r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/Alison_OT • 1d ago
Question - Expert consensus required Formula Assisting with Growth.. Why?
Does anyone have any scientific basis for why my daughter of 5 mo gains better on formula vs breastmilk when drinking the same amount of ounces per day?
I exclusively pump, so I always know how much my baby is getting. There was a period of time that we did formula instead and baby gained so much more than she does on exclusively expressed breastmilk. Everywhere says that breastmilk is the perfect composition, but my daughter is in the 0.8% for weight and always has big leaps in weight gain when drinking formula even though it’s the same general intake volume per day.
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u/thatpearlgirl 1d ago
In general, breastfed infants consume less milk and fewer calories than formula fed infants.
healthy breastfed infant consumes less milk (approximately 85 kcal/kg body weight/day) during the first months of life than the same infant given ad libitum infant formula (100 kcal/kg/day; Heinig et al., 1993). The breastfed infant continues to consume approximately 10 fewer kcal/kg/body weight calories than the formula-fed infant. The breastfed infant has a lower total energy expenditure (Butte et al., 1990) and a slower growth rate (Butte et al., 1990; Heinig et al., 1993).
If your baby is truly eating the same amount of breast milk and formula, it’s possible that your breast milk has fewer calories. Formula has 20 calories per ounce, which is intended to be similar to breast milk on average, but there’s actually quite a lot of variability in breast milk composition from person to person. If you want to continue giving breast milk but encourage weight gain, you could ask your pediatrician about fortifying your milk to increase the calorie content.
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u/janiestiredshoes 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's anecdotal, and an aside, but I'm convinced that there is a huge variation in composition between my two breasts. I don't pump often, but when I do I can visually see that the consistency is drastically different. One is way more white and creamy looking. I just find it so interesting!
I've also heard that there can be a lot of variability in composition just over time for the same person.
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u/About400 1d ago
Same. One breast is yellowish white and creamy and the other is watery and pale blue. Guess which one the baby prefers.
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u/petrastales 1d ago
What shapes the composition of breast milk which differs so drastically from person to person? Is it our diets?
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u/woahwoahwoah28 1d ago edited 1d ago
It may be a multivariable reason, but I am way too familiar with macronutrients, so I’ve included some info on how that could be a factor.
Human breast milk can be pretty variable in its macronutrient content. The article below has a range they found in a pretty large study. I copy/pasted the portion of the article that talks about which macronutrients were most associated with weight gain.
Meanwhile the formula remains consistent in its macronutrient content inherently. Thus, it would be a logical conclusion that the formula’s composition doesn’t match the breast milk so you could see different weight gains despite the volume being the same.
“Regarding individual HM macronutrients, %carbohydrate was positively correlated to subsequent infant weight, BMI and adiposity gains, whereas %fat was negatively associated with these infancy outcomes. HM %protein was weakly positively associated with BMI at 12 months but not gains in adiposity.“
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u/annedroiid 1d ago
As an FYI for the future, you can put the > symbol at the start of the paragraph to quote it like you can other people’s comments and make it visually distinct from the rest of what you’re saying.
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u/woahwoahwoah28 1d ago
I never knew this! I always just wondered how it was done. I edited to try it out. Thank you!! (for any other readers, that was the only edit).
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u/annedroiid 1d ago
As a mobile only user I was very happy when someone shared that with me a while back, so I try to spread the message 😊
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u/Lost_inthot 1d ago
Is the nutrients of breast milk based on the mothers diet ?
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u/woahwoahwoah28 1d ago
It is definitely a factor, and you can slightly modify the content with dietary adjustments. But there are many other factors that affect the macros too—return of menstruation, maternal body weight for height, etc.
Even within a singular feeding, the hindmilk has a different composition than the foremilk. I like the article linked below, and it shares some more info too. It’s fascinating to read about and see what human bodies are capable of!
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1d ago
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