Update 9/19/21: Our son is over 3 years old now and still thriving! Everyone comments on how intelligent he is! We know the truth, it’s good nutrition! Grateful I didn’t have to resort to giving him anything with “corn syrup solids” in it.
Homemade baby formula. It’s the next best thing to breastmilk and here’s why:
Have you ever had a McDonalds meal that was better than a home cooked meal?
Same with formula.
Imagine this: Anyone can market formula before it’s approved by the FDA! They just have to ‘notify’ the FDA.
“No, FDA does not approve infant formulas before they can be marketed. However, all formulas marketed in the United States must meet federal nutrient requirements and infant formula manufacturers must notify the FDA prior to marketing a new formula. Nov 8, 2017 “
Infant Formula > Guidance for Industry: Frequently Asked … – FDA
Seriously, I’m the weirdo standing in the grocery store staring at labels I don’t recognize and jotting stuff down to look up later.
I had discovered a gluten intolerance (and “magically” all my years of migraines, poof! gone!). Now I always check food labels.
Can you believe just how much processed sugar, oil…and corn syrup solids and the same ingredients included in rocket fuel are in commercial formulas ?! yummy..(yes, mother’s milk has lots of natural sugars in it, but natural!)
Also check out the references, when ya know, you’re less sleep deprived!
Wanna use Soy instead? Please DON’T. Soy is really bad and here’s why.
My personal reasons:
1. My first child had colic and the commercial formulas I used probably made it worse.
2. No company that prioritizes making a profit will *ever* care as much you do about your children’s nutrition levels. Nor will they source the best possible ingredients (or even attempt to).
3. Every company I’ve ever worked for is about maximizing profit while reducing costs. That’s business.
4. I can do a far better job with better nutrition and save money doing it.
5. He was immediately spitting up and crying with gas from the store bought (Happy Baby Organic) formula from the beginning.
First, I checked out the Weston Price formula and bought all the ingredients but our son was immediately spitting up. It’s a great formula version for most people and I encourage anyone to check out if it can work for you.
We took out the nutritional yeast and no luck. We tried again and removed the cod liver oil as recommended. He still kept spitting it up.
We looked for alternatives but didn’t feel comfortable with the meat based one Weston Price has.
I kept seeing links to goat milk formula and how it’s very similar in profile to breast milk:
Goat milk formula isn’t sufficient purely by itself. Neither is cow’s milk that’s used for every baby formula on the market. Vitamins are always added. The recipe below adds them.
One commercial formula that’s goat milk based is Kabrita, he spit up some on that too. If mixing your own seems scary I recommend trying this one as it may work for your baby. We have some of it left for emergencies (Hurricane, etc)
In many formulas folic acid is added.
Folic acid is a synthetic form of Folate (which is natural). You can get folate from foods like spinach and black eyed peas..
Especially important if your baby could have the mutated MTHFR gene. 50% of the population does. It means you can’t process synthetic folate (which is actually a good thing, really). It could cause issues autoimmune issues in the future.
Lots of our food is fortified (adults too) with folic acid. Everyone should avoid foods with it.
This formula seems to be a variation on Weston Price and this one (we haven’t tried the second one, but looks good also) We use Mt Capra Goat Milk, which has no folic acid added. We also did the substitution she lists in the first one for sugar (for carbs) and changed it to goat milk lactose (her substitution recommendation) and also use Mt Capra for Goat Milk Lactose.
Before you look below, just breathe. They looked scary at first to me too. I promise it’s super easy once you get the hang of it. Way easier than the other alternatives I’ve tried.
The recipe we used from the Freshly Grown blog
(In red is our modifications and extra instructions we found helpful.)
(I didn’t link Amazon because I don’t shop there. Not a fan. Of course do whatever works for you.)
- 32 oz. filtered water total
- 4 level scoops full fat Meyenberg Goat Milk Powder (base for protein, fats, carbs, vitamins and minerals) We use Mt. Capra Goat Milk Powder as it does not have folic acid added (see above). Same dose – 4 level scoops
- 1 tsp. Great Lakes Gelatin Powder (helps digestion, builds/seals gut) – We already had this and it lasts awhile
- 4 Tbs. raw, organic turbinado sugar or real maple syrup (carbohydrate) – We use 3 tablespoons of Mt. Capra Goat Milk Lactose for less sugar content and 1 tbsp of organic maple syrup.
- 1 tsp. unsulphured organic blackstrap molasses (B vits, iron, helps move bowels) – I add a drop or two more than this as it seems to help him go potty
- 2 tsp. olive or avocado oil (healthy monounsaturated fat) – We use Olive Oil, you can get Organic at any supermarket
- 2 tsp. coconut oil (healthy saturated fat, any organic cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil will do)
- 2 tsp. nutritional yeast -Optional, imo (B12 – This is the only we found without folic acid added to it (We’ve left it out since it made our son spit up more. 3+ months in we gave him soft boiled egg yolk, just the egg yolk is all they can process. Check out Weston Price blogs about it! There are a ridiculous amount of vitamins in it!).
- 1/4th tsp. powdered probiotics (healthy gut flora, immunity) – We already had this from trying Weston Price formula
- Vit. D drops (400 IU/dy.) or 1/4th tsp. fermented cod liver oil (Vitamin D) – We don’t add this as we live in Florida and take him outside for at least 10 minutes per day.
- 1/4th tsp. baby vitamin drops if not nursing – We don’t add this as he’s getting some of my milk each day
- Update: You can also add 1/4th tsp. acerola cherry powder (Vitamin C) and/or DHA drops if you want. We have done this each batch. – We use this one.
- In a blender (We just mix it all up and then stick hand blender into the bowl/container at the end), add 3 cups of filtered water and 1 cup hot or boiling filtered water. Add all ingredients except the probiotics, Vit D and baby vits. Blend. Store in a glass mason jar with a BPA-free lid.
- Add the probiotics, Vit D and baby vits to 1 bottle per day.
- Storage is the same as breast milk: Store in the refrigerator and when pouring a bottle only leave the bottle out at room temperature for a few hours. It should keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator and some people have had success in freezing it. When taking a large amount with you for the day, bring a mini cooler to keep it from spoiling. Some people like to take the dry ingredients, oils and water separately with them and mix as they go. You will find your groove and what works for you!
Notes
- “*Once my daughter was drinking 32 oz. in one day, I would add the Vit D and baby vits to the blender and stir in the probiotics and store it all in a 32 oz. mason jar bc I knew she would get those within 1 day. Also, if your blender mix happens to be too hot, wait until it cools to add the probiotics, they are live bacteria that are temperature sensitive and are destroyed by heat.’
**When baby is 4 months old feed them once a day a soft boiled/cooked egg yolk per Weston Price (check out here how many vitamins it has)
We also found these glass bottles which are $11 for 6!
You can buy two packs of glass bottles and pour and store in fridge. I didn’t get 8oz bottles because they seemed too (physically) heavy to me.
We make a batch about once a day or every other day and do 32 oz at a time (her site has one bottle here). If you are tired and don’t bottle it immediately, you can put it in a big glass jug and pour some bottles for now and some later.) . We’ve even done double 32 oz batches since he’s bigger now.
Each bottle we just heat up in our kiinde bottle warmer (It’s a really great one, along with the kiinde system, which you get a bunch of stuff for just a bit more $$. I’ve been pretty impressed with it!)
Whew, so there it is, our baby is smiling and happy and already 10 lbs and 10 oz at 7 weeks old and a nice bonus is it’s actually also cheaper than store bought!
Disclaimer: Medical Disclaimer. The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this web site is for general information purposes only.