Friday, January 8, 2010

Baby Consumer Info

We are so past all the baby stages here in our house that it is hard for me to even remember what those days were like.... but I CAN still recall the lack of sleep and the stress of "are we doing this right" that so often accompanied the baby days.

One big struggle for me was the issue of what to feed Maggie, Kate, and Sarah when my breast milk supply could no longer keep up with their demand. I had the guilt of Ella's never even having sampled formula to add to my concern for their nutritional needs, but the fact of the matter was they were hungry and they required 3 times as much milk! By the time they were 7 months old I just couldn't make enough to go around. Fortunately a company provided us with quite a bit of their brand formula through a program that they offered to families of multiples. Once that supply was gone, being a thrifty shopper and a scientist (MS in Analytical Chemistry) I simply compared the labels on national and store brand formulas and ended up using Target's house brand formula for the few short months that we needed the supplements.

Apparently my decision was a solid one as there is currently a national campaign to make sure parents realize that store-brand infant formulas are nutritionally equivalent to, and confer the same developmental benefits as, the more expensive national brands like Enfamil, the makers of which have recently lost a 13.5 M dollar lawsuit for false advertising against their lesser expensive store brand competitors. Here are several links to the information surrounding the landmark court case:


http://www.pbmproducts.com/press.aspx?ID=310

http://industry.bnet.com/advertising/10004868/a-desperate-mead-johnson-loses-135m-jury-verdict-over-false-claims/

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/esearch/e3i6328aaffeb014c13fbcc5dbedc3d4fd7


Here's my take: Breastfeeding is best for babies, but if for any reason you need or choose formula, you certainly don't have to pay twice as much for the name brand stuff!!

So, what do you think? Name brand formula or the store brand variety??


BSM Media provided the above links so that I could educate myself on the facts surrounding this campaign. They also compensated me for sharing this information with you.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! u breast-fed three babies for 7 months? awsome... Did u carry them to term or wer they preemies?

MaryBeth said...

they were born at 34 weeks after i spent 5.5 weeks in the hospital on bedrest. their weights were 4lb8oz, 4lb7oz, and 5lb3oz at birth, and they all came straight home from the hospital with me after my c-section stay. we were very, very blessed!!

Bill & Stacie said...

I agree with you totally Mary Beth! When my milk supply ran out with Meredith we used all that free formula we had (what I hadn't given to Amanda for Noel) and then we used Costco brand, which was half the cost of any National brand. I am a big belliever in store brand products.

Erin said...

We used Kirkland (sold at Costco( instead of Enfamil when I stopped breastfeeding. I read the labels, checked things out online and found the only difference to be how finely grained the formula is. Enfamil make look prettier, but I'll save my money and get the less pretty, nutritional equivalent!

Amy said...

I did nurse and I did formula. I was so thankful for the store brand formulas because it helped our grocery budget so much. My kids are healthy and energetic despite my best efforts to give them generic ;)

Thank you so much for your visit today- it means so much!!