The birth of a baby is not only a long-awaited miracle, but also a great burden of responsibility for the new life. The most important thing at first is to give quality nutrition to your baby. It has long been known that breast milk is the most essential and correct food for a newborn baby. It fills all the needs of the baby with nutrients, contains trace elements that help the young body adapt to new conditions, and provides strength for the formation and growth of tissues.
But due to many circumstances, not all mothers can rely on breast milk. And some people deliberately refuse to breastfeed, because they want to keep their figure. Many mothers lose milk sometime after birth for various physiological reasons.
How to choose a baby formula?
Every mother naturally has a question: how to choose a formula for a newborn? At first, it is necessary to understand their differences. The main difference between all types of formulas is the age of the child. has a certain composition, for older children, it is already different. This is not surprising, because the body’s need for micronutrients and various vitamins changes with the growth of the baby. Blends vary in consistency. Liquid formulas are more convenient because they are ready to be eaten and only need to be heated. But the choice of liquid formula is still the privilege of large cities, as it has a short shelf life and requires certain conditions for transportation. Dry mixes are available in almost every supermarket and baby food store in great variety. They are easy to store and prepare. They differ in the composition of the powdered infant formula. Most baby formula is based on cow’s milk, but there are also ones made from goat’s milk (for example Jovie Goat Formula and Holle Goat) and soya and with the addition of bifidobacteria and probiotics. There is a wide variety of baby formula available. It is up to mothers to decide which one is suitable, based on their own experience and observation of the child’s behavior.
When switching to artificial feeding, it is necessary to consult the pediatrician about the baby’s diet and how to recognize that the baby is not suitable. If there are certain physical characteristics, the doctor may recommend a specialized milk formula containing a particular micronutrient.
What to look for when choosing the best baby formula?
Parents should primarily pay attention to the absence of palm oil in the composition of the milk formula – in large quantities, it increases the risk of constipation and interferes with the absorption of calcium – and also to mixes without sugar and artificial flavors: they should not be in baby food. In this case, each manufacturer enriches the milk base of the formula with different ingredients. These may include various pro- and prebiotics, vitamins and minerals, and IQ complex. That is why it is right together with the pediatrician to choose the right formula for a complete baby diet, depending on the age requirements and clinical picture.
In modern milk formulas, several additional micronutrients are introduced – iron, zinc, copper, manganese, iodine, selenium, etc. The negative unidirectional effect of deficiency of these micronutrients on the key processes of growth and differentiation cells and tissues, especially the brain, immune and endocrine systems, leads to significant impairments in the health of the child.
When using infant formula, it is important to consider the individual characteristics of your baby and be sure to listen to the recommendations of your pediatrician. The ideal food for an infant will still be the mother’s milk, and the WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until six months of age. But if parents have to introduce artificial nutrition, adapted milk formula is the ideal option. Their use is recommended from birth, during the transition to the common table, and until the child reaches three years of age.
