Well, there's some good news for vegan parents (those that don't eat any animal products, including milk and eggs, and want to raise their kids the same way): a new report has found that babies fed soy protein-based formula do just as well as babies that are given milk-based formula.
Of course (and I don't think any mom will truly be surprised by this), the same report also found that babies who were breastfed actually had the biggest advantage when it came to brain development. Shocked? I know I'm not.
Readmore ¿Qué más? I am done being judged by the breastfeeding police!
Now, my mom breastfed me and I will breastfeed my own kids (when I have them). But she recently revealed to me that she was one of those women who wasn't able to give a lot of milk and it started me thinking on if I would come across the same problem. What if the amount of milk I have after childbirth is as low as my mom's and I'm barely able to breastfeed a month? It's something that I really worry about and it turns out I'm not the only one. Report author Thomas Badger, director of the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center and a member of the science advisory board for the Soy Nutrition Institute, explains why the findings are important to moms (and future moms) like me:
While we feel there are significant benefits to breastfeeding, parents who cannot or do not breastfeed should not feel guilty or worried that their children will have adverse growth and development outcomes. Breast-fed infants test better in some—not all—standardized behavioral tests than formula-fed infants, although the differences are very small.
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The findings are overall good for parents who don't have enough milk to breastfeed but are perhaps not comfortable using milk-based formula. The jury for me is still out, but I'm glad that there are some options for moms who may not be able to breastfeed because of their own biology. And I'm really glad, for my few friends who are vegan, that they have a decent option, too.
Would you ever use a soy-based formula for your baby? Share with us in the comments below!
Image via garyfgarcia/flickr
