(...And Formula Milk Companies)

  Most people know that breastmilk is the best food for babies, but they also think that formula milk is just as good.  Therefore, most people have no qualms about feeding their babies formula milk even though they are fully capable of breastfeeding their babies.  Some people, especially the older folks, even believe that formula milk is better than breastmilk.

Well, here's the truth : Although formula milk is sufficient for the growth of a baby, it is nowhere near being a substitute (definitely not a close substitute) for breastmilk.

Before I go on about formula milk, this is what you should know about breastmilk:

1. Breastmilk is 'alive'.  It contains antibodies that help protect your baby from diseases, and depending on the exposure of the mother, the antibodies will vary from mother to mother, from day to day.  Formula milk does not contain antibodies that protect your baby from diseases.

2. Breastmilk changes according to your baby's need.  The breastmilk of a mother with a 1 month old baby is not the same as the breastmilk of a mother with a 6 months old baby.  Breastmilk changes as your baby grows to meet the needs of your baby at the various stages of his life.  Formula milk, on the other hand, is the same all the time, except when you switch from infant formula to 'follow on' formula for various age groups.

3. Nobody has yet been able to 'map out' the exact and complete ingredients (or components) of breastmilk.  This is also because breastmilk is always changing.  That is why formula milk is not even close to being a close substitute for breastmilk. Hence, feeding your baby formula milk is not giving your baby all those 'wonderful ingredients' that the formula companies claim that formula milk has.  It is actually depriving your baby of all the rest of the ingredients present in breastmilk but not in formula milk.