With our child we weren't able to breastfeed. We had to use formula. All the U.S. brands like Gerber, Enfamil, and others gave the baby terrible colic.
We did extensive research (my wife's waking hours were consumed with this). We found Hipp Combiotic milk, and it was wonderful. It was a German brand, and adhered to EU standards for child health. Colic: gone. Within a month or two our child hit the 98% percentile for size and weight and stayed there.
Shortly after the baby switched to solid food, the U.S. began to "crack down" on imported formula that "didn't meet FDA standards." The EU standards for food safety are generally higher than FDA standards. I'm so glad we were able to get that formula before the government interfered.
I went through a similar thing with my son. The best part was when an acquaintance recommended the “easier on the stomach” variant of one of the popular formula brands. I checked the box, first ingredient: corn syrup!
For what it’s worth, it’s very hard to be sure switching brands is the causation of a better outcome vs just a correlation. Babies change rapidly so it’s possible that unrelated development is there true source of recovery. But it was definitely a dramatic difference for us exactly when we switched formulas too.
For us it was night and day with the different formula. We even tried going back to old formulas see if it really was the new formula. Immediate problems.
Hipp didn't have corn syrup, and did have the right nutrients for each stage.
When we purchased it (it was still legal several years ago), the instructions were in English. We followed the mixing guide, we knew what the ingredients were (because we researched) including the milk proteins.
The formulas available on the American market were all loaded with sweetener and caused colic. This is an anecdote, but so is what's presented in that article.
Interesting. Sucrose, glucose, fructose have same amount of calories as lactose, just different sweetness (apparently evolutionary trait so that babies don’t get too addicted to milk).
Height and weight early in a child's life has more to do with nutrition than with genetics. Our child was physically healthy and strong. No obesity, just good growth and physical development. Crawling, walking, running all in line with normal ranges.
Kiddo is in first grade now, still the size of a child roughly two years older, no fat, just healthy.
My baby is similarly large for her age. Eventually she'll probably hit a growth plateau and approach the mean. But for now it means a lot less worrying about her nutrition than if she were bouncing around the fiftieth percentile.
My baby just started eating solid food. It's really easy to make that kind of baby food at home. Baby formula, on the other hand, is designed for younger babies and is much harder.
Baby had a tongue-tie and didn't properly develop the motion for nursing. The tongue-tie was corrected on day 2, but nursing never worked. Latching went OK, but drawing the milk out didn't and the baby would give up and wail. One or two missed pumpings and the milk dried up, because it never fully came in.
We tried for three months. My wife was reaching the end of her rope, emotionally (PPD is a horrifying thing). Formula that worked was a godsend.
This was our first child. We took the classes, even selected a hospital based on their success rate with natural childbirth. We had intended for no drugs, breastfeeding, all the ideals of caring for an infant...
The baby was a few days late. We went in for an ultrasound, as we had to do daily at that point. As the ultrasound completed, the nurse told us we'd have to stay. When the baby is getting ready to come out, it drinks the amniotic fluid, so there's much less of it. That should have coincided with the beginning of labor, but it didn't. We had to induce.
I went home to get our bags for the hospital stay. When I came back, they began to induce labor with pitosin. It was an agonizingly slow process, and it was failing. After 60+ hours of labor, with the back of the baby's head pushing against my wife's spine ("back labor") my wife chose an epidural for the pain.
It didn't work. At 72 hours of inducing, at maximum recommended doses of pitosin, the baby's heart rate was indicating distress, and dilation was still insufficient.
We had a C-section. Later, the baby couldn't nurse properly. We used formula.
We'd wanted to do what was natural, had planned to do it. If that had been all we had, we'd have lost both mother and child in childbirth. If, in another age, we'd not had the means to hire a wet nurse, we'd have lost the child even if it had been born properly.
I'm so glad that we were able to get all the care we needed.
Thanks for the explanation and I’m sorry about the issues you are facing. We are expecting a child soon so I’m trying to soak in as much information as possible.
Comments
With our child we weren't able to breastfeed. We had to use formula. All the U.S. brands like Gerber, Enfamil, and others gave the baby terrible colic.
We did extensive research (my wife's waking hours were consumed with this). We found Hipp Combiotic milk, and it was wonderful. It was a German brand, and adhered to EU standards for child health. Colic: gone. Within a month or two our child hit the 98% percentile for size and weight and stayed there.
Shortly after the baby switched to solid food, the U.S. began to "crack down" on imported formula that "didn't meet FDA standards." The EU standards for food safety are generally higher than FDA standards. I'm so glad we were able to get that formula before the government interfered.
I went through a similar thing with my son. The best part was when an acquaintance recommended the “easier on the stomach” variant of one of the popular formula brands. I checked the box, first ingredient: corn syrup!
For what it’s worth, it’s very hard to be sure switching brands is the causation of a better outcome vs just a correlation. Babies change rapidly so it’s possible that unrelated development is there true source of recovery. But it was definitely a dramatic difference for us exactly when we switched formulas too.
For us it was night and day with the different formula. We even tried going back to old formulas see if it really was the new formula. Immediate problems.
Hipp didn't have corn syrup, and did have the right nutrients for each stage.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/parenting/baby/european-f... (FDA claims about the dagers of not being able to read foreign language labels)
*dangers
so what standard did it not met?
Looks like labeling laws. Not written in English and also some reports of adverse events they are trying to figure out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/parenting/baby/european-f...
When we purchased it (it was still legal several years ago), the instructions were in English. We followed the mixing guide, we knew what the ingredients were (because we researched) including the milk proteins.
The formulas available on the American market were all loaded with sweetener and caused colic. This is an anecdote, but so is what's presented in that article.
Interesting. Sucrose, glucose, fructose have same amount of calories as lactose, just different sweetness (apparently evolutionary trait so that babies don’t get too addicted to milk).
That's the thing, they claimed it didn't meet the standard because it hadn't gone through the approval process.
Wouldn’t you want to be on 50th percentile?
Height and weight early in a child's life has more to do with nutrition than with genetics. Our child was physically healthy and strong. No obesity, just good growth and physical development. Crawling, walking, running all in line with normal ranges.
Kiddo is in first grade now, still the size of a child roughly two years older, no fat, just healthy.
Idk man your both posts sound like spam.
My baby is similarly large for her age. Eventually she'll probably hit a growth plateau and approach the mean. But for now it means a lot less worrying about her nutrition than if she were bouncing around the fiftieth percentile.
this sounds like the start of a dystopian book :(
Assuming a family member has time, why not make baby food at home?
It is not possible to make baby formula (the only thing besides breast milk that babies under 4 months can eat) at home.
My baby just started eating solid food. It's really easy to make that kind of baby food at home. Baby formula, on the other hand, is designed for younger babies and is much harder.
You’d have to freeze it loosing most of convenience it provides us - having couple pouches in car or bag to use once a month or so.
Can you elaborate on why you were not able to breast feed if you don’t mind?
Baby had a tongue-tie and didn't properly develop the motion for nursing. The tongue-tie was corrected on day 2, but nursing never worked. Latching went OK, but drawing the milk out didn't and the baby would give up and wail. One or two missed pumpings and the milk dried up, because it never fully came in.
We tried for three months. My wife was reaching the end of her rope, emotionally (PPD is a horrifying thing). Formula that worked was a godsend.
This was our first child. We took the classes, even selected a hospital based on their success rate with natural childbirth. We had intended for no drugs, breastfeeding, all the ideals of caring for an infant...
The baby was a few days late. We went in for an ultrasound, as we had to do daily at that point. As the ultrasound completed, the nurse told us we'd have to stay. When the baby is getting ready to come out, it drinks the amniotic fluid, so there's much less of it. That should have coincided with the beginning of labor, but it didn't. We had to induce.
I went home to get our bags for the hospital stay. When I came back, they began to induce labor with pitosin. It was an agonizingly slow process, and it was failing. After 60+ hours of labor, with the back of the baby's head pushing against my wife's spine ("back labor") my wife chose an epidural for the pain.
It didn't work. At 72 hours of inducing, at maximum recommended doses of pitosin, the baby's heart rate was indicating distress, and dilation was still insufficient.
We had a C-section. Later, the baby couldn't nurse properly. We used formula.
We'd wanted to do what was natural, had planned to do it. If that had been all we had, we'd have lost both mother and child in childbirth. If, in another age, we'd not had the means to hire a wet nurse, we'd have lost the child even if it had been born properly.
I'm so glad that we were able to get all the care we needed.
Thanks for the explanation and I’m sorry about the issues you are facing. We are expecting a child soon so I’m trying to soak in as much information as possible.
All of that is behind us now. Things are good. Hard stuff is schooling and discipline now. I hope things go well for you.