From the forums and websites that I've read so far, babies of the West, i.e. USA, UK, etc., take regular/ fresh milk after the age of one. They no longer drink infant formula or breastmilk. However, things are a little different here in Asia. I, for one, am still doing total, direct breastfeeding, which, for varied reasons, comes as a surprise to many. Personally, I don't think I will ever trust any man-made product enough, to have my child's main source of nutrition/ growth/ development to be dependent on it. All companies are run on profit. How many babies died after drinking the China milk poisoned with Melamine? 6. Plus, 860 babies were hospitalised. And four years before that, in the same country, 13 babies died from malnutrition because of watered-down milk. Despicable bottom-feeders! I get so riled up everytime I think about this! Nonetheless, I fully respect mothers, who for very legitimate reasons offer their babies formula from birth or later. It's hard-hitting on the pockets too, because these little milk vampires easily bottoms-ups a large tin per four days!
I've been speaking to parents regarding this Asian phenomenon (some of whom are doctors too), asking why they give their toddlers formula instead of fresh milk (which Chubbs loves). And do they really believe it's better for the kids? The most common answer, "Don't know. I'm not 100% convinced that the stuff they add in formula is better for them/ critical for development, but everyone else feeds their babies that, and I don't want (my baby) to lose out... in case it is truly beneficial." How amazing is the power of marketing. Kudos to those in the marketing departments of brands manufacturing the aforementioned product. Quit your day jobs! You guys should be writing books.
I'm not sold on the formula-case, after reading for days on both sides of the coin. Moreover, Chubbs loves fresh milk- I give him Meiji full-fat milk with his cereal, in his pancakes, baked in muffins, etc. Anyhow, we are still trying to give him some formula because Chubbs refuses any fish we feed him, so he has no DHA in his system at all. Chubbs totally hates EnfaLac, which has the highest DHA content amongst the formulas, which mean tastes/ smells the "fishiest". Next, we tried Nestle Nan. He wouldn't drink a sip of it neat, but tolerated it a little better when I gave him 50% fresh milk, 50% formula. Trick is, I have to make it ahead, keep it in the fridge till it gets icy cold, so he can't smell the difference, and feed it to him in a shot glass. Yes, a shot glass. Tequila anyone?
So there we have it. Moderation wins the prize (again). I don't know how long we can ride on this wave of success; it could be over tomorrow. But in the meantime, Chubbs is happy with his tea-time snack, I'm happy (because I don't need 30min of frustrating bribing and begging to get him to drink his 60ml), and Fuzzy's really happy because he can now more effectively "encourage" Chubbs to drink up.
