Back when I was still pregnant, one of my sisters in law suggested that I should register with the Women, Infants and Children [WIC] program. I wasn’t aware of the program then since I just arrived in the US a few months prior. She explained that if I register with them, I could get free milk and other stuff that a new mother like me needed. My husband had a good job then so we didn’t see the need to do it. We thought there might be someone out there who needed that assistance more than we did.

Not too long ago, the daughter of that sister in law had a baby of her own. She’s quite young and had no way to support herself and her baby so she took advantage of the WIC program. When we had a get-together in their house after the baby was born, I noticed that the baby formula she has are store brand formula. Our little one was breastfed so I have no idea the difference between the brand name and a store brand baby formula. So I asked why she’s using store brand formula instead of the more known formula. My niece said that if there’s a difference between the two, it’s only the price. Ha! And she’s right, of course. As it turns out, all these baby formula in the stores, branded and not-branded [or store brand] go through the same scrutiny by the FDA and they contain the same nutrients. Which means that store brand formulas are as good as any of those 'branded' formula.

Breast milk is and will always be the best for a baby and that’s a fact. But if a baby has to be fed with baby formula for various reasons, then it should be known that the name [and price] of a baby formula does not really make a difference as far as nutrients is concerned. Switching from brand name to store brand baby formula can save one hundreds of dollars a year. Now, that’s worth thinking about. With the new WIC program policy where a reduction of up to 20 percent in infant-formula subsidies, mothers should start thinking about switching to store brand formulas.

 

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