for avoiding commercial formula both dairy and nondairy go far beyond the fact that they are highly allergenic concoctions of denatured milk proteins and rancid vegetable oils.
Is soy formula dangerous for a baby too? Absolutely considering that multiple studies indicate the potential for lifelong endocrine disruption and fertility issues.
Here’s another big issue few parents seem to know about ….
Arsenic in Organic Baby Formula
According to reports from researchers at Dartmouth, organic baby formulas contain levels of arsenic six times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers safe for the water supply.
These high levels of arsenic are due to the inclusion of brown rice syrup, which is the top ingredient in the organic formulas.
Nature’s One, the manufacturer of organic baby formula, wrote in response that their California based supplier of brown rice syrup:
 … uses qualified, world-renowned, third-party, independent lab to test arsenic levels in their organic brown rice syrup. Their testing results report undetectable amounts of arsenic at laboratory testing limits.
Nature’s One went on to say that:
As an organic manufacturer, Nature’s One’s primary concern is the amount of environmental chemicals ingested by infants, toddlers and children. Parents can rest assured that Nature’s One® will test arsenic levels for every lot of organic brown rice syrup and organic rice oligodextrin prior to production.
Who to believe??
Should we believe the researchers who found dangerous levels of arsenic in the organic baby formulas or the manufacturer who insists that undetectable levels of arsenic are in the brown rice syrup they use to manufacture the baby formula.
Best not to try and figure out the truth in this situation and just make your own homemade baby formula with wholesome, natural ingredients.
When food is processed in a factory, there is always the risk of something going wrong even when organic ingredients are used.
For your precious, vulnerable baby, the risk from any factory produced foods is too high. Â Remember the baby that died just a few weeks ago from tainted commercial formula that the mother purchased at Walmart. Â A parent carefully preparing a homemade baby formula in her own kitchen will always be an infinitely better, safer, and healthier choice than anything that is produced in a factory.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: ABC News, A Hidden Arsenic Source
If you don’t “have the time” to breastfeed, pump, or at the least, make your own baby formula, you don’t have the time required to be a mom. We have a nation FULL of sick, drugged, and dying children because moms don’t “have the time” to adequately care for them. If women went about their jobs like they went about their parenting they would be fired. Which area of our lives deserve more emphasis, our career or the health of our children? Which area is more important??
@Molly…some of us have to feed our children formula because we aren’t able to breastfeed not because we don’t have time to. I pumped for my son for 7-1/2 months but it was making me sick and I could no longer do it (and my milk wasn’t healthy since I wasn’t healthy). I tried everything to get him to breastfeed but he had a posterior tongue tie and once we got him clipped he would no longer latch on. By the time I went back to work, my milk supply dropped anyway and I had to supplement with formula. I work full time and my husband stays home full time with the kids because I had the higher income at the time and in this economy my husband cannot find a job making what I make. I would love to make homemade formula but I can barely afford commercial formula and raw milk in CA (I live in San Diego) costs about $5 for a pint, plus I would need to then buy all the other ingredients to go along with it. But believe me, the health of my child is very important. I do make all of his baby food…he will never eat jarred food. We do the best we can do for our children in the best way we can. But please don’t assume all of us who use formula do so because “we don’t have time” to make homemade formula or breastfeed.
This article came up in my newsfeed and I thought it would link in well considering the issues with formula:http://theleakyboob.com/2010/09/because-it-could-be-my-baby/
I found out the hard way what was in commercial baby formula after my baby because sick and even hospitalized. You can read my story on my website. The good news is it inspired me to start my own line of PURE, HANDMADE, Truly Organic baby formula. After my daughter was healed I was told time and time again when people heard my story how much this product is needed. I agree. http://www.designedbynature.net.
Good Luck and stay strong. We can flight getting nourishing foods back to our children and healing them with real food!
Sincerely,
Dara Ree
Hi Dara! I checked out your website and it looks like what you are selling is the homemade WAP recipe – that’s a great option for people who can’t access the ingredients or don’t have time to make it themselves! I have a question though… WAP suggests making it fresh daily and not freezing it, so how do you get around that with yours? I’m just wondering because that was my issue with it before my daughter started refusing it, I just didn’t have time to do it daily being that I had to culture the milk.
Thanks in advance!
Shannon
P.S. Congrats on your beautiful little girl and finding something that helped her! 🙂
One thing to consider in light of producer’s comments: Is industrial ag starting to wage a war on organic products/produce like the dairy industry is waging a war on raw dairy? Someone should look into who did the research. Here our State Dairy inspectors found e-coli in the milk of our local raw dairy but the dairy has their own independent tests and no e-coli was ever found. If there are these high levels then I would be concerned about all products containing brown rice syrup.
This is sad.
I used to fortify commercial formula for my second daughter, using recipe in nourishing traditions. We did not have any raw milk available in Canada at that time. She was born premature, at 7 months and I had to pump milk for 4 months until I was very tired (I also had a 1.5 year old at that time). So I started fortifying formula and she is a healthy smart happy 7 year old now.
Sorry another question just popped in my head, how do we know that the cholesterol is rancid, or what evidence is there for that? If there is a certain source to refer me to that would help, and I can read about that further. I just wanted to know case I want to explain why I am buying the milk I buy to someone else. Thanks for your time:)
Whenever I have bought any milk (organic or not) that is both pasteurized and homogenized, it smells somewhat sour to me. This seems to be the case with any milk I’ve tried. Some brands smell worse than others.
Then, we started buying either raw milk (when we can get it) or non-homogenized milk. Any of those DO NOT have that sour-ish smell.
I wondered about this until I read the Mother Earth News article about raw milk (http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/real-milk-zmrz11zalt.aspx?page=4). The author states,
“Homogenizing milk disrupts the chemical structure of milkfat so drastically that it releases a torrent of enzymes that promptly turn raw milk rancid.”
And I like what Sara (The Health Home Economist) says about making the cholesterol turn rancid too.
If homogenization makes milk do that (AND it makes it taste and smell so funky), I won’t drink it. And I believe the rancidity is why it does smell sour.
I hope this is helpful!
Thank you for taking the time to explain that!
I’m in the Cleveland, OH area…. if you are looking to get involed with a Herd Share I can help point you in the right direction
I wasn’t able to breastfeed my babes for reasons which are none of your business. And no one will make me feel bad and guilty for not being able to breastfeed. I now do everything to give my boys the most nourshing diet possible. Breastmilk is best but if it’s not possible then you should expect that your baby’s formula will be arsenic free.
I just ordered and am waiting for the gallon size of Natural by Mature milk through my local health food store at $9.00 a gallon, but I realized the gallons may be homogenized. It looks like it has to be the quart size glass jars to be not homogenized.
QUESTION: Is homogenized really that bad?
I go through 3 gallons milk weekly, and I know that is going to be even more expensive to get 12 quart size glass jars each week. Raw milk is illegal where I live, so that is not an option for me.
QUESTION: Also should people be feeding this formula to children beyond 1 yrs as a supplement, whether nursing or not?
Thanks for taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge!
Yes, homogenized is really that bad.
I guess I should elaborate. Homogenization forces the molecules of fat in the cream to be very small so that is evenly disperses throughout the milk and does not come to the top and form a creamline as with raw milk. The problem with this is that it turns the cholesterol in the cream rancid. Rancid cholesterol is what is dangerous and should not be consumed particularly by a growing baby whose brain needs whole, unprocessed cholesterol for a correctly functioning neurological system. Rancid cholesterol is also linked to cardiovascular problems among other inflammatory conditions.
Thank you explaining that further, that motivates to look into getting the non-homogenized when I place the next order.