An alternative to store bought formula!

[JustSomeChickVee]

Originally Posted by Tresor27 You're obviously up on yr formulas and ingredients, do you mind if i pick your brain with one more thing? I checked the links and compared, it's clear that Parent's Choice is very much like the Earth's Best Organic except that it uses corn syrup where EB has glucose syrup. (for some reason though the Parent's Choice, states it's the National Brand Equivalent to Similac Organic). Well, I looked up Similac Organic to compare ingredients...and its first ingredient is organic Nonfat milk http://abbottnutrition.com/Products/...dvance-organic as opposed to the whey ingredients the other two listed. The Similac O. doesn't seem to have whey, which as you explained above, wd go a long way to making it more like breast milk and is imp. However, wouldn't you consider the milk component more important in a formula?? But here's the thing, for the heck of it, I am also looking at the ingredient list of the Similac Advance which we are currently on - and it actually looks like the best of both worlds: nonfat milk first ingredient, as well as the whey, only 1 soy ingredient -soy oil (listed 4th) and of course it has C. Cohini oil and M. alpina to get you the DHA. And now i'm left scratching my head as to what originally alarmed me to the point that i got to researching a diff formula to go onto? Lol! Well, i think it's my concern about GMOs if i had to guess. And, from everything i've been reading these past few days, looks like there's no certified-free-of-GMOs formula out there, even the organic ones. Maybe i should stick with this one since DD seems happy with it. I guess however that at least the organic ones i think, at least the milk portion of it would have to have been free of bovine growth hormones and i'm not sure that's the case for regular old Similac Adv. I think i'll go research that now! Hope I'm not overloading you, I really appreciate yr input!

"Glucose syrup" is almost always another way of saying "corn syrup" since glucose syrup is usually made from corn.

I considered Similac Organic for a while, but the 4th ingredient is sugar. Likely white sugar, which is pretty much the unhealthiest sweetener other high fructose corn syrup. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as PC, but at a similar cost to EB. As far as the whey and the milk go, the whey is present to balance the whey-casein ratio. Without it, larger, harder to digest curds form in the babies stomach, and that is going to hinder nutrient absorption to some degree. Obviously not severely, but it does have an effect. Human milk contains a whey-casein ratio of about 70/30 on average. There is much more whey in human milk than there is casein so that ratio needs to be balanced in order to have the most similar product. Without adding the whey at all, it's much farther from human milk than it is with the whey. In the commercial formulas the milk is pasteurized, nonfat milk, so the whey serves as far more nutritional than the milk in this form. I think the whey is a really important component and I personally would no forego it.

As far as choosing organic, well you really can't 100% guarantee that it is free of GM ingredients. There is always the potential for cross contamination via cross-pollination, crops are not quarantined. That's a major consideration in the fight against GMOs. However, there;s a major difference between contaminated and being straight up GM, you can almost put money on a non-organic formula being made from predominately GM ingredients. That's why they are so much cheaper than their organic counterparts. Plus the pesticides that are used on conventional plants which are dangerous to human health.

And you are correct about the milk, the milk would be free of hormones and antibiotic residue, and I think that's super important because of the long term health effects. rBGH is banned in a lot of places, including the EU.

For me, the number one choice is homemade, however PC/EB are my second choice (PC for it's price... it is actually cheaper than non-organic Similac Advance last time I checked.)

[JustSomeChickVee]

Originally Posted by Tresor27 That's a great tip about Parent's Choice, i will look into that now. I did check yr link to WAPF recipes to make your own...and yeah, no, i'm not, just Not going to do that. Wouldn't even know where to begin to get some of the ingredients. Wish i were a better person - props to all you mammas who do. You make a persuasive case against Baby's Only. I've been on the fence about them anyway so at least you've helped me to knock them off the list. So if that only leaves Earth's Best or Similac Organic, and you're saying Parent's choice is generic for Earth's best and at half the price...I have a new trail to follow... Thanks a lot!

I know you said you're not interested in making your own, but for any mamas who might be watching this thread, you can get all of the ingredients except raw milk or homemade formula from Radiant Life Catalog. They sell a kit.

You can find raw milk local to you at realmilk.com

[threekstrio]

any info on how much it costs to make your own? where do you buy ingredients?
thank you for posting this

[JustSomeChickVee]

Originally Posted by threekstrio any info on how much it costs to make your own? where do you buy ingredients? thank you for posting this

Costs vary depending on whether or not you choose to buy the kit from Radiant Life (which comes with everything for the amount of time you choose, except the raw milk and homemade whey.) It also varies depending on the cost of raw milk in your area, or if you have to use cultured pasteurized milk due to a lack of raw milk in your area. Cream is pretty cheap, even raw cream, and it lasts forever. but you can use pasteurized cream.

This is the kit that Radiant Life sells:

http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/pr...aby-child-care

you can find raw milk through realmilk.com but also check in local groups to see if anyone knows of any co-ops.

For me, raw milk is $7 a gallon. I purchase through a co-op. I purchased the 6 month supply kit. A gallon of milk would last me about a week when i was making the formula...

so for me it cost about $112 a month to do homemade. When I was using Parent's Choice Organic formula, I would go through about 2 $15 cans a week, sometimes more. If I never went over 2 cans in a week, Parent's Choice Organic cost me about $120, not including tax. Homemade formula was actually cheaper for me, and I used a very well priced formula prior to switching to homemade.

[Tresor27]

Agh, i wished i had checked and seen yr latest post, i've just spent my children's nap period calculating the cost of doing formula on my own (each ingredient seperately, didn't realize about the Kit!!) vs the current commercial formula i'm on. Yes, i know i was against it, but the more i'm seeing how many people are doing it, (i'm also subscribed to a yahoo group where many people suggested it) i figured i really should look into it some more. Anyway, my math came to the same conclusion, the only variable was that i couldn't find what the membership cost to uddermilk.com would be, but i guess that's just a one-time hit.

That said, i am still scared of the raw milk aspect. You know, how can you be sure it's being harvested in sanitary conditions, etc. I left a message for my pediatrican's office again, there is a "holistic health counselor" nurse there, but she is who i spoke with to begin with and didn't seem to be completely up on all the evils that can be found in commercial formulas. We'll see.

Thanks for the continued encouragement - may make a home-made formula mamma out of me yet! (provided i can get daddy's buy in, which will be the next hurdle)

[Tresor27]

Originally Posted by blueone We use Baby's Only because it is literally the only formula she tolerates that doesn't have corn. We tried numerous formulas, all the way down to EleCare, an amino acid formula and she had so many issues with them ranging from aggravated reflux, eczema, gas and stomach issues, not sleeping, and with Elecare severe silent reflux that warranted thickening. We couldn't find something that agreed with her for thickening either, but if we didn't she would refuse to eat. So, at my last effort I saw that Baby's Only uses no corn syrup solids and if there is corn in it, it is so minute it doesn't bother her. We use the Soy version. I'm not a fan of soy in the least, but at least it's non GMO. She has a milk protein intolerance. She couldn't even tolerate the hydrolyzed milk protein in Alimentum Ready to Feed, and that's only 2 percent and corn free. I'm so glad BO is working for you and your LO is thriving! So yeah, I think Baby's Only is an amazing company and I absolutely love their formula since she is once again eating and no longer needs thickened formula and actually sleeps. On top of that, she is thriving. Avoiding corn is a PITA though, it's in everything. At least we figured out the issue though. OH, as for constipation, we have not had that issue at all. If anything her poops are back to normal. She was very constipated on EleCare. We had to add a tsp of flax oil in a bottle a day to keep her regular. I still use it though because it helps a lot with a non food related eczema patch on her arm.

I am so glad that Baby's Only was the solution for you and yr LO is thriving!

[JustSomeChickVee]

Originally Posted by Tresor27 Agh, i wished i had checked and seen yr latest post, i've just spent my children's nap period calculating the cost of doing formula on my own (each ingredient seperately, didn't realize about the Kit!!) vs the current commercial formula i'm on. Yes, i know i was against it, but the more i'm seeing how many people are doing it, (i'm also subscribed to a yahoo group where many people suggested it) i figured i really should look into it some more. Anyway, my math came to the same conclusion, the only variable was that i couldn't find what the membership cost to uddermilk.com would be, but i guess that's just a one-time hit. That said, i am still scared of the raw milk aspect. You know, how can you be sure it's being harvested in sanitary conditions, etc. I left a message for my pediatrican's office again, there is a "holistic health counselor" nurse there, but she is who i spoke with to begin with and didn't seem to be completely up on all the evils that can be found in commercial formulas. We'll see. Thanks for the continued encouragement - may make a home-made formula mamma out of me yet! (provided i can get daddy's buy in, which will be the next hurdle)

Realmilk.com does testing on the milk every so often. But, ask around and see what people think of the place you're getting the milk from, what they think of the milk, etc. The most important thing is that the cows are grass fed because when cows are fed grains, it alters their gut bacteria. When the gut bacteria is altered, there isn't as much competition between good bacteria and bad bacteria (if they are present.) This is why pasteurized milk, where all the bacteria good and any bad are killed, rots instead of sours. If you really wanted to, you could heat it on your stove. You could also do pasteurized milk that isn't homogenized, and then culture the milk. I have never done this because I used raw milk, but the WAPF talks about it.

[Tresor27]

That's good to know, although i think i would've gravitated towards grass-fed, just common sense for me since I try to avoid too many grains, esp. wheat myself, but that's a whole other topic. Seems cows were made to eat grass so they'd do best and produce the best, eating grass!

Question, cow's milk vs goat. I just assumed the go-to wd be cow but someone on my Yahoo group advised that goat's milk is more easily digested and perhaps, easier to come by...What do you use in yr formula and why? Is there a taste difference in either? Did you have a hard time convincing baby Michael to go from a (probably) sweet commercial formula to home-made?

[JustSomeChickVee]

i use cows milk. The nutritional values are a little closer to human milk, and it is cheaper and far more available for me. where i live, raw goat milk costs about $16 a gallon. Ouch lol. Goat milk is tart too.

Commercial formula tastes pretty gross actually. I taste tested them all haha. The homemade tastes better but still weird. We had no problems making the switch.

[Tresor27]

Good to know! I hadn't done a cost comparison...but to be honest i kind of figured it would be harder to sell DH on goat's milk, so this is good!

I spoke to the nurse at my ped's office, she said she knew of some momma's in the practice who make their own, but didn't know the formula...i ended up emailing her the link to the WAPF recipe so she can look it over. At least she wasn't against using raw milk as i thought might be the immediate response.

Yes, you're right about the taste, i did try them too, but i just figured they have a lot more sugar...

Alright, well thank you So Much for all your advice! You've been a tremendous help. Now i've just got to figure out what i'll do.