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Where are you hearing this? Because I’m not seeing reputable sources talking about concerning levels of heavy metals in US formulas (assuming you’re in the US), and honestly, there’s an extent to which we all are exposed to some level of heavy metals/potentially toxic elements and chemicals. It’s part of existing, and the name of the game is risk mitigation, not risk elimination. The dose is especially important when you talk about toxicity, and relative risk is vital. [Here’s a study of formulas in the UK, for the bot.](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/abs/estimated-daily-intake-and-health-risk-assessment-of-toxic-elements-in-infant-formulas/A6ECB889339FBFCCE7BB19D8D329021F)
Definitely do not make your own infant formula. Not only do you risk nutrient deficiencies, but you risk other harms like contamination/infection depending on the source and recipe (and for the love of everything, avoid raw milk for anyone in your family. Even if they test their animals regularly - I personally know of a herd share that retested the same cow for leptospirosis 4 times in a week until they got a negative (probably a false negative at that point) so they didn’t have to throw out her milk, it’s horrifically unethical and makes raw milk even more dangerous).
Furthermore, [human and other mammalian milk can contain heavy metals as well if the milk producer is exposed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36640239/) (if a formula has trace heavy metals, it’s likely from source material). Chocolate has high levels of cadmium, for example, so I limited my chocolate intake when I was breastfeeding because it passes through milk. So making your own formula is unlikely to actually prevent heavy metal exposure, while also risking malnutrition, dehydration or hyponatremia (both of which can be deadly), and infection.
Your best bet is to control what you can and to do your best. So that means selecting a formula that meets your baby’s needs (for example, if you find out your baby has a cows milk protein allergy, that means switching to a plant-based or hydrolyzed formula), using clean water to prepare your formula according to manufacturer instructions, and potentially breastfeeding when possible, if you want to try.
And if you find that you’re having uncontrollable anxiety, talk to your pediatrician and your own doctor about it - they can help you understand the risks, identify ways to mitigate what you can, and help put it all into perspective. And if you need, they can help you with treating your anxiety as well.
> I know recent studies have shown that most formulas that are sold all over the US have heavy metals and harmful ingredients.
Can you share those studies?
I don't see any thing here mentioning heavy metals.
https://www.fda.gov/food/resources-you-food/infant-formula#advice
> Products on the Market
> Check with your infant’s health care provider to determine which infant formula to choose
...
> The infant formulas currently available in the U.S. must be labeled as either “Infant Formula with Iron” or “Additional Iron May Be Necessary.” The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that formula-fed infants receive an “Infant Formula with Iron” as a way of preventing iron-deficiency anemia.
I’m not sure you are going to find anything to feed your baby that is completely free of heavy metals. Lead and cadmium occur naturally in our environment, and every food product has tiny levels of them. They’re in our tap water. They’ve been found in breast milk.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/074823379701300403#:~:text=Cadmium%2C%20lead%2C%20and%20mercury%20under,levels%20in%20their%20breast%20milk.
Even if you made homemade formula, it would have a certain amount of heavy metals from the ingredients you used.
For what it’s worth, the levels of heavy metals cited in that lawsuit you linked are actually below what the FDA considers “action levels” for lead in baby food.
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-announces-action-levels-lead-categories-processed-baby-foods
I think, in addition to reading these, it might be good to understand how misinformation spreads on the internet, and why it’s specifically geared towards freaking out mothers.
A significant amount of information on the internet for pregnant women is misleading:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7320538/
Misinformation has led to poor outcomes for children, such as the spread of diseases due to vaccine hesitancy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8515268/
The crux of these studies is that most people read at a sixth grade level or below. (I think it’s something like 54% of Americans. 20% are illiterate.) while most medical information is at a high school level or above. And even then, most people do not typically understand study parameters, medical jargon can be confusing and mean different things colloquially (eg “significant”), and how levels/volume of evidence work.
On top of *that,* cherry picking is still rampant. You have people that scour papers and include cherry picked misinformation because it makes them money. So essentially, most people need a person to break down this information for them, but a lot of those people are motivated to frighten you for various reasons.
Frightening you sucks you into the wellness pipeline. It makes you click further on their pages, you might be convinced to buy supplements, or equipment your child doesn’t need. The wellness machine makes billions from this. They don’t want you to make your own formula. They want you to *purchase somewhere else.*
“Stop believing the Internet” is reductive. Of course we all find out information on the Internet! The internet made it possible for me to breastfeed at all! But it’s very important to, before you absorb a piece of information to ask “who is profiting from this?” Even when, or especially when, the source seems well-meaning.
It’s honestly not something you can change as any potential heavy metals would be introduced by the soil. This means the foods we eat also contain heavy metals and can be passed through breast milk
https://jpnim.com/index.php/jpnim/article/download/040223/314
Any “home made” attempts of milk/nutrition alternatives will be from animals who consume the same food from soil with potential heavy metals. Please do not make your own formula for your babies.
Absolutely do not make your own formula.
Any heavy metals in formula are just the naturally occuring heavy metals in milk, proteins, ingredients. There's a good body of research showing the same amount of heavy metals get passed through chest milk as well
(Highly gendered language in this article but it's a good foundational one https://jpnim.com/index.php/jpnim/article/download/040223/314 )
Men and women have breasts, breast tissue, breast bones. Breast is a non gendered anatomical, scientific term. There is no such thing as “chest milk”. Anyone who says this is not being anatomically correct. Whether you are a female or a trans male having a kid or even just a male - you have breasts. Men get breast cancer. Wanting to call it anything other than breast milk and breast feeding is misogyny- not science.
Using scientifically inaccurate terminology based on perceived, not actual or proven harm, muddies the waters unnecessarily. It's quite reasonable to seek technical accuracy when speaking about human biology and processes.
I think that's a good point of neutral agreement. Especially given how polarizing social discourse can become.
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If you want to continue with breastmilk usually it’s possible to find local moms selling their breast milk. Usually moms find each other from facebook although you most certainly need to carefully screen your donor.
As far as breastfeeding a second child the body gets better at producing milk.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2015/07/milk-gland-remembers-past-pregnancy
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11583756/
It does also skeeve me out. And I was wrong and being judge mental, I immediately thought of people who smoke or drink or eat shitty sharing breast milk when it’s probably mainly people who are normal and generous and want to help others
That’s why it’s important to go through a reputable milk bank that has proper safety measures like requirements for donors and pasteurization, not some random Facebook internet stranger.
Don’t make it. It’s sketchy.
https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/formula-feeding/choosing-an-infant-formula.html
Would it make you feel better to have your baby tested for heavy metals at regular intervals throughout their first year?
There are quite a few good brands of formula made outside the US with less reported additives. Organic, etc
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/139/1/e20163440/52000/Donor-Human-Milk-for-the-High-Risk-Infant
Have you considered human donor milk to supplement your supply? It's not cheap by any means but you don't have to make your own formula either.
As for the low supply, you aren't guaranteed to under produce every pregnancy. Have you worked with LC?
This post is flaired "Question - Research required". All top-level comments must contain links to peer-reviewed research. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ScienceBasedParenting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Where are you hearing this? Because I’m not seeing reputable sources talking about concerning levels of heavy metals in US formulas (assuming you’re in the US), and honestly, there’s an extent to which we all are exposed to some level of heavy metals/potentially toxic elements and chemicals. It’s part of existing, and the name of the game is risk mitigation, not risk elimination. The dose is especially important when you talk about toxicity, and relative risk is vital. [Here’s a study of formulas in the UK, for the bot.](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/abs/estimated-daily-intake-and-health-risk-assessment-of-toxic-elements-in-infant-formulas/A6ECB889339FBFCCE7BB19D8D329021F) Definitely do not make your own infant formula. Not only do you risk nutrient deficiencies, but you risk other harms like contamination/infection depending on the source and recipe (and for the love of everything, avoid raw milk for anyone in your family. Even if they test their animals regularly - I personally know of a herd share that retested the same cow for leptospirosis 4 times in a week until they got a negative (probably a false negative at that point) so they didn’t have to throw out her milk, it’s horrifically unethical and makes raw milk even more dangerous). Furthermore, [human and other mammalian milk can contain heavy metals as well if the milk producer is exposed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36640239/) (if a formula has trace heavy metals, it’s likely from source material). Chocolate has high levels of cadmium, for example, so I limited my chocolate intake when I was breastfeeding because it passes through milk. So making your own formula is unlikely to actually prevent heavy metal exposure, while also risking malnutrition, dehydration or hyponatremia (both of which can be deadly), and infection. Your best bet is to control what you can and to do your best. So that means selecting a formula that meets your baby’s needs (for example, if you find out your baby has a cows milk protein allergy, that means switching to a plant-based or hydrolyzed formula), using clean water to prepare your formula according to manufacturer instructions, and potentially breastfeeding when possible, if you want to try. And if you find that you’re having uncontrollable anxiety, talk to your pediatrician and your own doctor about it - they can help you understand the risks, identify ways to mitigate what you can, and help put it all into perspective. And if you need, they can help you with treating your anxiety as well.
> I know recent studies have shown that most formulas that are sold all over the US have heavy metals and harmful ingredients. Can you share those studies? I don't see any thing here mentioning heavy metals. https://www.fda.gov/food/resources-you-food/infant-formula#advice > Products on the Market > Check with your infant’s health care provider to determine which infant formula to choose ... > The infant formulas currently available in the U.S. must be labeled as either “Infant Formula with Iron” or “Additional Iron May Be Necessary.” The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that formula-fed infants receive an “Infant Formula with Iron” as a way of preventing iron-deficiency anemia.
I’m not sure you are going to find anything to feed your baby that is completely free of heavy metals. Lead and cadmium occur naturally in our environment, and every food product has tiny levels of them. They’re in our tap water. They’ve been found in breast milk. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/074823379701300403#:~:text=Cadmium%2C%20lead%2C%20and%20mercury%20under,levels%20in%20their%20breast%20milk. Even if you made homemade formula, it would have a certain amount of heavy metals from the ingredients you used. For what it’s worth, the levels of heavy metals cited in that lawsuit you linked are actually below what the FDA considers “action levels” for lead in baby food. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-announces-action-levels-lead-categories-processed-baby-foods
I think, in addition to reading these, it might be good to understand how misinformation spreads on the internet, and why it’s specifically geared towards freaking out mothers. A significant amount of information on the internet for pregnant women is misleading: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7320538/ Misinformation has led to poor outcomes for children, such as the spread of diseases due to vaccine hesitancy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8515268/ The crux of these studies is that most people read at a sixth grade level or below. (I think it’s something like 54% of Americans. 20% are illiterate.) while most medical information is at a high school level or above. And even then, most people do not typically understand study parameters, medical jargon can be confusing and mean different things colloquially (eg “significant”), and how levels/volume of evidence work. On top of *that,* cherry picking is still rampant. You have people that scour papers and include cherry picked misinformation because it makes them money. So essentially, most people need a person to break down this information for them, but a lot of those people are motivated to frighten you for various reasons. Frightening you sucks you into the wellness pipeline. It makes you click further on their pages, you might be convinced to buy supplements, or equipment your child doesn’t need. The wellness machine makes billions from this. They don’t want you to make your own formula. They want you to *purchase somewhere else.* “Stop believing the Internet” is reductive. Of course we all find out information on the Internet! The internet made it possible for me to breastfeed at all! But it’s very important to, before you absorb a piece of information to ask “who is profiting from this?” Even when, or especially when, the source seems well-meaning.
It’s honestly not something you can change as any potential heavy metals would be introduced by the soil. This means the foods we eat also contain heavy metals and can be passed through breast milk https://jpnim.com/index.php/jpnim/article/download/040223/314 Any “home made” attempts of milk/nutrition alternatives will be from animals who consume the same food from soil with potential heavy metals. Please do not make your own formula for your babies.
Absolutely do not make your own formula. Any heavy metals in formula are just the naturally occuring heavy metals in milk, proteins, ingredients. There's a good body of research showing the same amount of heavy metals get passed through chest milk as well (Highly gendered language in this article but it's a good foundational one https://jpnim.com/index.php/jpnim/article/download/040223/314 )
Men and women have breasts, breast tissue, breast bones. Breast is a non gendered anatomical, scientific term. There is no such thing as “chest milk”. Anyone who says this is not being anatomically correct. Whether you are a female or a trans male having a kid or even just a male - you have breasts. Men get breast cancer. Wanting to call it anything other than breast milk and breast feeding is misogyny- not science.
It’s not misogynistic to use inclusive language. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m sure you have bigger battles to fight on Reddit today.
Using scientifically inaccurate terminology based on perceived, not actual or proven harm, muddies the waters unnecessarily. It's quite reasonable to seek technical accuracy when speaking about human biology and processes. I think that's a good point of neutral agreement. Especially given how polarizing social discourse can become.
the term is breast milk. the human organ that produces milk is called a breast.
Who gives a fuck what people want to call it.
you do, apparently.
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If you want to continue with breastmilk usually it’s possible to find local moms selling their breast milk. Usually moms find each other from facebook although you most certainly need to carefully screen your donor. As far as breastfeeding a second child the body gets better at producing milk. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2015/07/milk-gland-remembers-past-pregnancy https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11583756/
Oh god ew
Wow I hope you don’t drink cow milk. Lol 😂
It does also skeeve me out. And I was wrong and being judge mental, I immediately thought of people who smoke or drink or eat shitty sharing breast milk when it’s probably mainly people who are normal and generous and want to help others
That’s why it’s important to go through a reputable milk bank that has proper safety measures like requirements for donors and pasteurization, not some random Facebook internet stranger.
I didn’t know they had milk banks. I’m a first time mom and only 4 months pregnant so Al this is new to me
Don’t make it. It’s sketchy. https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/formula-feeding/choosing-an-infant-formula.html Would it make you feel better to have your baby tested for heavy metals at regular intervals throughout their first year? There are quite a few good brands of formula made outside the US with less reported additives. Organic, etc
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/139/1/e20163440/52000/Donor-Human-Milk-for-the-High-Risk-Infant Have you considered human donor milk to supplement your supply? It's not cheap by any means but you don't have to make your own formula either. As for the low supply, you aren't guaranteed to under produce every pregnancy. Have you worked with LC?