Homemade Baby Formula Mail Bag

Immune System Booster

Hi! My name is Erin and I am 22 years old. I recently had a son who has a medical condition called DiGeorge Syndrome. When he was born, he had massive open heart surgery and was in the hospital for four weeks.

When we took him home, we were told to expect to take him back in the next week, because they thought he had no immune system at all. Turns out, he does have some.

But anyway, I have been giving my son the same supplements (In regular formula, since I am eligible for WIC and we don't have a lot of money), but they have done wonders for him! My mom started to give him acidophilus shortly after he came home, and he hasn't been sick at all!

I think that is the most amazing stuff in the world for your health! I have been taking it myself for about four months now, and I have only had a short bout with a head cold, and that's it! Neither of us has caught anything worth noting, and we go on errands every day! I just wanted to let you know this because I think it's wonderful that someone is trying to get this information out as well. Thanks for the effort!

Sincerely,
Erin Gibbons

Dear Erin,

I hope you are keeping a journal for your son. Record what you've given him, his reactions, keep a record of the foods you introduce him to, as he grows. You may find the information gathered to be very helpful in the weeks and months to come.

I also suggest that you read everything you can on DiGeorge Syndrome, keep up on any developing research and learn as much as you can able nutritional healing. The one thing I learned right away, was that I had to be the expert on my son — no one else cared for him as much I do and no one else was going to take the job seriously. Doctors do what they can but they often don't have all the answers.

Thanks for sharing your story, I am so happy to hear you are doing everything you can to help your son lead a happy, healthy life.

Best Regards
~Annette

How Important is Vitamin C?

I've been giving your homemade infant formula to my son for about 2-weeks now and I've been doing so without the liquid Vitamin C. I couldn't find it anywhere. How important is it? All the other ingredients I got were of the highest quality.

Also, how did you come up with this. On a hunch or did you exhaustively research the nutritional makeup? Just wondering.

Thank you,
James H.

Dear James,

You can fnd liquid vitamin C at any health food store, or you can order it from my site, directly from Amazon. I link to it in the recipe. Vitamin C is important for a lot of reasons, see links below. I have not read them all but these should give you plenty of information with which to make a sound decision.

As for the recipe. It was a combination of things really. A friend had given me a book about the importance of nutrition for infants and how it helps the brain and neurological connections develop properly and that proper nutrition is vital for intelligence — and we all want smart babies.

I found a recipe in the book that I thought I might be able to duplicate but had to substitute a few ingredients. Yet, I wasn't convinced it was the best mix and I had grown up taking tons of vitamins and had studied them at length while I was in my teens. So, I compared infant formula's and other nutritional guides available at that time and hoped for the best.

You can read the rest of my story on my website. After two-weeks my doctor agreed that whatever I was doing was working and that I should continue, so I did.

Best wishes to you and your son!

Thanks for writing,
~Annette

No More Commercial Formula

Hello Annette,

I am using your formula recipe and my grandson is doing GREAT! He was miserable on commercial formula and would scream with gas pain.

Now he is having frequent BMs and his tummy seems much better. His stools are pretty loose and I re-read your article. Apparently, I need to adjust the flax seed oil a bit. I will try that. I am blessed to have found a local lady that sells goat's milk. This has all been a great blessing.

Thanks for sharing your recipe and changing our lives.

Blessings to you and yours,
Terry Moss

Loose Stools

Dear Annette,

Thank you so much for posting the Homemade Baby Formula recipe. My mom could not breast feed all four of her children, at the time we lived on a dairy and she made a recipe using a milk right out of the tank. However, both my boys have shown a cows milk sensitivity. Hence, why I love the goat milk recipe.

I know your not a doctor, but I was wondering if your grandson ever had loose bowels. My month old, who I have not been able to breast feed, has had pretty loose stools on the formula. Do you have any suggestions? My concern was that it was a reflection of a lack of iron? Is that what the black strap molasses is for?

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
~Nikki T.

Dear Nikki,

Try cutting back on the Flax Seed oil or eliminate it altogether for a few days. If the loose bowel movements continue, you might try adding some iron to his diet, it may help bind him up some.

Have you Tasted it?

Dear Annette,

I'm writing about the homemade formula. I was wondering if you have tasted it?

My youngest is 6 ½ months old and my husband and I are expecting our third. Due to this pregnancy my milk supply is really suffering. I expected this to happen because it happened to me before. However, when it happened to me before my little one was 11-months-old and we just went straight to cows milk.

I can't even bring myself to taste it (commercial formula). My 2-year-old did and she said, "Mommy, that's yucky milk!"

With Katherine only being 6 ½ months old she gets most of her nutrition from milk. I don't know if I'm just really biased or what but I have a really hard time with the thought that I will have to put her on formula. I have breastfed my other child and this one too and I really think that that's the only way to go.

I will have to figure out another alternative to the breast pretty quickly just due to the fact that my milk supply is really on its last days. I have been researching some alternatives to formula online and they are mostly the same. I think that I would rather make it myself to know that she's being given something that's healthy.

It's not that I don't think formula fed babies are not healthy cause you see healthy ones all the time, really my problem is how they get all those vitamins and things into the powder, and it really just smells so bad. I can't even bring myself to taste it. My 2-year-old did and she said "Mommy, that's yucky milk!" And we did try some over the counter formula for the first time last night just to see how it might go and NOT a chance in sight that she will take it.

Katherine was hungry I could tell, so I fed her what little milk I had to feed her and she fell asleep. I thought well I'll just feed her in her sleep (because I'm afraid that she's not getting 100% of the nutrition needed) and that was a joke in itself! Not even sleeping would she have anything to do with the formula. So, pretty much what this whole entire story boils down to is — Do you know if the homemade formula tastes good or not? Breast milk is very sweet like sugar, so I don't know if anything will pacify her need for it, but I need to try something.

If you know of any books or anything else that might help my research on the subject I would be forever grateful for you to share them with me. Thank you so much for your time.

God Bless,
~Alyce

Dear Alyce,

I don't recall having tasted the formula. However, my grandson also hated the taste of commercial formulas and always seemed eager to partake of the formula I made for him.

As for books, you might try a used book store. There really isn't much available on the topic since the early 1960's. Probably because the government has everyone convinced they should be using the garbage available in the grocery store, very few people dare to make their own. Even today the government website warns people against making their own formula. It's just terrible the lack of information available today.

I'll post this to my site, perhaps someone else has tasted the formula.

Best wishes to you!
~Annette M. Hall

PS: If anyone has prepared and tasted this homemade formula, can you please write in and let us know what you thought of it.
Thanks ~Annette

Updated November 26, 2010

The posts contained on these pages are made by regular people, with regular problems. Nothing contained on these pages should be considered medical advice -- we are not medical professionals. We are simply parents sharing our experiences with other parents. Your mileage may vary. Please consult with your medical professional for help with your medical problems.