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Safe Infant Formula Guide I wrote this guide on how to choose Organic Baby Formula for the first time. Overall, things have moved in a positive direction on the formula front. Here are two ways the industry seems to be changing for the better: 1. Many companies have ditched corn sugars in favor of lactose. Lactose occurs naturally in cow (and goat) milk and much more closely mimics human milk. 2. Many organic baby formula brands are using lower quantities of cheap, problematic oils (such as soy and canola). They’ve increased the amount of healthier oils (such as coconut). The bottom line: infants born today will almost certainly enjoy a healthier formula than did their siblings born even 2 years earlier! As always, my goal with this updated guide is to make choosing the safest product easy. We’ve researched dozens of brands of Best Organic Infant Baby Formula so you don’t have to. Best American Organic Baby Formula If you want an organic baby formula that you can get in this country, my vote is Love Organic Baby. I’m putting this above Baby’s Only because it is approved for infants, and ahead of Plum Organics because it doesn’t contain taurine. You will read more about these formulas below, under The Good Stuff. “Sensitive” and Hypoallergenic Organic Baby Formula For those babies who need a hypoallergenic formula, many pediatricians recommend Pregestimil or Nutramigen (both by Enfamil) or Allimentum (by Similac). If forced to choose between these, I would go for the Allimentum since it skips the carrageenan and corn syrup. But I can’t call any of these Good Stuff since all three contain ingredients of concern and none is organic. Nutramigen is probably the very worst of these, comprised of 48% corn syrup solids!
If it were my baby, I would choose HiPP HA Organic Baby Formula, which contains no sugar, corn syrup, or maltodextrin, and is full of good prebiotics. Lebenswert Organic Baby Formula (Stage 1) Holle’s Lebenswert formula which features a shorter list of ingredients and one major upside over regular Holle. One of the the biggest problems with Holle’s original formula is that it contains maltodextrin. Lebenswert’s stage 1 formula is free of maltodextrin, relying instead upon lactose to lend sweetness to the formula. Moreover, Lebenswert adheres to Bioland organic guidelines for farmers and manufacturers. Lebenswert also skips a bunch of the synthetic nutrients found in most of the organic formulas in America. Lebenswert does still contain palm oil and canola oil (called “rapeseed oil”).