Breast milk is a unique and the best possible option for babies, which in addition to nutrients, trace elements, and other valuable components, contains biologically active substances that cannot be synthesized responsible for immunity. Manufacturers of baby formula do everything to make their products as similar to breast milk as possible.
Unfortunately, there is no baby formula that is healthier for your baby than breast milk. Therefore, breastfeeding is preferable. However, if there is no opportunity to breastfeed, it is not a disaster. The most valuable nutrients a baby can get from baby formula.
What Can Be the Reasons for Switching a Baby to Formula Feeding?
The most common reason pediatricians recommend infants transfer to formula feeding is the state of the child’s health. In addition, baby formula can help moms who are unable to breastfeed their babies on their own, for example, in cases where:
- Lactation is difficult;
- There are contraindications to the health of a woman;
- The baby and mother are not together;
- A nursing mother has an evident psychological discomfort.
If milk is produced and the baby absorbs it well, it is desirable to continue breastfeeding as long as possible. In case of severe emotional and psychological discomfort, when breastfeeding leads to sharply negative feelings, the woman switches to infant formula feeding. If you decide to use baby formula make sure to check MyOrganicCompany, a reputable online store that has a large selection of organic baby formulas.
What Products Can Be Used for Formula Feeding?
There are infant formula or special therapeutic formulas, which can be milk-based or, more rarely, dairy-free. Other foods should not be introduced to the baby: whole cow’s or whole goat’s milk is not suitable for infants. When it comes time for complementary feeding, formula-fed babies and babies fed with breast milk will gradually begin to try solid foods in the same way.
Does Formula Cause Colic and Upset Stomach?
If we compare breastfeeding and infant formula, there is no particular reason why colic, bloating, or other disorders occur more often from bottle feeding. The stools become a little denser in formula-fed babies, which does not indicate constipation.
Changes in its consistency are caused by a particular composition of the milk substitute. And colic, bloating, and other digestive problems may be due to intolerance of some components of the baby milk. Solving the specific issue and relieving the baby from these unpleasant reactions will help a specialized therapeutic formula.
Choosing a Baby Formula
A key point when choosing a formula is its composition. In addition to proteins, fats, carbohydrates, all infant formulas contain vitamins and minerals. They may differ in the composition with breast milk and include the additional ingredients that positively affect the development of the child’s body, such as probiotics, prebiotics, nucleotides, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and vegetable oils.
The most expansive segment on the baby food market is the formula based on cow’s milk and goat’s milk. The taste of the formula is also significant – your baby should eat it with pleasure and not refuse to eat it.
Of course, there are some formulas in which manufacturers add sugar to make it easier for children to get used to the taste of the formula. After all, breast milk also tastes sweet. But it is important to remember that sugar in baby formula can only harm your baby.
Cow’s Milk vs. Goat’s Milk
When it comes to the base of the formula, cow’s milk is used more often than goat’s milk. Despite the seeming simplicity of choosing the type of milk, good tolerance is the most critical point. This means clean skin without rashes or redness, no colic, abundant regurgitation and mucus in the stool, and excellent appetite and weight gain in the child.
Some babies` digestive systems do not adapt well to the protein of milk, but they do well with goat’s milk. A goat milk-based formula may be recommended for the baby if there is a family history of individual intolerance to cow’s milk proteins. However, a child identified as being allergic to cow’s milk proteins requires diet therapy using a specialized formula based on hydrolyzed proteins or amino acids.
Fat components also facilitate digestion due to their size: in goat milk, they are 0.1-2 microns, while in cow’s milk, they are 2-4 microns. The carbohydrate composition in animal milk is similar and includes lactose and oligosaccharides. But the latter is ten times more abundant in goat milk, which contributes to the active supporting of the gut microbiome.
Nutritional Value of Infant Formula
In fact, animal milk has higher levels of minerals and vitamins than breast milk. The infant body cannot absorb them, so its composition is artificially approximated to the composition of breast milk.
Thus, the original whole milk content of vitamins, minerals, valuable amino acids does not matter much. When it comes to baby formulas, organicbestshop.com takes care of your little one getting the right balance of necessary nutrients with formula milk.
In addition to essential nutrients, some formulas are enriched with functional ingredients that enhance their quality and benefits, including improving digestion and immunity, cognitive development, and vision formation in newborns and infants.
Lactose Intolerance
Once again, we would like to remind you that baby food based on goat’s milk is not therapeutic and does not belong to the category of hypoallergenic. Such a formula can be used as a common substitute to regular milk formula.
Many parents prefer goat’s milk formulas when a baby has frequent regurgitation or constipation (because the digestive system of babies in their first year of life does not produce enough enzymes to assimilate some substances).
Still, usually, pediatricians prefer to choose an antireflux formula from the range of the brand that was already introduced to the baby rather than switch to a completely different type of milk formula.
If your baby is allergic to cow’s milk, goat’s milk can also cause allergies. Although the proteins in goat’s milk differ significantly in structure and properties from those in cow’s milk, due to the risk of allergy, we do not recommend goat’s milk formulas as an alternative product if your baby has a confirmed diagnosis of cow’s milk allergy.
The composition of the milk formula is maximally adapted to children’s needs. However, it is still not saturated with absolutely all the components and biologically active substances available in breast milk. Technology does not yet allow for this. Accordingly, breastfeeding is preferable for babies, but infant formulas come to the rescue when it is not possible.
Most importantly in formula feeding is the quality of baby foods that helps to ensure healthy growth and development through organic baby formulas that meet your child’s nutritional needs.
