Making your own formula from scratch

[Anonymous]

Terrible idea. Infants have immature kidneys and she could kill her child if the electrolytes/solute/solvent ratios are too off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many babies a few generations ago were fed an evaporated milk based "formula" prepared at home. The old versions of Dr. Spock's famous book gave a recipe for it. I think his recipe may have used Karo corn syrup. Formula is so darned expensive; I suppose some people may try to economize by using similar methods.

Not saying I think this is a great idea, but also not judging people who do it.

Powder Generic formula is cheap. Walmart brand 2 lb can is very inexpensive. FDA regulated - same stuff as in name brand.

I remember my mom making that for my little sister.

Are there vegans who are so vegan human milk is considered an animal product?????

I googled it. Of course it's all over Pinterest.

Link from Parents magazine about the risks but also saying a lot of people are doing it:
https://www.parents.com/baby/feeding/formula/homemade-baby-formula-safe-or-not/

[Anonymous]

https://www.today.com/health/what-are-dangers-homemade-baby-formula-t209418

2 babies (unrelated) in hospital in the same week. One suffered cardiac arrest.

[Anonymous]

If money is tight, please encourage someone to apply for WIC before making their own formula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Many babies a few generations ago were fed an evaporated milk based "formula" prepared at home. The old versions of Dr. Spock's famous book gave a recipe for it. I think his recipe may have used Karo corn syrup. Formula is so darned expensive; I suppose some people may try to economize by using similar methods.

Not saying I think this is a great idea, but also not judging people who do it.


Evaporated milk, corn syrup, and something else. My grandmother raised six kids on it in the 1940s-1950s. Couldn't nurse any of her kids, commercial formula either not available or too expensive.

Evaporated milk, corn syrup, and water.

I was raised on this, and so were my siblings. I don't recommend anyone making their own formula. We all struggle with weight issues....

Not just regular water is used, water is boiled and cooled to make this formula. Bottles, nipples and caps are all sterilized. I would much rather make my baby his formula that by one that is made in China. 40% of baby formula is made in China. Kids now a days have more problems with allergies, and weight and hypertension, and learning disorders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, my neighbor did this and I thought she was one of the only crazy ones. I don't know the exact formula, but it involved her driving out of the city to some farm to buy raw goat's milk and then combining that with a bunch of other things including chicken liver. She was convinced that her son had un-diagnosable allergies or insensitivities. She also takes him to a chiropractor and a homeopath. He's 20 months.

I'm a 70s baby. My mom breastfed but stopped before 6 months and then I got raw goat's milk from our goat, and mostly from a cup because bottles were a "hassle." Glad to be alive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not child abuse.

That's how babies that couldn't nurse were fed for years and years after wet nurses went out of fashion and there was no such thing as commercial formula.

How do commercialized, prepared foods come about? They are based on some variation of a homemade item. When more and more people were making their own formula, the idea of a ready made version obviously became a business idea. And so it has grown and grown, to the point where people don't even make their own anymore.

Just like for many years everyone just bought store packaged baby food, some don't even know how to make home made Mac and cheese and just buy Kraft.

Homemade formula is not some made up thing by looney child abusive mothers . Get a grip.

No, those babies were fed homemade formulas based on mammal milk, not almond and coconut milk. Those formulas were far from perfect, but they were closer.

Not to mention, not solving a problem because the solution wasn't invented yet, is not the same as refusing to use an available solution. My grandmother lost a child to an infection that would be easily treatable with antibiotics today. To blame her for her child's death would be awful. But a mother who withheld medical treatment and let her child die the same way today would absolutely be abusive. Similarly, a mother who fed her child homemade formula because she couldn't nurse and the other choice was to let the baby starve, can't be compared to a mother who feeds her child homemade formula because the other choice is that she won't be able to boast on her social media.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Many babies a few generations ago were fed an evaporated milk based "formula" prepared at home. The old versions of Dr. Spock's famous book gave a recipe for it. I think his recipe may have used Karo corn syrup. Formula is so darned expensive; I suppose some people may try to economize by using similar methods.

Not saying I think this is a great idea, but also not judging people who do it.


Evaporated milk, corn syrup, and something else. My grandmother raised six kids on it in the 1940s-1950s. Couldn't nurse any of her kids, commercial formula either not available or too expensive.

Evaporated milk, corn syrup, and water.

I was raised on this, and so were my siblings. I don't recommend anyone making their own formula. We all struggle with weight issues....

Not just regular water is used, water is boiled and cooled to make this formula. Bottles, nipples and caps are all sterilized. I would much rather make my baby his formula that by one that is made in China. 40% of baby formula is made in China. Kids now a days have more problems with allergies, and weight and hypertension, and learning disorders.

I mean it was the stuff being made in Michigan that killed babies and just got shut down by the FDA but don’t let that fact bother you…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many babies a few generations ago were fed an evaporated milk based "formula" prepared at home. The old versions of Dr. Spock's famous book gave a recipe for it. I think his recipe may have used Karo corn syrup. Formula is so darned expensive; I suppose some people may try to economize by using similar methods.

Not saying I think this is a great idea, but also not judging people who do it.

Exactly. I breastfed my kids. But, I remember my grandmother telling me about how they made formula. She had twins and needed to supplement. It was evaporated milk, Karo syrup, and water. Carefully sterilized. My dad and my aunt are 76 and very much alive and healthy. Obviously, today’s formulas are healthier. But homemade formula is hardly child abuse. My 32 year old was eating rice cereal from a spoon at six weeks. Back then you would never put a baby to sleep on his back. Things change. By the time your kids have children, the rules will change again.

[Anonymous]

I would consider homemade formula that includes some kind of sugar and dairy as risky but not abusive, but vegan homemade formulas are very dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Wow! I can't believe some of the ideas about what you should or not do when it comes to breastfeeding or formula. Y'all realize we do what we do out of necessity. If you can't afford formula, you breastfeed. If you can't breastfeed and/or buy formula, you make your own. You make your own with evaporated milk, corn syrup & water, & get that baby started on cereal as soon as possible. Women did this from the beginning of time up until around the 1960s when it became unfashionable to breastfeed, so used store bought formula, & also started using those "new" throw away diapers? I believe most of you don’t even know what it is like not to even have baby food already made in the jar.

[Anonymous]

This is very stupid and dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mother was the first of her five siblings to receive commercial formula. She was from a poor immigrant family and if mother wasn’t producing enough milk (which was fairly common among poor women who worked almost immediately after giving birth) babies were given goats milk. I feel like there was a reason it was goat? All this to say formula was considered a modern, high tech,luxury item not very long ago.

Goat and cow share a similar protein structure and they are cross reactive for allergies/intolerances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! I can't believe some of the ideas about what you should or not do when it comes to breastfeeding or formula. Y'all realize we do what we do out of necessity. If you can't afford formula, you breastfeed. If you can't breastfeed and/or buy formula, you make your own. You make your own with evaporated milk, corn syrup & water, & get that baby started on cereal as soon as possible. Women did this from the beginning of time up until around the 1960s when it became unfashionable to breastfeed, so used store bought formula, & also started using those "new" throw away diapers? I believe most of you don’t even know what it is like not to even have baby food already made in the jar.

I don't think anyone blames a parent who is out of options for getting their baby fed, but people who think their homemade sea moss formula (which is probably more expensive than a can of generic at walmart) is better for baby are seriously misguided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done this?

I just met someone with a 5 mon only who said they don't believe in any commercial formulas so they make their own with a base of coconut milk and almond milk and lots of additives.

I thought it was REALLY bizarre.

Never mind about bizarre -- it's a truly awful idea. It's child abuse. And I almost never say that.

I mean, I wouldn't say child abuse. Formula is usually powdered cow's milk with additives so it's not like she's doing something totally insane. I would rather rely on the FDA etc to make sure the formula has everything my baby needs, but formula is super processed and some people really don't like that. It's not insane to try to approximate it yourself with better ingredients, although it seems like a lot of work.