I recently wrote a post called Adventures in Baby Formula, where I highlighted my journey from major brand formulas to generic or store-brand formulas.
For some reason, initially my mind was set that I'd only give my baby "the best" which (to me) meant major brands, which also are much more expensive. Now while, I felt better feeding my baby "fancy" formula, my budget was not so happy.
So, a few months ago, I decided to give the store brands a try, to give my budget a bit of a break. I did some research and found that the main ingredients in the major brands are comparable to most of the store brands. However, many moms seem to be stuck with the thought that major brands are better.
In fact, according to a recent study:
· 68% of moms believe a heftier price tag for formula means that it’s a better quality product.
· 49% of new first-time moms believe name brand formulas offer more nutritional value than their significantly less expensive store brand counterparts.
I'd challenge you to compare the ingredients and nutritional value of both sets of formula (store brand and major name brand) and make your own decision. One place that is a wealth of information online, giving you the ability to compare the results is: StoreBrandFormula.com - check it out!
It should go without saying that I am not a medical professional and I'd encourage you to run any information by your child's pediatrician before making any changes to your feedings. However, I'm also a big fan of using your own brain and the facts and research out there to make smart decisions and not just follow the "influence" of major brand advertising.
So until next time.....be smart, research the facts and enjoy YOUR own Adventures in Baby Formula!
~ GIVEAWAY~
- (4) cans of Parent's Choice Premium formula
- (4) cans of Up & Up Sensitivity® formula
- (3) $3.00 off coupons for any 23.2oz.+ powder infant formula at Walmart
Enter to Win (closed)
- In a blog post comment, share YOUR experience with formula, good or bad (leave your email address so we can contact you if you win)
- Subscribe to our RSS feed (so you don't miss another giveaway)
* Optional BONUS entries *
- Giveaway ends on March 20th, 2012 - winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.
* Note: I was given some cans of formula to facilitate this review. However, all opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced by the complimentary product received.
Hello, thank you for the amazing giveaway. When my daughter was first born, I bought the expensive formula brnads thinking they were the "best". After comparing store brands to the name brand, I switched exclusively to store brands. After reviewing the labels, they were the same!! I LOVE to save money!
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I am pregnant with my first and know that I will have to formula feed, and I confess I thought that the brand name expensive formulas were better than store brands. But after reading this, I am going to look at the labels and compare, which is what I normally do with other store brand items. Thanks for the giveaway!!!
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I don't know why my mandatory entry didn't go post :( Well I am pregnant with my first and confess that I thought of store brands as being not good enough. But now I will compare the labels and reassure myself that saving a few bucks is ok, lol.
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I breastfed both of my kids but, they both weaned at ten months on their own. Something about that magic number for both of them. Anyway, I started both of them on store brand formula because it was cost effective and a way for them to get added nutrients that they would be missing by switching them right away to cows milk.
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from original post...google rss follower Melanie b
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With my first daughter she seemed brand specific on Similac Sensitive. With my 2nd daughter I didn't give her that option and only got her Parents choice. With my 3rd daughter I started couponing so she got whatever I could get for the best price. She ate anything I gave her!:) Carli- cjkcoupon at gmail dot com
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ReplyDeleteMy mandatory comment didn't show up. hmmmm. So I am re-writing it. I breast fed all my girls, but at about 10 months with all of them, we were both ready to be done. My 1st daughter was brand specific (now looking back I bet that was my fault!) MY 2nd daughter I only ever gave her Parents choice. My 3rd daughter got whatever I could get cheapest with a coupon! ;)Carli- cjkcoupon at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleterss amandahoffman35@yahoo.com and i use similac because i heard its the best but didnt really think to look at the labels.
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I gave my son the sensitive formula of whatever brand was cheapest. The ingredients were the same!
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My experience with using formula has been great. Some brands seem to be better than others.
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I breastfed both my older kids, but my daughter had to have formula supplementation. My daughter wasn't gaining weight (lost almost 2lbs in her first week) so we had to supplement with formula. I never got the chance to try store brands with her, her pedi put her on a special name brand sadly.
ReplyDeleteBut my nephew (4 days older then my daughter) was on formula and they used store brand. It seemed just as good as any name brands out there except better with the price!
I subscribed to RSS and email feeds
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My milk never came in so I had to use formula and my pediatrician put her on a name brand formula. Unfortunately she was sensitive to it so we switched to a different name brand and stuck with it, expensive or not.
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This is a great giveaway! I'm hoping to use formula for my little one due in March! Great timing! So I don't have experience yet...
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ReplyDeleteI have had very little problems with formula.
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The only experience I have with formula is my mom started giving it to me after 3 months.
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I tried the brand formulas, but also tried the store branded formulas...they didn't seem any different and my kids didn't notice either. LOVE saving money!
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I breast fed and formula fed. We used teh Target brand.
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I FOUND MY CHILD ENJOYS FORMULA MORE THAN BREAST MILK BELIEVE IT OR NOT. I'D LIKE HER TO TRY NEW KINDS BUT I'M AFRAID SHE WON'T LIKE EM =(
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ReplyDeleteI HAD A GREAT EXPERIENCE WITH FORMULA WHEN I HAD MY FIRST KIDDO - I SPECIFICALLY USED THE PARENT'S CHOICE BRAND FOR $ SAVING PURPOSES AND ENDED UP HAVING HIM ON THE GENTLE FORMULA AS HE DID HAVE A BIT OF TUMMY TROUBLES IN THE VERY BEGINNING. NO REGRETS!
ReplyDeleteI've used Parents Choice mostly for my first two after I finished breastfeeding and intend to do the same with this one when he's born. Although on road trips I found the Similac bottles of pre-mixed formula very convenient!
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ReplyDeletei have a bad experience to share with similac... Over a year ago my daughter was on the similac sensitive and was projectile vomiting.. well a few months later similac released a 'voluntary recall' because of the larvae... and my daughters similac was contaminated!! All 5 containers we had! .... totally ruined my experience!
ReplyDeleteWe have had good luck with store brand formula,we did similac for a bit but it is so expensive
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I have always used Similac and had good experience
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I have used a few different brands,enfamil, similac etc. but I found that the store brand was perfectly fine for my babies.
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ReplyDeleteI have raised all three of mine on formula and my friend is due in a few weeks and she will be using formula would love to help her out with this.
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I subscribe to your feed thanks for the cahnc to win eaglesforjack@gmail.com
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I hate the way formula always stains clothes
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I really never used formula with my 3 kids but my niece is due in april and this would help her out alot
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ReplyDeleteI actually never had the opportunity to use formula. I nursed all my babies until they were a year. I have a baby shower to go to and this would be great in the gift basket. I'm a RSS subscriber.
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After attempting to BF my son we ended up having to use formula, which ended up being a lifesaver when he turned colicky and enabled me to get a break during the constant up and down all night and allowed my husband some bonding time.
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My children were never picky about the formula I gave them so I bought whatever was on sale.after comparing the cans they have almost the same ingredients. I breast feed and formula fed my children with no problem. I'm expecting a baby in Apr il and I intend to the same formula feed and breast feed
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We currently use store/generic brand and national brands of formula and we have not had any issues.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was born the iron fortified milk based formula was very hard on his digestion. It took us forever to find a formula that he could tolerate.
ReplyDeleteOur new son seems to sleep the best on formula, it seems to fill him up much more than milk
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