Homemade Baby Formula

Goodness, it has been such a long time since I have blogged. I have been very busy with everyday life. Since I last blogged, I have removed my 2 eldest children from preschool, and so have all 3 of them at home every day. This has obviously had its challenges and rewards. Some things are really difficult - like shopping. But I have loved being more relaxed in the mornings and am enjoying do more arts and crafts with them.

I had been thinking for a while that I would share that I make my own baby formula. I use the recipe described by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions. You can also read more about this formula here: http://www.westonaprice.org/children/recipes.html

2 cups whole milk, preferably unprocessed milk from pasture-fed cows

1/4 cup homemade liquid whey Note: Do NOT use whey from making cheese--it will cause the formula to curdle. Use only homemade whey made from yoghurt, kefir or separated raw milk.

4 tablespoons lactose

1/4 teaspoon bifidobacterium infantis

2 or more tablespoons good quality cream (not ultrapasteurized), more if you are using milk from Holstein cows

1 teaspoon regular dose cod liver oil or 1/2 teaspoon high-vitamin cod liver oil

1 teaspoon expeller-expressed sunflower oil

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons coconut oil

2 teaspoons Frontier brand nutritional yeast flakes

2 teaspoons gelatin

1 7/8 cups filtered water

1/4 teaspoon acerola powder

I ordered some of the ingredients online as they weren't available in my local healthfood store. You can get everything you need from this company http://www.greenpastures.com.au/

I did some calculations before I began and from memory it worked out to be about $5L made. Organic commercial baby formula is $4L. It would be more if you needed to purchase the raw milk, cream and yoghurt to make whey.

This is how I do it.

I measure 450ml boiling water into pyrex jug and add gelatine, coconut oil and lactose until dissolved. Pour that into blender. Add all the other ingredients and blend for 15secs. Then pour it into glass bottle. It makes about 1L plus some froth, so a 1.5L bottle works well. I am now using fermented cod liver oil, and I recently boughts a flavoured one "fruit attack". The citrus flavouring in it curdles the formula - so I don't add it to the formula - rather feed it to bub from a dropper before his bottle. I also add 1tsp of flaxseed oil to the formula for extra omega 3.

Henry loves this formula and is most dissappointed on the occaision that I haven't made any and give him straight milk. It has been suprisingly easy to find the ingredients and to make it up.