Nourishing Traditions Homemade Infant Formula
“Please Note: This recipe is what Kyra and I used for our family. It does not represent Amaranth’s official recommendation and is not the best approach for all families. We did regular visits with our family doctor and a ND (Naturopathic Doctor), and we fed a combo of breast milk, dry formula, and fresh formula. There are other recipes out there and other perspectives that might align with other families. We would recommend any family go over a feeding plan with a medical professional to ensure the best care for their baby.”
Homemade Infant Formula Recipe
Ingredients
Part 1 Water Mixture
● 1 7/8 cups filtered water
● 4 tablespoons lactose
● 2 teaspoons gelatin
● 2 teaspoons coconut oil
● 1/4 teaspoon high-vitamin butter oil (optional)
Part 2 Milk Mixture
● 2 cups organic whole milk
● 1/4 cup homemade liquid whey
● 1/4 teaspoon bifodobacterium infantis or 3 capsules/servings of other infant probiotic
● 2 tablespoons good quality cream
● 1/2 teaspoon high-vitamin cod liver oil or 1 teaspoon regular cod liver oil
● 1 teaspoon unrefined sunflower oil
● 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
● 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast flakes (unfortified)
● 1/4 teaspoon acerola powder
Instructions
1. Put 2 cups filtered water into a measuring pitcher and remove 2 tablespoons (that will give you 1-7/8 cups water).
2. Pour about half of the water into a pan and place on a medium flame.
3. Add the gelatin and lactose to the pan and let dissolve, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in the coconut oil and optional high-vitamin butter oil and stir until melted.
5. When the gelatin and lactose are dissolved and oils are melted, remove from heat and add the remaining water to cool the mixture.
6. Meanwhile, place the milk mixture ingredients into a blender.
7. Add the water mixture to the milk mixture and blend for about three seconds.
8. Place the combined mixture in glass bottles or a glass jar and refrigerate.
9. Before giving the formula to your baby, warm bottles by placing them in hot water or a bottle warmer. NEVER warm bottles in a microwave oven.
NOTE:
Please see this link for FAQ about the Nourishing Traditions recipe.
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/faq-homemade-baby-formula/#gsc.tab=0
MAKING homemade whey
Using yogurt as the base, we recommend Vital greens. Place 2 quarts yogurt or kefir in a strainer or colander lined with a linen kitchen towel or cheese cloth set over a bowl. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight. The whey will drip out into the bowl. Place whey in clean glass jars and store in the refrigerator.
The thick yogurt or kefir that is left is delicious mixed with maple syrup or raw honey—a great food for mom while she is nursing.
A shortcut I found was usen the Vital Greens plain yogurt and let it sit. Because the yogurt is minimally processed the whey separates naturally. After opening and taking a bit of the yogurt out, we found that after a few hours or overnight the yogurt naturally separated into solid creamer yogurt- and liquid whey. I simply used the liquid whey for the recipe.
Note:
Link to the article and other recipes below.
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/formula-homemade-baby-formula/?gad_source=1#gsc.tab=0
Homemade whey is a labour of love and patience.
Shopping List
filtered water
lactose (we recommend Life Lab)
gelatin (we recommend Organika bovine gelatin)
coconut oil (we recommend an organic high-quality option. We used Alpa DME, which can be special ordered from Amaranth)
high-vitamin butter oil (optional; we recommend Green Pastures; carried at all locations except our 130th Ave store)
*Note- you can also special-order Green Pastures combo butter and cod liver oil. We used this option at the ½ tsp suggestion (see below)
organic whole milk (we recommend Vital Greens or Rock Ridge whole milk)
*Note - the original Nourishing Traditions recipe calls for raw milk, which is very hard to get in Canada and in Alberta it would be illegal for Amaranth to sell! For an article on the safety of raw milk click here. If you live in the USA click here to see where you can find it (in most states it is legal)
homemade liquid whey (*see our recipe for whey above)
Baby probiotics- bifodobacterium infantis (we don’t carry this single strain but you may be able to order it online. We recommend Genestra
HMF baby F, You can also find online Smidge infant probiotics (which contains the bifodobacterium infantis). I used 3 capsules/scoops of the probiotic, which was roughly equivalent to 1/4tsp of the powder)
cream (more if you are using milk from Holstein cows- we recommend any of the creams we sell, Rock Ridge Jersey Cream [non Holstein cows] is the best but supplies are limited)
high-vitamin cod liver oil or regular cod liver oil (we recommend Green Pastures fermented cod liver oil; carried at all locations except 130th Ave. We also recommend Carlsons unflavoured for regular cod liver oil)
unrefined sunflower oil (we recommend Maison Orphee)
extra virgin olive oil (we recommend Rallis raw olive)
nutritional yeast flakes (we ONLY recommend the Real Nutritional Yeast 112g we sell because it is the only unfortified one we sell. Information on the yeast, click here)
acerola powder (At home we ordered the Flora Acerola powder online and used that. Amaranth doesn’t carry acerola powder, however, we estimated an equivalent amount of Organic Traditions Amla powder; 15g = 3tsp of 48mg vitamin C as well as Camu Camu powder; ¼ tsp = 60 mg vitamin C. Both are carried at all stores).
*Note- the RDA for vitamin C for babies is 40-50mg and our best guess is that ¼ tsp of acerola powder is around 40mg.
Our Story
Kyra and I both were on the same page with breastfeeding, we wanted to do it for all the benefits we have read about. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards for us. It was much harder than we had thought, and our midwife, doula and lactation MD were not much help at the beginning. We also learned early on that Kyra was experiencing D-MER, a condition where she experienced negative emotions when her milk let down. Over time we also learned that our daughter had a tongue tie (ankyloglossia). The result was that over the next few months we were not able to breastfeed.
4 months into parenting we learned the second major issue- our daughter had a high palate. We found that not all lactation doctors are the same and it took us a while to find one that worked well for Kyra and diagnosed the high palate.
It was too late to help with breastfeeding but we learned there were straightforward solutions. A) a number of positions that would make it much easier for breastfeeding from and B) therapists that could help. Unfortunately, a high palate can make things like DMER much worse. The same doctor that finally figured it out for us was also the one that recommended us to Laura Patrick- a craniosacral therapist and postpartum doula (who took us months to get in, but when we did was a life changer), who we continue to see monthly to do this day.
What we learned:
● Breastfeeding is not always intuitive, and many women struggle with it.
● Be aware of things like D-MER, tongue tie, high palates and other challenges beforehand.
● Issues at the beginning can impact things over the next few months as your body adjusts production to meet demands. Supplementing demand with formula and using different types of pumps can impact production.
One big thing we learned- feeding your baby formula is not a bad thing. Our daughter got a combination of breast milk, organic formula, and homemade formula and she is doing well. We also learned that there are many advantages to having formula as an option. Our daughter got the opportunity to be fed by many people that love her (namely me and her grandparents), which we feel helps with social development. It also allows Kyra and I to have more grandparent support- and gives Kyra a break from being the only supply of food.
What made us feel much better about using formula was knowing we found the best one money could buy. We used the fresh formula with the highest quality organic whole food ingredients we could find. Poppy actually preferred this formula almost as much as Kyra’s breast milk. Our backup option was Kendamil Organic formula out of the UK or HIPP from the EU (available online at happytotsorganic.com). We ended up using a combo of the three to feed Poppy for the first 4-6 months.
March 2024 Update
Amaranth does carry the current Health Canada approved Kendamil formulas in store, as well as a lower cost French formula- Modiliac and an allergy friendly formula- Aptamil. All of these formulas are from Europe.
Disclaimer
The information provided is for your general use, so be sure to talk to a qualified healthcare professional before making medical decisions or if you have questions about your health or the health of your infant.
I did my best to make sure the information was accurate and reliable but cannot guarantee that it is error-free or complete. Any feeding plan for an infant should be done with a medical professional's guidance.