Where did formula come from? What's really inside...

So I said I'm not anti-formula, and I'm not. I understand that in some cases mothers have no other choice. I have two friends that suffer from asthma and sinus infections. One nursed her baby for a couple weeks the other had to stop at 6 or 9 months (I can't remember the exact time) but they needed to take certain medications that are not considered safe to consume while nursing. I think of myself as very Pro Breastfeeding though, and it upsets me that so many new moms who initially wanted to nurse were forced into feeding their babies formula because they didn't have the knowledge and support needed to continue breastfeeding.

So for those who are interested in breastfeeding, and want to learn a little bit about the alternative that seems just as good, read on.

Homemade formulas were the first substitute to breastmilk. "Women in the 1930s and '40s used a mixture of Pet evaporated milk and Karo corn syrup (there was even a recipe for baby formula on the back of the milk can)."(page 21 of STWTF!).  As a matter of fact, when one of my relatives came to visit me, I asked her if she breastfed her children and she explained that she was unconscious during her Cesarean deliveries and didn't have the choice. Her mother taught her how to make a homemade formula out of evaporated milk and corn syrup. This was what doctors told new parents was the "very best thing" you could give your baby.

But formula companies didn't create the recipe for formula based on years of research or scientific grants and a team of Nobel Prize winners. "Dairy farmers were trying to figure out what to do with a by-product of milk, butter, and cheese production, the thing that was left over after everything else was processed and sold. That by-product is called whey. At the same time, to maximize profit, industrious men were trying to figure out how to market a food for babies to compete with homemade formula and breastmilk. These businessmen figured out that if they mixed whey with oil and water, they could feed it to babies without killing them...So the very first ingredient after water in most formula is essentially a waste product of dairy production. Then the manufacturers added vitamins and either palm, soy, or coconut oil - which are among the cheapest oils available - and voila, they created formula"(STWTF! p 22)

Think this is outdated info? An exaggeration? I was shocked to read this and even more when I picked up a jug of liquid formula and saw for myself that the first ingredient was water, next was whey, then high fructose corn syrup - the very thing we try to eliminate from our diets, as well as all these oils...oils from foods that you aren't suppose to give your baby till their over 6 months old, because they could have allergies to coconut, soy, sunflower nuts and seeds, and some of the other oils I couldn't even pronounce, had never even heard of.

Here's two popular brands that I tried with my first son (the ones he gagged and vomited back up after being pressured to give it to him):

Enfamil lipil w Iron

Ingredients
Reduced minerals whey, nonfat milk, vegetable oil (palm olein, soy, coconut, and high oleic sunflower oils), lactose, and less than 1%: mortierella alpina oil*, crypthecodinium cohnii oil**, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3, vitamin E acetate, vitamin K1, thiamin hydrochloride, vitamin B6 hydrochloride, vitamin B12, niacinamide, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, biotin, sodium ascorbate, inositol, calcium chloride, calcium phosphate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, cupric sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium citrate, potassium hydroxide, sodium selenite, taurine, nucleotides (adenosine 5’-monophosphate, cytidine 5’-monophosphate, disodium guanosine 5’-monophosphate, disodium uridine 5’-monophosphate).

Wikipedia's warning on Enfamil:

"While many of the ingredients in Enfamil meet with considerable approval, a growing number of watch groups point to ingredients that might not be safe. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, test results have shown that traces of cyanuric acid have been found in Enfamil Lipil With Iron, and traces of melamine have been found in Enfamil products as well, however, the products still are approved by the FDA due to small consumption levels, being considered tolerable.^[3]"

I don't even know what those two traces are or how to pronounce them but it's nice to know that even though these ingredients might not be safe, they are still approved by the FDA because the small consumption levels are considered tolerable! Really!?!?

Here's Enfamil's own link on breastfeeding:

Similiac Isomil Advance:

Ingredients: contains 43.2 percent of corn syrup solids, 4.6 percent soy protein isolate, 11.5 percent high oleic safflower oil, 10.3 percent sugar (sucrose), 8.4 percent soy oil and 7.8 percent coconut oil.

It contains less than 2 percent of C. cohnii oil, M. alpina oil, calcium phosphate, potassium citrate, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, sodium chloride, ascorbic acid, choline chloride, L-methionine, taurine, ascorbyl palmitate, ferrous sulfate, m-inositol, mixed tocopherols, zinc sulfate, d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate, L-carnitine, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, cupric sulfate, thiamine, chloride hydrochloride, vitamin A palmitate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, potassium iodide, phylloquinone, biotin, sodium selenate, beta-carotene, vitamin D3 and cyanocobalamin.

Look on the back of a can or jug next time you're at the store or go ahead and try and find a list of ingredients on any formula's website...I found it difficult to find them listed anywhere...

So now that you know what some of the most common ingredients in formula are check out what's in breastmilk (although scientists estimate over 500 other agents that have yet to be studied and discovered):

"Babies will still grow, prosper, and maybe even go to an Ivy League college if they're fed formula. But there's a reason why researchers call breastmilk "white blood." Breastmilk isn't just food. It's actually closer to unstructured living tissue (like blood) than it is to food. Because breastmilk is full of white blood cells, antibodies, vitamins, water, protein, hormones, growth factors, and even ingredients that kill bacteria and viruses, breastmilk is capable of doing for babies on the outside what nutrients found through the placenta do on the inside. It offers the prefect balance of everything a baby needs to develop physically and neurologically."(18 STWTF!).

I will continue to create numerous blogs dedicated entirely to the benefits of breastfeeding for both mom and baby and what else is found in breastmilk (and unfortunately what is also found in formula) - prepare to be amazed!