Baby Formula: Breast Milk vs. Baby Formula vs. Organic baby formula

THE TOP 12 REASONS TO BREASTFEED
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For your baby

1. Breast milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water, and protein that is needed for a baby’s growth and development. Your baby gets the exact nutrients for a baby’s growth and development. Your baby gets the exact nutrients he needs to grow healthily as the consistency of your breast milk changes daily.

2. It builds your baby’s immunity and protects him from serious ailments such as asthma, eczema, diabetes, leukemia, gastroenteritis and ear, chest and urinary tract infections. Breastfed babies are less likely to suffer from constipation, stomach-ache and colic.

3. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity in your child as your baby learns from the start to regulate the amount of food he needs.

4. Breastfeeding boosts your baby’s IQ

5. Breastfeeding improves his visual development.

6. Research also shows that breastfed babies do not fall sick as often as formula-fed babies and thus visit the doctor less.

For you

7. Breastfeeding reduces your risk of getting breast, endometrial and ovarian cancer, and possibly, osteoporosis.

8. It’s convenient and makes life easier. You don’t have to worry about sterilizing bottles every day or mixing formulas in the middle of the night. Nor do you need to lug a bottle-bag around.

9. It helps your body burn an extra 500 calories a day and helps your uterus shrink back to its pre-pregnancy size quicker.

10. When breastfeeding, your body releases those feel-good hormones called endorphins that promote mother-child bonding. The physical contact is important to the newborns, helping them feel more secure, warm and comforted. This is why breastfeeding mothers have a higher level of self-confidence and more intense feeling of closeness with their infants.

Baby Formula Issues:

Lack of antibodies. None of the important antibodies found in breast milk is found in manufactured formula, which means that formula doesn't provide the baby with the added protection against infection and illness that breast milk does.

Expense. Formula can be costly. Powdered formula is the least expensive, followed by concentrated, with ready-to-feed being the most expensive. And specialty formulas (i.e., soy and hypoallergenic) cost more - sometimes far more - than the basic formulas. During the first year of life, the cost of basic formula can run about $1,500.

Possibility of producing gas and constipation. Formula-fed babies may have more gas and firmer bowel movements than breastfed babies.

Can't match the complexity of breast milk. Manufactured formulas have yet to duplicate the complexity of breast milk, which changes as the baby's needs change.
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That said, My fiancee and I are having trouble deciding what baby formula to use. Think "Conspiracy Free Baby Formula." Our daughter is on a breast feeding strike and we are now faced with the task of finding a baby formula that is safe. We want to to be organic, but chemically safe. We know there is no alternative to breast feeding that wont bother us in some way, but it is what it is. We are trying to go low cost organic, but safe and ethical at the same time. We don't want to support a company that does not have the child's best interest at heart. We do not want any trojan horse chemicals in the food. We know that it is inevitable that our precious little one will have to succumb to the ways of the world just as we have, but we only want the best for her. Anyone have any advise? Thanks ahead of time, and I didnt know what forum to post this in, so MODS, if it needs to be moved, move it!

Have you tried a breast pump?
I nursed my three boys.

How old is your baby?

My daughter nursed until she was two - but at 6 months demanded solid food too. LOL! She ate beets (real, fresh ones we mashed a bit with a fork) for her first dish.

So is your baby demanding solid food? Or is she still too young?

reply to post by Amaterasu


I nursed EACH of mine for at least 1 and a 1/2 years.
My last one for over two!
It's a commitment towards the end. But, so much better than cheap, unnatural formula!
Vitamin D supplement is important after about 6 mos.
I had to push my last baby away!

No more nursing for me!

BTW, I LOVE pickled beets lol! I'm even growing some right now.

When I was a child, I was allergic to formula, so I had to have soybean milk. Yuck!



[edit on 22-8-2008 by Clearskies]

Originally posted by Clearskies
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

I nursed EACH of mine for at least 1 and a 1/2 years.
My last one for over two!
It's a commitment towards the end. But, so much better than cheap, unnatural formula!
Vitamin D supplement is important after about 6 mos.
I had to push my last baby away!

No more nursing for me!

BTW, I LOVE pickled beets lol! I'm even growing some right now.

When I was a child, I was allergic to formula, so I had to have soybean milk. Yuck!

Awesome! Glad there are mothers in this world still willing to do it naturally. And in fact... It's cheaper than ANY formula! LOL!

My daughter was told early on, and over and over, that there would be no more "ninny" when she turned two. On her second B-day, I tried to stop the nursing, but she cried and fussed until 3 AM - at which point I capitulated. I kept nursing her for two more weeks - and then she just stopped asking for "ninny" all on her own. And that was that.

The beets she ate weren't pickled, but I agree. Pickled beets are AWESOME!