Now I want to talk about what we are feeding her...and that is Homemade Formula.
It is a very precise recipe developed by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation - consisting of 14 ingredients - that is calculated to mimic breastmilk as closely as possible.
Here is what Sally Fallon says about the homemade cow's milk formula:
Our milk-based formula takes account of the fact that human milk is richer in whey, lactose, vitamin C, niacin, and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to cow’s milk but leaner in casein (milk protein). The addition of gelatin to cow’s milk formula will make it more digestible for the infant. Use only truly expeller-expressed oils in the formula recipes, otherwise they may lack vitamin E.
The ideal milk for baby, if he cannot be breastfed, is clean, whole raw milk from old-fashioned cows, certified free of disease, that feed on green pasture. For sources of good quality milk, see www.realmilk.com or contact a local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Using our beloved raw milk as its base, the formula also contains probiotics, gelatin from grassfed cows, and a combination of five different healthy oils and fats...among a few other things.
Why don't we just give Abigail regular over-the-counter formula? Have you ever read the ingredients on a container of store-bought formula? Simply put: It contains many non-real food items that we don't serve our family...and wouldn't want to feed our baby. Just one example: the formula they had begun feeding A at the hospital (and that she received until we switched her to homemade formula at 4 days old) contains 2 different types of soy. (Soy is not a health food and we avoid it.)
This formula recipe calls for 14 ingredients. Yikes! I don't normally make anything that calls for 14 ingredients. If I see a recipe that gets above, say...6 or 7 ingredients, I'm hard-pressed to ever want to give that recipe a try. But something like this, for our baby girl...that is different...
I was intimidated - and scared, frankly - the first time I mixed up a batch of this formula. In the kitchen, all by myself after the children's bedtime one night...I may have done some praying as I worked (I certainly did!). I know this is a big deal, this baby is counting on us for...well, everything - including nourishing her! I prayed as I mixed a 1/2 tsp of this oil, and a 1/4 tsp of this powder....and...
It wasn't bad at all. I'd been researching and reading about this formula for months...and I'd read it wasn't hard, but I had to do it myself in order to believe it.
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| We bought our glass Evenflo bottles on Amazon. BPA was finally banned in plastic baby bottles a couple years ago...is there anything else in plastics that we just haven't yet figured out is harmful? |
If I was now alone in a quiet kitchen by myself, it would probably take me about 15 minutes to whip up a batch (or double batch), from clean kitchen to clean kitchen. But the kitchen (and house) is never quiet, and I always have helpers...and it still only takes about 20 or so minutes to get done. And it only needs to be made about every 2-3 days.
The kiddos help me by setting up empty bottles on the counter. And the nipples and rings. Retrieving ingredients. Then putting ingredients away.
I set all the 14 ingredients out on the counter, and each gets put away as it is used, so I always know exactly where I am in the recipe.
And I always have my copy of Super Nutrition for Babies (Erlich and Genzlinger) on the counter to refer to for exact measurements. In fact, I already had on my bookshelf three different books that all refer to this exact recipe. (I cannot recommend highly enough this book Super Nutrition for Babies, wish it had been published when G was born!)
When I talked with our pediatrician about the formula, she was impressed. She nodded as she looked over the recipe and said something along the lines of, "Yes, this will be good for her. What keeps me awake at night is thinking about what is in the store-bought formula!"
We switched Abigail to our homemade formula as soon as our supplies arrived (thankfully I'd already ordered them before she was born, not knowing when she/he would arrive). At her two-week well-child appointment, she was up past her birth weight and Dr. D was pleased with how she is thriving!
So thankful we can provide this nourishing, nutrient-dense real food formula for our precious girl!
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| Abigail helping me whip up a batch of formula |
You're so fortunate to have such a supportive pediatrician. Awesome! What a blessing. Way to nourish, mama. It is more work than nursing, but what a GIFT (both your sweet lil' one and the work you're putting into feeding her :). Keep keepin' on.
ReplyDeleteSeeing pictures of your sweet lil' babe . . . awwww . . . it makes my heart get all woozy. These first few weeks and months are such a sweet time. I love seeing those sweet little curved legs and the arms that don't have any purpose yet and how she's holding them up by her face in that first picture. Ahhhhhh . . . newborns are so PRECIOUS. Enjoy! And I know you all are. :)