Question about baby formula (pregnancy, health, mom, problem)

[queensgrl]

Originally Posted by Katiana

This is a great discussion. I'd like to go back to the OP, and talk about making formula "from scratch". "Scratch" cooking is generally considered preferable to processed foods, and for most everything else, I would agree. However, the purpose of formula is to duplicate, to the extent possible, breast milk, and that just cannont be done in a home kitchen. The issue of keeping the formula sterile is also hard to achieve in the home kitchen, particularly if the kitchen isn't well equipped and at higher altitudes (though the latest Similac recall does give one pause).

When I was a public health nurse back in 1970, a few people were still making formula with evaporated milk, water and some sort of sugar, be it cane sugar, corn syrup, molasses or whatever. That practice was rapidly falling out of favor to commercial formulas. By the mid-70s, I did not know of anyone using home-made formula.

There are also some babies who need special formulas of pre-digested proteins, etc, and those can only be obtained commercially.

Hi, I am the OP.

My brother was born in 1961 and I was born in 1963. My mom was an elementary school teacher and very concerned about doing what was considered "best." She attended classes to learn how to care for an infant, which included the preparation of formula. There was special attention given to sterilizing equipment down to the can opener and measuring spoons! I was born anemic so my formula was enhanced with liquid iron and I'm sure she would have been diligent to add anything else that the doctor thought was necessary. So, no, the homemade formula wasn't a family tradition -- it's what she was taught at the time in NYC.

She also doesn't remember any commercial formula on the market. Again, we're talking about 1961 - 1963.

I'd love to hear from some other people my age and their moms to get a better perspective on their experiences.

[Dorthy]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I personally think that breastfeeding and supplimenting with formula would be ideal. Babies would certainly get the best health benefits if they received both at the same time.

Supplementing with formula can interfere with supply and there are no health related reasons why a woman who is breastfeeding would need to supplement with formula. Exclusive breastfeeding is ideal for optimal nutrition.

[queensgrl]

Here's an interesting site with historical information. Interesting that in 1960, 80% of babies of non-breastfeeding mothers were fed the same formula that I had. History of Infant Formula. (http://www.kristaclark.com/subpage.html - broken link)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by queensgrl

Hi, I am the OP.

My brother was born in 1961 and I was born in 1963. My mom was an elementary school teacher and very concerned about doing what was considered "best." She attended classes to learn how to care for an infant, which included the preparation of formula. There was special attention given to sterilizing equipment down to the can opener and measuring spoons! I was born anemic so my formula was enhanced with liquid iron and I'm sure she would have been diligent to add anything else that the doctor thought was necessary. So, no, the homemade formula wasn't a family tradition -- it's what she was taught at the time in NYC.

She also doesn't remember any commercial formula on the market. Again, we're talking about 1961 - 1963.

I'd love to hear from some other people my age and their moms to get a better perspective on their experiences.

You are! I'm YOUR age! I have quite a few older siblings who were born in the 1950s. My mother was a nurse.

My mother fed us all commercial formula in the 1950s and the early 1960s.

My husband and his siblings are older than my siblings, and their mother, who was also a nurse, fed them commercial formula.

Similac was available in 1951. It was readily available during the 1950s and got competion in the late 1950s with Enfamil.

There was even a formula available before the 1950s----Nutramigen was the commercial formula in the 1940s.

Maybe my mother and my husband's mother were more aware because they were both nurses.

[lisdol]

^^my MIL was born in the early 50s and is about 9-10 yrs older than her youngest sibling and tells me she remembers mixing up pitchers of Similac for her youngest sibling as one of her chores.

I was born in 1970 (and I know this is later than asked) and I was an Enfamil baby according to family lore, that is until 6 mos, when I was switched over to cows milk in a cup.

My grandmother fed my mom (1948) on some sort of homemade formula, but she was one of the biggest proponents of me breasfeeding when I had my first. She said "they did not know how much better it was back then" not "It was good enough for your mom, good enough for you, blah blah blah" She was not all militant about it but she certainly was supportive even though it was not what she did.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by queensgrl

Here's an interesting site with historical information. Interesting that in 1960, 80% of babies of non-breastfeeding mothers were fed the same formula that I had. History of Infant Formula (http://www.kristaclark.com/subpage.html - broken link)

It's a shame they continued to use the old fashioned formula after commercial formula was available.

But I read that commercial formula was expensive at first and, people continued to use the homemade formula until commercial formula became more affordable.

I'm sure some people held onto the belief that homemade was healthier too.

[queensgrl]

Originally Posted by Hopes

You are! I'm YOUR age! I have quite a few older siblings who were born in the 1950s. My mother was a nurse.

My mother fed us all commercial formula in the 1950s and the early 1960s.

My husband and his siblings are older than my siblings, and their mother, who was also a nurse, fed them commercial formula.

Similac was available in 1951. It was readily available during the 1950s and got competion in the late 1950s with Enfamil.

There was even a formula available before the 1950s----Nutramigen was the commercial formula in the 1940s.

Maybe my mother and my husband's mother were more aware because they were both nurses.

Any ideas as to why breastfeeding was not heavily promoted back then?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Dorthy

Supplementing with formula can interfere with supply and there are no health related reasons why a woman who is breastfeeding would need to supplement with formula. Exclusive breastfeeding is ideal for optimal nutrition.

My babies would have been severely ill if they had been fed only breastmilk. So would another member whose wife also has a B12 anemia. There's definitely benefits to supplimenting if a mother isn't healthy or has a deficiency. Sadly, doctors dont' test breastfeeding mothers for deficiencies. I wouldn't take the chance. I'd either insist the doctor tested for deficiencies or I would suppliment to make sure a baby received all nutrients.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by queensgrl

Any ideas as to why breastfeeding was not heavily promoted back then?

That's a really good question. Let's research that.

I know my mother couldn't breastfeed. She tried with my oldest sister, but my sister got very sick and almost died. My mother had to stop breastfeeding and put her on commercial formula. After that, my mother just used commercial formula for all of us. My mother probably had the same vitamin deficiency I have. It can be hereditary. I never realized what side of the family I inherited my B-12 anemia from until this thread right now.

My sister My husband's mother breastfed, but only for a couple of months, and then she switched to formula with each of them. She had 10 children---all VERY close in age---so she probably had to stop breastfeeding because she was pregnant again.

[lisdol]

Late 40s and 50s, wasn't science going to save us all from ourselves back then? I think that might have been part of it. Taking nature and making it better through chemistry etc.... Plastics, DDT, and so on... correct me if I am wrong about the timing of that.