Everything you should know about organic baby formula

All parents with babies want them to be well-fed, healthy, and happy. While many mothers wish to exclusively breastfeed their little ones, this isn’t sometimes possible because you may have work, health, and family issues. 

No doubt, breast milk is the best thing for your baby, but combining breast milk with organic formula feeding or simply switching to organic formula can usually be beneficial for you and your baby. If you’re considering using organic formula stage 2, this post will explain everything you need to know when it comes to choosing the right organic formula for your baby.

Benefits of organic baby formula

As the name suggests, organic baby formula refers to the formula that is produced from high-quality organic ingredients. This means that there are no artificial colors, no growth hormones, no preservatives or synthetic chemicals, no pesticide residue, no genetically modified organisms, and many more. Remember that for an organic formula to be considered organic, it means all processing aids and ingredients must be organic. 

The best thing you can ever do for your little one is to provide a nutritious and healthy diet, meaning it can come from an organic formula, breastfeeding, or even combination feeding. The good thing about organic formula is that they can mimic the nutritional profile of breast milk. The formula has organic lactose which is the main source of carbohydrates as well as an organic vegetable oil blend that has key fatty acids you can find in breast milk. 

You can find various organic formulas that have extra whey. This ensures that the protein ratio is closely similar to the proportions of casein and whey found in breast milk. Even better, many manufacturers add probiotics and prebiotics to replicate the immunity-boosting attributes of breast milk. 

Prebiotics like galacto-oligosaccharides resemble human milk oligosaccharides, and probiotics such as Lactobacillus can be found in breast milk together with other forms of lactic acid bacteria.

Organic formulas offer important nutrients while also making sure that there are no traces of harmful substances. As mentioned before, organic formulas don’t have toxic processing agents, pesticide residue, GMO ingredients, or chemicals. 

You can have peace of mind knowing that organic formulas avoid potentially harmful ingredients like hexane-extracted synthetic DHA and carrageenan or high processed sweeteners such as glucose syrup, corn syrup, and synthetic nutrients and preservatives.  

Turns out that not all organic formulas are manufactured equally. European organic formulas have standards that don’t allow the inclusion of sucrose, except when used in small quantities in specialty formulas designed for babies with allergies or premature infants. For example, specialty formulas, such as HiPP HA as well as HiPP Comfort have processed whey protein to make it easy for digestion.  

Also, all European formulas require about 30% of calories from lactose. Regardless of whether baby formulas are organic or not, all European baby formulas must not have detectable amounts of pesticide residue. 

Types of organic formulas

Cow’s milk formula

The most common base you can find in most organic formulas is perhaps cow’s milk. Skimmed milk is usually used to make most of the organic cow’s milk formulas. This is supplemented with a mix of organic vegetable oils to have a fatty acid profile that resembles breast milk. Minerals and vitamins are also added in amounts that correspond to the right stage of infant development. 

There is a major difference between breast milk and cow’s milk is in the amount of casein and whey proteins. While mature breast milk has almost 60% whey proteins and about 40% casein proteins, the cow’s milk usually has 20% whey and 80% casein. 

Because casein proteins are harder and larger for the little ones to break down, this can cause digestive issues like gas and bloat, especially for small babies. This is the reason why many organic manufacturers may add extra whey to the cow’s milk formulas to compensate for this. 

Goat’s milk formula

Many of the well-known formulas are usually produced with organic goat’s milk. This formula has the same nutrients found in cow’s milk formulas, though they may be more ideal for babies who show symptoms of intolerance to milk protein like skin rashes or eczema or have problems digesting cow’s milk formula. There is a good reason why goat’s milk formulas are becoming quite popular as an alternative option for your baby and not only for those with cow’s milk sensitivity. 

You see, many babies who have cow’s milk protein sensitivity usually do well with organic goat’s milk formula. After all, goat’s milk is homogenized naturally, has a small and light curd, and small fat globules, and can be easier to digest compared to cow’s milk. If you want to buy goat’s milk formula, then you should check at https://myorganiccompany.store/

But it’s crucial to remember that goat’s milk and cow’s milk are pretty similar in various ways. Babies who have milk protein allergy can have symptoms when you feed them goat’s milk formula, and can likely need amino acid-based formula so that there is no potential response to their allergy problems.

Soy-based formula

If your baby is lactose intolerant, needs to be fed a specialty diet because of other health issues, or has severe dairy allergies, then you need to feed them soy-based formula. 

While the soy-based formula has adequate nutrition for your baby and is more appealing for those who desire to have a vegan option, they may not be the best choice. This is because many of the corn and soy produced nowadays are genetically modified, so it can be hard to find a GMO-free soy-based formula on the market. 

Soy-based formulas are entirely plant-based and are highly processed. Unfortunately, they are also far much less similar to the profile of breast milk compared to goat’s and cow’s milk. 

Ingredients like synthetic I-methionine are usually found in most soy-based formulas, so you can’t find these formulas that are certified organic. Soy-based formulas don’t use lactose, so they utilize other carbohydrate sources like glucose syrup or corn syrup.