When SillyMonkey was a baby, I had to supplement him with formula and I used Similac Advanced EarlyShield, that was before I had resolved to buy organic. SillyMonkey grew up just fine, he seemed to like the product and I really had no complaints whatsoever about it other than it was/is not organic. I recently had to start supplementing DramaLlama about a month ago due to some serious supply issues, and when I googled “Organic Infant Formula” an insane amount of information was hurled towards me.
There are some fierce debates out there about which organic formula is best, the ingredients they contain, what the cans are lined with. I’m just going to pause here and point out that some organic infant formula cans are actually LINED WITH BPA! Ugh! I can scream. Why? Why? Why? Why? I really don’t get it. And of course that brand happened to be the exact same one I had bought to supplement DramaLlama. Awesome.
So here I am, reading all the information available on each infant formula and my mind is about to explode. It’s really quite exhausting trying to keep up with all the harmful stuff that might be in each product. I am not going to go into minuet detail about all the different formulas because there’s already a lot of information out there on the subject. What amazes me is that there can be so many options and still no “perfect” formula out there.
Earths Best Organic Formula‘s cans are lined with BPA. Really? How does that make sense? Again with the whole putting organic stuff in cans lined with known harmful chemicals. It’s so boring and so so so stupid. Earths Best Organic Formula was the one I used for DramaLlama but now I had to start looking for an alternative. After a lot of research and reading all the different opinions with which the internet has graced the world, I decided to switch to the Nature’s One Baby’s Only Organic Formula because it’s made in the USA, the cans are not lined with harmful chemicals (BPA free), and it doesn’t contain any sweeteners. Now mind you, even this formula has its “flaws”. Apparently it doesn’t contain the vital ingredients DHA and ARA but does contain the two essential fatty acids that make the body produce them. Reading that right there made my brain hurt. Anyway, supposedly the formulas that do contain those vital ingredients use a harmful synthetized version of it (Hexane processed DHA). Really? Really? Who knows this stuff? Would your average person know this stuff off the top of their head, because I sure didn’t! Again, so so annoying and stupid. Plus, the first ingredient in this formula is organic Brown Rice Syrup which seems to bother lots of people. So if one uses this formula, one would have to go and buy a separate DHA supplement to add into it to make it complete.
Sigh….why is everything so freakin complicated? The stand alone supplements are made of a safe DHA, but what I can’t understand is why formula companies don’t just add the safe DHA to their formulas instead of the harmful one? I don’t know and obviously this is way over my head so I’m just going to have to deal with the annoying two-step process of making a formula for my baby.
When I was trying to figure out where Earths Best Organic Formula was made, it seemed to be close to impossible. Nowhere on the can does it have a place of origin, and I could not find the information of where it’s made anywhere. I can’t seriously be the first person to ask this question online but I couldn’t find the info anywhere on the internet. I had to call the customer service and I was put on hold for almost 20 minutes. DramaLlama woke up from his nap and I had to hang up. This mama does not have time to stay on hold for that long, plus I had already made up my mind to switch to Nature’s Own so I gave up. If anybody knows where Earths Best Formula is made please feel free to let us know!
When it came to finding an organic, not made in China, isn’t lined with BPA and doesn’t contain ingredients that are crazily synthesized, I’d say it was rather difficult and annoying. The amount of reading and research one would have to do to find all that information out was a bit too much for your average consumer. I never, in a million years would have thought that Infant formula cans would be lined with BPA, I never thought it would be so hard to find where a product was made, and I certainly never would have anticipated the whole DHA/ARA issue. When I shop I usually see the words “Now with added DHA” and think that’s a good thing, but now I know better and I’m going to have to research each product and what kind of DHA they put in it to make sure it’s safe. This is just insane. Like really really insane. Why is it so hard to buy something that doesn’t contain something that is known to be harmful? I need to just go live on an Amish farm. Those Amish really are on to something.
China Free Soccer Mom 