One of the most controversial topics surrounding the issue of breastfeeding is what a woman should do if she finds herself unable to nurse her baby. An even more prickly subject is whether learning how to make homemade baby formula is a good idea.
I myself nursed all three of my children for an extended period of time. The first two were nursed for two years and the third for three and a half years. I practiced parent led weaning for the first 2 children as I did not want to be nursing and pregnant at the same time. For my third and youngest child, I simply allowed her to wean herself whenever she chose.
I’ve often considered what I would have done should I have found myself unable to nurse. Certainly commercial formulas are not a good option as these highly processed powders are loaded with rancid vegetable oils and denatured proteins. Even the organic baby formulas on the market should be avoided for this reason.
Is Homemade Formula Superior to Donor Breastmilk?
What about homemade baby formula made with milk, kefir, or yogurt from grassfed cows or free roaming, foraging goats? Would this formula be superior to human breastmilk from a donor milk bank?
To me, most folks’ opinion on this issue basically boils down to whether they feel that human breastmilk is suitable for an infant regardless of the diet of the Mother. I am of the persuasion that the breastfeeding Mother’s diet is critical to the nutrient density of her breastmilk. I wrote about this in an article commenting on the news story about a vegan Mother whose breastfed baby died.
Nutrient starved Mother = nutrient poor breastmilk
Science is backing this up. Published 2019 research found that the diversity of beneficial probiotics varies greatly from woman to woman perhaps due to dietary factors.
Color and Creamline of Breastmilk Varies Based on Diet
I know from personal experience how my diet affected the color and thickness of my breastmilk. With my first child, I ate everything organic but did not consume many traditional fats or sacred foods. My breastmilk was white with little cream on the top. My baby was also hungry all the time and wanted to nurse frequently. He also spit up a lot which I now know was my consumption of pasteurized organic dairy and improperly prepared grains during that time.
With my next 2 children, my breastmilk went from white to beige and had considerably more fat simply by adding lots of butter, cream, egg yolks, grassfed meat, and fish eggs to my diet. As an added bonus, my children were satisfied more quickly and stayed full much longer between feedings. They also never spit up unless I ate out at a restaurant or had consumed some low quality, non-Traditionally prepared food for whatever reason.
I sure wish I had frozen a few ounces of that breastmilk before and after my Real Food conversion. A picture would have been worth a thousand words!
Few Breastfeeding Women Follow a Real Food, Traditional Diet
Because the vast majority of women do not follow a Real Food, Traditional diet and because I so clearly observed the difference in my own breastmilk when I made the change myself, I would have chosen to make a homemade baby formula with raw milk from grassfed cows instead of seeking donor breastmilk.
To me, it would have been way too risky and far too likely that the donor breastmilk would have come from Moms drinking coffee or diet drinks, eating fast food, taking over the counter prescription drugs and the like. At least with grassfed cows, you know what they are eating and that they aren’t taking any drugs!
Holder Method of Pasteurization
Then there’s also the huge problem that many donor milk banks pasteurize the breastmilk!
And, no, the “Holder method of pasteurization” used by breastmilk banks is just as damaging as conventional pasteurization at dairy plants.
Yes, the Holder method is not as high (62.5ºC/144.5ºF) as flash pasteurization (71ºC/160ºF or higher), but all the enzymes and probiotics are still destroyed at 48ºC/118ºF, so don’t buy that line frequently spouted by donor bank advocates.
I give my opinion on this topic with one caveat.
If I could have found a few Moms that I knew who were eating a Real Food diet, I definitely would have accepted their breastmilk donations for my child if necessary.
But, from a donor milk bank, this information is 100% unknown. And, with Real Food Moms in the minority, using donor milk is just not worth the risk.
What about you? Would you have chosen homemade formula or a donor breastmilk bank? Why or why not?
Donor.
I would absolutely attempt to obtain donor milk.
What is GROSS is feeding your child milk from another species because of your own ignorance. 🙂 I would feed my ds donor milk. I have been a milk donor and it is a wonderful gift for babies who NEED human milk. Hence, being human babies…..
Was it mentioned how long the prepared formula lasts if stored in the freezer? I may have missed that, but I don’t recall hearing this stated.
As per the discussion, both sides make good points. I am looking into both donor milk and preparing this formula recipe. There can be a ‘happy medium’ made somewhere in between. I don’t know that it has to be ‘all or nothing’ from either side.
🙂
Hi Traci, I mentioned in the video that it is best to make it every day or two. Of course, you can freeze it in bottle size portions for later use if necessary.
That’s definitely interesting! I breastfed both of mine, and I know that generally the breastfeeding “community” says it really doesn’t matter what you eat- even doctors (or maybe *especially* doctors). My daughter would exhibit allergic reactions whenever I would eat certain foods, and it was SO challenging trying to convince anybody of this. Even a couple more naturally-minded individuals said something like “well, she’s not eating what you eat”. I don’t know why people so stubbornly cling to the idea that babies aren’t affected by mothers diet. It was obvious to me w/my 2nd!
It has only been about 7 months since I learned about NT/WAPF way of eating….and I’ve always felt that human milk is the way to go…I think this method of homemade formula is definitely something that should be considered if a mother cannot breastfeed.
Do you know what kind of screening takes place w/donor milk? I’d be interested to know if they screen for diet.
Exactly, Becky. I hear all the time that Baby doesn’t get what you eat. I realized firsthand how wrong this was when my daughter developed multiple allergies through my milk.
Goat milk or raw milk. You have no idea what genetic anomalies or diseases could be passed by someone else’s human milk. That’s just gross.
how does that differ from cow or goat milk?
donor milk
goat milk
Might it be ideal in some circumstances for someone to do both? In other words, feed donor milk AND homemade formula, to get the benefits of both as outlined in your post and the comments above?
Well this post is all about me! I was the mother who could NOT nurse, for many reasons. And I came very close to committing suicide over the whole thing. My baby got homemade formula and donated breastmilk from day one. I actually took part in a study on peer to peer donated breastmilk and posted my responses along with some other information on milk sharing here: http://thelogicallady.blogspot.com/p/milk-sharing.html
Yes, breastmilk banks are a necessity for preemies and sick children in hospitals. The benefits at that critical stage far, far outweigh any benefits that would come from having what would really amount to slightly better nutrition from homemade formula. While I don’t agree with the pasteurization, the milk banks are partially there for triage and I have no problem with that. Peer to peer milk sharing is where it’s at though and because it is essentially impossible to keep a baby 100% milk fed through that due to the HUGE demand, the majority of babies are going to be forced onto formula no matter what. If I had my choice, I would go with 100% breastmilk simply because of all the times I’ve had to watch my baby scream bloody murder while she had a bowel movement the size of her leg, requiring a large quantity of molasses in the formula to counteract the constipation.
Breastmilk will always be superior to formula, period. It might not have as many vitamins, minerals and fats, but everything else about it is better and all of that extra stuff still gives major benefits that formula will never be able to give.
Wow your damned if you do and your damned if you don’t. These people give me a head ache. Bottom line is do what is best for you and your child. Anyone can spout facts. Any one can publish a paper. But do they know what the hell they are talking about. I some times wonder. A lot of people want you to feel inadequate. This is a a bunch of nit picking about this and that. Just an Opinion.