I’ve seen that Target has a “Prebiotic Immune Support” baby formula. Does anyone know what this is all about? How would I know if my 7 month old needs this type as opposed to the regular “compare to Similac Advance” (blue can) version?
~Thanks for any tips!
Interesting article, K. My babe got breastmilk for the first 6 months, so he’s been healthy as anything (I’m a 32 year old former strictly formula-fed baby and have never been sick a day in my life…not even chicken pox) so either the formula I’ve been giving him or my family’s lucky genes are keeping everyone healthy! I may skip the prebiotic thing. It’s amazing what these formula companies come out with claiming it’s what you “NEED”!
It’s something that Enfamil is putting in it’s milk now, they say it helps the babies stay healthier, supports their immune system, helps them fight of diseases, etc. I don’t know everything about it, but I know Enfamil has it.
Add: So wait a minute. According to breastfeeding advocates, breastfed babies have better immunity, and according to research it’s one of two reasons: Prebiotics that are found in breastmilk, or active antibodies from mother’s milk. Since formula should be made as close to mother’s milk as possible, the formula companies want to add these things… but they’re obviously EVIL because it might drive up the cost of the formula. In order to keep formula affordable and cheap, we should keep it inferior and stop companies from adding ingredients that would make it more similar to breastmilk… does anyone see the problem with this?
DHA isn’t found in breastmilk that I’m aware of, so it really is a supplement. But prebiotics actually are. So if you’re trying to make formula as similar to breastmilk… why wouldn’t you add it? I dunno. Formula companies always being evil corporations set out to foil breastfeeding mommas everywhere gets a bit old. Yeah, they’re out to make money… but they’re also trying to duplicate human milk as close as possible.
And if the adding of prebiotics into formula might cause damage, then that would be a huge negative against every breastfeeding momma since it’s in breastmilk for everyone as far as I know… so if they need to prove that it’s beneficial and not harmful, then that’s shooting breastfeeding in the foot. If they prove it’s harmful… then formula would be more beneficial for every baby without it… see the problem?
http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/06/why-to-boycott-supplements-in-baby-formula/57978/
Courage, here is a great, succinct explanation:
“1. Just adding something to formula, even if it is in the same amounts as in breastmilk, does not mean that the baby will get the amount or the best sort he needs of this particular something. The example of iron helps us understand this. Breastmilk contains enough iron (with the stores the baby has during pregnancy), to keep the baby iron sufficient for at least 6 months. To maintain iron sufficiency in formula fed babies, formula needs to contain at least 6 times more iron than breastmilk, just because iron does not get absorbed from the baby’s gut as well from formula as it does from breastmilk.
2. There are still hundreds of components of breastmilk that are still not added to formulas.
3. Breastmilk varies in what it contains, from morning to evening, from day to day, from beginning of the feeding to the end, from day 1 to day 4 to day 10 to day 100, so there is no way we can know what breastmilk really contains. This means that there is no way to duplicate breastmilk because there is no such thing as a standard breastmilk. In fact, since every woman produces somewhat different breastmilk, the notion of a standard breastmilk becomes an absurdity. Breastmilk is a living, dynamic fluid. Formula is a chemical soup.”
Worth reading the whole thing –> http://www.drjacknewman.com/help/Toxins%20and%20Infant%20Feeding.asp
OK! Lets clear some things up.
Probiotics or prebiotics are good bacteria that are part of a healthy stomach. These are referred to as your stomach flora, they consist of lactobactillis, casei, acidophilus and many others. You may recognize these from yogurt commercials.
These are passed to a baby through breast milk constantly, which is important in the early years, they are very important to the immune system because they are one of the major ‘filters’ to the body, these good bacteria kill the ‘bad bacteria’ that you may in inadvertently ingest.
You can buy probiotics at your local drug store, they are in a jar on the shelf for about $10. You can also go to a natural pharmacy and buy them out of the refrigerator for about $40. There is a reason for this. The high quality ones from the health food store are much more effective, they ensure that the bacteria is still alive but dormant (due to the cold) the drug stores ones just sort of die off the longer they sit on the shelf… See where I am going with this?
There are varying levels of nutrients and probiotics, they may technically be the same thing when you break them down to the molecular level but they vary in degrees of absorb ability. A living swimming probiotic from a woman’s breast milk moves right in and starts working in a baby’s belly, the further from this source the less likely it is to really help establish good flora. Same goes with the nutrients and vitamins in formula, they are much harder for the baby to absorb and use.
Breastmilk does contain DHA as well as ALL nutrients a baby needs except for vitamin d during the winter if you live in a cold climate, this however is not by fault of the breastmilk, most women are actually vitamin d deficient in the winter.
Sorry, not to preach breastfeeding, I just wanted to clear up for the other answer. 🙂
SO yes probiotics are pretty important, they are good for the immune system and are especially helpful if your little one has tummy complaints. BUT I would not buy formula with it, if I were you I would buy regular formula and head to the healthfood store for some good probiotics.
I just looked it up online and found this…
Breast-feeding is known to have many benefits for babies. Attempts have been made to reproduce the effectiveness of the protective components of breast milk in formula milk by the addition of prebiotics, non-digestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth or activity of indigenous beneficial bacteria. The aim of this mini review is to determine whether the addition of prebiotics does indeed have beneficial effects for infants. The Cochrane Library, CINHAL, Embase, Medline and the full text database were searched for randomized controlled trials, which compared formulas, supplemented with prebiotics to those without added prebiotics. Three RCTs were identified which considered whether prebiotic enhanced formulas led to an increase in faecal bifidobacteria and lactobacilli which inhibit the development of pathogenic organisms and whether these formulas are well tolerated and free of side effects. One study considered healthy premature infants and the other two considered well term infants, with one also considering two different doses of prebiotic mix. All studies showed increases in these beneficial bacteria and determined that the prebiotic enhanced feeds were well tolerated with no adverse side effects. There is now a need for long term studies to determine whether these effects lead to reduced infections and allergies in later childhood.