Some of it is for those with metabolic problems. Abbott makes one type which very recently the government has taken action about, but each recipient has be vetted to get it, I believe it's from non-FDA regulated production in Europe.
If you Google "how to make homemade baby formula", basically every article is how experts strongly recommend against it. And there are articles like "Why following TikTok influencers' baby formula recipes is a terrible idea."
No shit following TikTok baby formula recipes is a horrible idea. But if a detailed recipe for age-appropriate "standard" baby formula were published by experts, my guess is that it wouldn't contain fairy dust.
I can commiserate somewhat with these "experts", though, because this is a fairly common case where what is good advice for an individual can be bad advice for the masses. That is, if you're a reasonably intelligent person, it's probably not that hard to make your own baby formula. But if, say, at least 20% of people are not reasonably intelligent, experts will err on the side of "lowest common denominator" advice.
"Goat's milk contains very little folate and its use as a primary calorie source causes megaloblastic anemia."
Cows milk over 32 oz/day will cause iron deficiency, and "In children this is a hypercoagulable state and can cause cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. I have see this."
Substitutes for human milk designed for human consumption turn out not to be trivial.
I've seen people here say they have learned how to feed their babies on tiktok. For a place better than tiktok, there is a ton of information on WebMD showing how to quickly and safely make baby food.
google.com/search?q=webmd+baby+food+recipes
I'm not sure what you saw, but I never posted a webmd link.
> google.com/search?q=webmd+baby+food+recipes
Extremely likely that the first hit will be: https://www.webmd.com/baby/how-to-make-baby-food
Even if you’re going to pretend this isn’t what you meant, the claim that web md has a ton of information on how to make baby food is false, in the context of formula.
I'm not pretending anything. Look at what I wrote (which you actually quoted). "For a place better than tiktok, there is a ton of information on WebMD showing how to quickly and safely make baby food."
I put the link for a google search and referenced the list of results. You chose to only look at the first result to feed a baby. Did you click the button, "I'm Feeling Lucky" that automatically takes you to the first link? That's completely unreasonable and not why I posted that search.
Furthermore, I never said that WebMD shows how to make baby formula.
"Often has a dangerously different osmolality. Infants eat whatever they are given and have dumb kidneys, so are prone to hyponatremia or hypernatremia and every pediatrician has seen a baby die this way. Don’t do it."
See that and other discussions here about the differences between infant (above) and toddler formula.
That makes sense, but again, for anyone who has ever taken a chemistry class, creating a solution with a known osmolality is not difficult - basically all you need is a scale. But I also don't doubt that rando TikTok recipes are wildly dangerous.
And the age range argument doesn't really make sense if there were a standard recipe for "human breast milk replacement". I'm pretty sure human breast milk doesn't change composition as a child ages, and no one is arguing you can't breast feed toddlers because the milk is for the wrong age.