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Monday, February 19, 2007

Loyalty to Formula Brands

I just heard yet another story from a friend whose baby struggled while going through every type of formula manufactured under one brand but then began doing fabulously once she switched to another brand's regular formula. I thought I would post about loyalty to formula brands. My older son (OS) drank Similac Advanced. The pediatrician thought it was a good choice. We picked it over Enfamil simply because we had more samples of Similac since that was what was given to us at the hospital. When my younger son (YS) was born, he was given Enfamil at the hospital. Since he did so well on it, we just kept him on it. It did feel strange to walk past the bear on the Similac can in favor of Peter Rabbit on the Enfamil can. It was almost like I was cheating on Similac.

After some reflection, I believe the reason it felt weird to me was routed in my desire to give my baby the very best formula out there. For OS, Similac was the best fit, which caused me to feel as though Similac was far superior to any other formula out there. During my pregnancy with YS, I had assumed that he would use Similac also. Why not? I gave OS only the best, and if Similac was the best, then why wouldn't YS have it? In all fairness, the boys' pediatrician did tell me that both Similac and Enfamil are equivalent. Furthermore, all formula has to meet FDA standards. Nowadays they all have DHA and ARA in them (when OS was born none of the generics did) so as far as she was concerned, I could switch YS over to a generic version. While I did not go that far, knowing that formulas are more equal made me more comfortable with my switch.

Oddly enough, I have met a few moms who also have/had this loyalty to formula. If one particular brand works for all your kids, that's great. If however, it seems like things could be going better, I recommend asking your child's pediatrician about simply switching brands. If she advises it, I would seriously consider it. I know several kids who were on soy formula with one brand and then successfully switched to the regular variety of formula with another brand.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: When buying formula, choose the brand that fits.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 10:58 PM   4 comments
4 Comments:

  • At 2/20/2007 11:21 AM, Blogger Kate said…

    Personally, after I quit nursing, our kids always digested Carnation Good Start the best.

     

  • At 2/20/2007 3:02 PM, Blogger Alex Elliot said…

    I should have mentioned that we switched OS to Carnation when he was about 10 or 11 months after he had the stomach flu. It worked out great.

     

  • At 2/20/2007 3:25 PM, Anonymous erinn said…

    My sister had to try 3 or 4 formyulas before she found the best one for her second son who had acid reflux.

     

  • At 2/20/2007 4:38 PM, Anonymous happy and blue 2 said…

    The hospital here gets it's baby formula for free from the supplier.
    I'm sure the suppliers idea is that if you start on one type of formula most mothers will stick with it..

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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