Baby’s new pediatrician told us that formula has no nutritional value 😳

[fiftyseven]

@etolkk123 Just piling on that your doctor is out of their mind wrong!

Technically excessive milk/calcium intake can cause hypercalcemia which can cause anemia, but it is pretty rare and really if there is just extremely excessive milk consumption. Between about 7-12 months my daughter was eating 3 solid meals and snacks and averaged 24 oz of formula during that time. At almost 17 months she is eating tons and will still go through about 12 or sometimes 15 oz of milk. All her anemia tests are coming back perfectly normal and she has stayed right on her growth curve.

Yes, it is important for babies to be getting a varied and healthy diet of solid foods, but formula is absolutely nutritional and that doctor sounds totally obtuse.

 

[etolkk123]

@fiftyseven Your daughter is drinking formula or cow’s milk now? Yesterday I read as from 1, cow’s milk can take the place of formula?

 

[fiftyseven]

@etolkk123 Yes switched to whole cow’s milk at 1! Way cheaper!

 

[leehop71]

@etolkk123 Time for a google review. What a quack. You are correct. Time for another new Ped.

 

[etolkk123]

@leehop71 I was just thinking I would leave him a review as soon as I find a new pediatrician.

 

[etolkk123]

@dyinginside Exactly, each baby is different and we can’t generalize.

 

[blessbrenda]

@etolkk123 Hi! Almost exact same situation for us! We had major latching issues so I was never able to BF, but I pumped for the first 3 months. My supply was low and slowly dwindled to almost nothing and we came to the point where our little guy was EFF around 3/3.5 months. He’s 7.5 months now and he has 30oz of formula daily. He LOVES his bottles so much!

We started with purées around 5.5 months and have also incorporated some solids at a few meals per week to get baby used to feeding himself, textures, etc. He’s mildly interested in the purées and foods but nothing like his bottles! He eats probably 10-15 spoonfuls of purees once per day. Solids are mostly on the floor and I don’t think he’s currently getting much nutrition from them. I also never put much pressure on his daily meal - if he’s not into eating that day then we move on. My understanding is that the majority of baby’s nutrition comes from breastmilk/formula for the entire first year. In fact, breastmilk loses iron over time and BF babies need to intake iron from food but I don’t believe that’s the case with formula fed babies.

Our pediatrician has never made comments like this about formula and is fully supportive of feeding our baby in a way that works for our family. He also doesn’t push BLW and says it’s great but sometimes unrealistic for families to only do BLW based on lifestyle, etc. all around, he’s never commented that one way of feeding liquids or solids is better than another. Thank god. We don’t need additional guilt or reasons to question ourselves as moms/parents.

It Seems ridiculous to me that a doctor would speak like this, especially since your baby is healthy and happy, but maybe they’re just strongly opinionated on the matter (though it’s not professional to voice that). At the end of the day, babies will be eating solid foods exclusively before we know it and the breastmilk/formula stage is so short in the span of their lives… I try not to let opinions about formula weigh on me much. You’re taking great care of your LO!

 

[etolkk123]

@blessbrenda Thank you so much.

 

[arviescoot]

@etolkk123 We switched to EFF at 4 months due to low supply. At 7 months my son was taking about 30oz of formula a day. We started purées at 5 months and simple finger foods around 8 months. Our pediatrician said foods before 1 are just for fun. Nutrition comes from formula or breastmilk and everything else is just practice. She recommended cheese and scrambled eggs when baby could use their “pinchers” (thumb and forefinger vs picking up which whole hand). You need a doctor you can trust and feel 100% comfortable with. This is not it.

 

[etolkk123]

@arviescoot You are absolutely right! Thank you.

 

[dan54fis]

@etolkk123 This is like the opposite of what our paediatrician told us when introducing solids. Formula is still the #1 and purées/solids are complimentary and to start introducing allergens.

Our LO barely eats the purée or whatever solid we give him. He’d starve by your doctor’s recommendation. What an ass.

 

[etolkk123]

@dan54fis Absolutely.

 

[redvelvetcake]

@etolkk123 My 15lb 3 month old who has only been fed formula since birth disagrees there is no nutritional value to formula.

 

[maltesecorsair]

@redvelvetcake What formula are you giving dear?

 

[sissy52]

@etolkk123 I have very low supply due to underlying medical issues so my baby is almost EFF. he’s a perfectly healthy and thriving 5 month old. I would love to know how that doctor thinks my baby is even alive.

 

[etolkk123]

@sissy52 Same!

 

[charleeboy]

@etolkk123 Your doc is a moron!!! I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

 

[etolkk123]

@charleeboy Thank you.

 

[katrina2017]

@etolkk123 He’s a psychopath

 

[etolkk123]

@katrina2017 That gave me a nice laugh.