Baby Prepper ideals

[Bertfish]

One concern parents have is when your baby will stabilize on formula. We went through three types before we settled on the lactose free. From talking to the pediatrician you can't hurt them with lactose free and it has a shelf life. You could purchase a years worth, it has a decent shelf life as a powder.

 

[BFMIN]

Then I have nothing to add.
If the choices became Goats milk (which is the closest) or starvation, what would you chose?

 

[lazarus]

Then I have nothing to add.
If the choices became Goats milk (which is the closest) or starvation, what would you chose?

Of course not starve. But if we are discussing prepping, even with shortages there probably isn’t anyone on here who cannot find formula. A specialty formula might be a serious problem. If the choice is give up something else for formula, or feed my infant something that isn’t nutritionally complete and will lead to malnutrition long term, that’s not a choice.

The alternatives are only alternatives if there is literally zero other options. The reason I keep coming out and saying “nope, not a replacement” is because nothing discussed is and some parents go in thinking it is actually a replacement.

It’s a last ditch hope, not an option to save some money, or screw big formula or whatever.

 

[BFMIN]

The OP asked what to do. I made a reasonable suggestion. sorry you didn't like it. I never said it was perfect, just "the closest".there is only one perfect so use that. Happy now?

 

[welder516]

My main point was to help others looking in on the forum. Nothing is as good as what you are using now.

 

[woodline]

I feel really bad for people dealing with this. Out of luck, we just finished weaning our little guy a few weeks ago, though we still had issues buying preferred brand if not category for awhile. I could usually find something if I went to 2-3 stores or online. That was a little stressful as we were concerned he would object to repeated brand changes of the lactose sensitive category, but thankfully he didn’t seem to care. My heart goes out to people who can’t get the right variety or any formula right now. Hopefully the shortage will be sorted out soon. Would like to know the truth behind why that formula plant is still shut down.

Planning on being done after this one shows up in June/July, so we shouldn’t have the issue of pregnancy causing my wife’s milk to dry up like last time.

One lesson learned here is that if we do end up having to supplement or convert her over to formula, I will put a lot more effort into building up stores of what we’ll need to get our baby girl across the finish line at around 12-14 months. Anything extra we can give away. We only had this issue because I let my wife be in charge of reordering formula when we needed it. I let her talk me out of buying everything we’d have needed prior to weaning at a local Wegmans that had a ton for the last one. I noticed stocks online had been out for awhile but she said we would be fine. Never listen to pregnant women, or let them find out you said that.

 

[lazarus]

For the shut down, I suspect it is taking a lot to be in compliance and show they are in compliance.

Despite the company's claims, the not super common bacteria was found in "non-food production" areas of the plant happens to be the exact same bacteria that isn't very common that sickened 2 severely and killed 2 babies. Compliance isn't just cleaning things and restarting the lines. It takes months, because you need a new compliance plan to show to the FDA, repeat testing, as well as retraining.

PS Abbott just reached a consent agreement with the FDA, finally, yesterday. They plan to reopen in 2 weeks, so their production should start being available in about 6-8 weeks. Notice it took weeks for Abbott to come up with a plan the FDA found acceptable

 

[adit]

WM in Georgetown, DE was loaded with Nido (Nestle) formula yesterday.

 

[Harrys]

That’s good information

40+ years ago my wife could not breast feed and both of our kids were allergic to formula. We were given a Karol syrup recipe similar to the one posted with the addition of some liquid supplements. The main thing was the sanitizing of everything we used glass bottles not the plastic crap they us today.

 

[19mace92]

Closest replacement. There isn’t a good replacement for breast milk other than formula. Full stop.

I received similar information from our pediatrician. We had our daughter in March 2022 right before formula started being scarce. We have family members in multiple states keeping their eyes open so when they find some formula they buy it. I'll send them the money later. It doesn't help that our daughter needs a particular type of formula.

Our pediatrician recommended goat milk as an alternative to breast milk but it's no substitute. It's only for emergencies because it doesn't have all the nutrients required.