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<h1>Breastfeeding - www.breastfeeding.org.nz</h1>

Formula feeding

How do I use infant formula?


See the Health Education resource - Feeding your Baby Infant Formula.

Are there risks with formula feeding? If so, what are they?


The composition of breast milk and formula have important differences. The infant has a higher risk of infection with formula because people may use ineffective sterilisation techniques; unsafe water;reconstitute formula incorrectly; incorrectly store milk powder and/or reconstituted milk.

Breast milk:

  • varies in composition over the lactation period and during a single feed to meet the child’s individual and varying appetite and thirst (and hence nutrition and fluid requirements)
  • contains many beneficial bioactive components including antimicrobial factors, growth factors, anti-inflammatory factors, digestive enzymes, hormones, and nucleotides that assist in baby's gut maturation, physiological development and immunity
  • provides nutrients that are more easily digested and (for example, protein, calcium and iron) than those in formula
  • contains the polyunsaturated fatty acids required for retina and brain development
  • contains taurine for fat absorption

Because of these important differences, infant formula does not decrease the risk, and may increase the risk of infectious diseases and chronic diseases.

Is there anything wrong with giving my baby blue top milk? / I can’t afford formula, it’s all the same isn’t it?


Whole cow's milk is not suitable for babies (< 12 months). Use breast milk or formula as the main drink until baby is a year old. Cows’ milk should not be given as a drink until infants are older than one year. Infants fed cows’ milk before one year of age are at particular risk of developing depleted iron stores.

Most infant formula is based on cows milk. The Food Standard Code for infant formula requires that infant (< 6 months of age) formula meets the complete energy and nutritional for a healthy full-term infant up to six months of age. Around six months of age, an infant should also be receiving complementary foods.

I am having so much trouble breastfeeding, can I use formula to help us through this difficult patch?


See Complementary feeding.
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Page last reviewed: 31 July 2008


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