i knew from the first moment i found out that i was pregnant i was going to breastfeed. i didn’t just think that i was going to, it wasn’t even an option for me. i was in the middle of nursing school when i got pregnant with my first and i was learning first hand all of the amazing health benefits that breast milk has to offer and i knew that for most infants, breast milk is the best option.
i put so much pressure on myself and had all of these unrealistic expectations of how blissful breastfeeding would be. i imagined how amazing l it would be to be my little one’s only source of nourishment. when i saw other mama’s who breastfed their babies until they were a year, i honestly thought it would be easy.
i honestly thought it would be easy.
in my case, breastfeeding was never easy. it was really hard. it was like having another full time job. i struggled with latching issues, cracked nipples, nipple confusion and last but certainly not least low milk supply. you name it and i struggled with it. i tried everything. i tried seeing lactation consultants. i tried every supplement out there to produce more milk. i tried power pumping. i tried pumping after each and every feed. nothing that i tried worked. eventually there came a point in each of my babies first year that i had to supplement with formula. my body could just not produce enough milk for them.
i was devastated each time that i had to finally break down and supplement. i felt like i had failed as a mama + in turn i had failed them because they would not get the full benefits that breast milk had to offer. i just knew that any future health issues that they may have would be because my body couldn’t do what it was supposed to do and provide enough milk for them to grow and thrive.
on top of already feeling defeated with having to supplement, choosing a quality formula was even harder. with our first we bounced from formula to formula and each one upset her little tummy more than the last. we couldn’t figure out why these formulas were so irritating to her. weren’t all of these formulas supposed to be as close to breast milk as humanely possible to help our babies thrive? the answer that i ended up finding broke my heart into a thousand pieces and that answer is no. all formulas are not created equal.
my hope in creating this blog post, is to guide other families that have to supplement or solely formula feed to the best formula option in terms of ingredients. i don’t want other families to have to struggle like we did with formulas that include ingredients that our little ones should not be ingesting + that should not in my opinion even be on the market at all.
what ingredients should you avoid in formula?
corn syrup
lutein
palm oil
carrageenan
lycopene
i-carnitine
l-methionine
nucleotides
after hours of research and countless tears, i finally found a formula that worked for our family. i found an USDA organic formula that does not include any of the above ingredients and that i wouldn’t have to stay up late at night worrying about. the formula that we ended up choosing was baby's only formula. they have three different kinds: baby’s only dairy, baby’s only lactose relief + baby’s only soy. it is far from the “perfect” formula and includes taurine in it’s ingredients which is a naturally occurring vitamin in breast milk, but it is synthetically produced in formula. i do not believe that taurine should be an ingredient in any formula but this is the best option in my opinion that the US has to offer.
even though baby’s only products are promoted as “toddler formula” their products meet the same standards for infant formula that are set by the FDA. they only promote their products as “toddler formulas” because they want to encourage breastfeeding until age one.
if you are reading this post and are feeling the crippling guilt about having to give your baby formula for one reason or another, you are an amazing mama. you did not fail your baby for giving them formula and giving your baby formula does not make you any less of a mother, i promise you that.
fed is and always will be best.
xoxo,
*affiliate links are used in this post , which means that at no additional cost to you purchases made from the links above will provide a small commission to help support this blog. all opinions are always my own.
