Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

hn_throwaway_99

I mean, that's fine, but how many babies need that kind of formula? And parents with babies that do need that kind of formula are probably well aware of that.

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.

A baby dying of starvation is probably much worse than the risk of giving it wrong formula. And have you ever heard a hungry baby crying? It's not something you can wait long for.

Elsewhere in this discussion there's a Reddit posting by a pediatrician https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/uvcijm/a_pediatri.... Under four months, home made 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.

> Often has a dangerously different osmolality

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.

Exactly, babies have been eating for an extremely long time, far longer than boxes and bottles have been around and filled with the "only way to feed the babies".

In the old days, the alternative to store bought baby formula has not been a home-made one, it has rather been a wet nurse. At the time, people had more kids, so there were usually wet nurses available close by.

Also, many kids died.

Goats milk

Which is associated with anemia in infants....

In the pediatrician's advice I link to in this subthread, there's a "Common mistakes to be aware of at all ages" section, and about that:

"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.

Babies have also been dying for a very long time too. I would be wary of citing it. Some people also have damned good reasons not to breastfeed like medication or diseases that would spread via milk.

When a mother doesn't want to or cannot safely breastfeed there is still actual food that a baby can eat. This isn't nearly as daunting or complicated as it may appear at first glance. People really have been doing this for a long time - safely without their babies dying.

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

This is about babies that are ready to transition to solid foods. Not a replacement for formula.

That might be what you want to comment about, but that isn't what "the thread is about." The thread has been discussing a shortage of formula and the safety and efficacy of replacing formula with a different substance for babies to eat.

I mean your link. You seem to think that webmd article describes how to make baby formula. It does not. It describes how to transition your baby to solid foods once it is ready. They’re not the same thing. If you follow the recipes there for a young baby you will likely kill the baby.

>I mean your link. You seem to think that webmd article describes how to make baby formula.

I'm not sure what you saw, but I never posted a webmd link.

> 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

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.

> 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.

No, I think you’re full of shit and trying to change your story. Show me the web md link that’s shows you how to quickly and safely make baby food that you intended to demonstrate with your link. Explain how it makes sense contextually for the shortage of formula, which you yourself pointed out was the issue at hand.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com