Can You Make Your Own Baby Formula?
The 2022 infant formula shortage has caused empty shelves and considerable parental distress. Some weary parents have wondered, “Can you make your own baby formula at home?”
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The answer is technically, yes, it is possible. Home cooks can truly make just about anything. BUT, it is not at all safe for babies to drink homemade formula. In this article I’ll cover how homemade baby formula:
is a food best left in the past
too often causes severe, sometimes lifelong health problems
is promoted on blogs that are not genuinely wholistic because they have hidden agendas
As Maria said in The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” Let’s begin by considering what exactly baby formula is made of. From this starting point, we can better review the ways homemade baby formula is inferior and dangerous.
What is Baby Formula Made Of?
Commercial baby formula has three ingredient categories.
1. Protein, fat, and carbohydrates
These are the three macronutrients that growing babies need in large amounts. We know how much most babies need of each of these. Also, macronutrients must be in forms that meet the special physiology of babies.
Common infant formula ingredients in this category include: whey protein, coconut oil, and lactose.
2. Micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals
Babies need specific amounts of micronutrients to grow and thrive. Eating too few or too much of each of them can cause health problems. Dietitians refer to these situations as nutrient deficiency (too little) and toxicity (too much).
Common formula ingredients in this category include: vitamin C, folic acid, and iron.
3. Bioactive ingredients
These influence health and development indirectly, such as building the immune or nervous system. Examples include nucleotides and human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs).
It may seem simple to create a formula recipe with these ingredients but knowing the types of ingredients needed is just the first step. Ingredients must be in certain forms to be used by the body. And they have to be put together in a safe way that avoids contamination.
Can You Make Your Own Baby Formula at Home?
Many people wonder how to make DIY baby formula because they heard it was made at home in the past. Indeed, this is true!
Formula recipes using evaporated milk became popular starting in the 1930s. By 1960 an estimated 80% of formula-fed infants were being fed homemade formulas made with evaporated milk. In the past, DIY baby formula was how most infants were fed.
You can easily find homemade formula recipes online, though very few recommend evaporated milk. Instead, almost half recommend a very dangerous ingredient that goes back to a very long time – raw milk.
So again, just because you can make homemade baby formula, doesn’t mean that you should even consider it.
Blogs with Homemade Baby Formula Recipes
Dietitian nutritionists quickly become frustrated with some online blogs because they promote fear and an over simplified view of nutrition and health. Infant nutrition can’t be narrowed down to just one or two ideas. It is complex.
Just prior to the COVD-19 pandemic, a group of clinicians evaluated blogs that contained homemade baby formula recipes. Just about all blogs with homemade baby formula recipes monetize their recipes! About three-quarters had ads for their ingredients (assured to be affiliate links!). And 20% sold kits for making their recipes.
At the same time, over half of the blogs stated the reason to use their DIY formula recipe over commercial formula was due to safety concerns of commercial formula ingredients.
So, are bloggers with these recipes wanting to share information or simply make a profit by selling through exaggeration and fear?
If you ever have questions about infant nutrition or the safety of foods, turn to a pediatric registered dietitian. A trained professional can guide you in safe infant feeding guidance that is grounded in today not the past.
The Dangers of Homemade Formula
Homemade baby formula was useful over 60 years ago, but it is no longer needed. Infants have very specific nutritional needs. And we know more about these needs now than we did in the past. We also have the tools to capitalize on this knowledge.
Babies can get sick, seriously sick when fed DIY formulas. Even if some babies are not harmed by them, many have been.
Real Stories of Infants Fed Homemade Formulas
While not an actual picture of Kayla, this is how she really looked (photo credit pexels)
Reports of infants made seriously ill by homemade formula are easily found in the news. The Medical University of South Carolina reported an infant on homemade formula who was hospitalized. Physicians at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children reported on two infants who were harmed. Reports have also come out of Texas, Wisconsin, and Florida,
However, not all cases of sick babies make the news. I’ve helped take care of babies injured by homemade baby formula recipes. I wrote about Kayla, who had severe malnutrition and problems with the calcium level in her body, which caused severe metabolic and bone problems. Her case never made the news. Kayla isn’t the only baby I know harmed by homemade baby formula. I can think of four others I’ve helped care for.
Parents may think that they can safely make formulas, but even hospitals have made grave mistakes. In 1962, six babies died at the Binghamton (N.Y.) General Hospital after an ingredient mix up caused “mass salt poisoning.” These past stories are ones to take seriously.
3 Key Reasons Why Homemade Baby Formula is Dangerous?
Homemade baby formulas are dangerous for three main reasons:
Nutrition: Poor nutritional content causing nutrient deficiencies or toxicities. In other words, they often contain too many or too few nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D, chloride, vitamin A, and iron.
Solute Load and Fluid: Extremely high risk for dehydration because infants have immature kidneys.
Harmful Bacteria: A wide range of food safety risks due to the ingredients recommended and food handling. Harmful germs like includinf Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella, and Salmonella.
Points to Remember and Share with Others
Making baby formula at home may seem like a good idea, since it was done in the past. But it wasn’t ideal even back then. Commercial formulas became popular because they were safer and nutritionally superior to homemade versions.
Websites that try to convince you that DIY baby formula is safe usually sell ingredients and kits. They have a lot to gain, and you have a lot to lose. Notably, none of the bloggers promoting their use are pediatric health care providers. They oversimplify a topic that is very complex.
Babies are harmed by homemade baby formulas. Cases are easily found in the news. Ask your pediatric health provider if they have cared for a baby harmed by homemade formula. Chances are good that the answer is yes!
Finding Safe Baby Formula
The Formula Sense website has tools to help you feed safely and be informed. If you still have questions, send us a message.