You can feed your baby top-quality formula and still save
(NAPSA) - There's good news for parents when it comes to doing
what's best for baby's health. You can provide for little or
no cost most of what your baby needs right now. According to
the experts on infants at the Centers for Disease Control,
it's important to:
- Talk to your baby. It is soothing to hear your voice. When
your baby makes sounds, answer him by repeating and adding
words. This will help him learn to use language.
- Read to your baby. This helps her develop and understand
language and sounds.
- Sing to your baby and play music. This helps develop a love
for music and math.
- Praise your baby and give him lots of loving attention.
Cuddle and hold your baby. This helps her feel cared for and
secure.
More good news is that you can save money on feeding your
youngster. ***-feeding is not only generally best for
baby's growth and development, but also it's free.
If you do choose to use infant formula some or all the time,
you can save by shopping for price without sacrificing
quality. That's because parents can save by buying store-brand
formulas, which recently received a boost from several studies
by pediatric researchers at the University of Virginia. "Our
work proves there is no physiological reason you can't switch
from one brand of infant formula to another that shares the
same protein source, which means store brands are just as
nutritionally sound as national brands," said James L.
Sutphen, M.D., Ph.D.
In addition, "Consumer Reports," perhaps the foremost
authority on quality and savings, says that there's no need
for parents to choose expensive national-brand infant formulas
over their much more reasonable store-brand counterparts sold
at drugstores, grocery stores and other retailers.
"Is the store brand as good as the national brand? It has to
be," writes author Sandra Gordon and the editors of "Consumer
Reports." "According to the Food and Drug Administration
[FDA], all formula marketed in the U.S. must meet the same
nutrient specifications, which are set at levels to fulfill
the needs of infants.
Although infant-formula manufacturers may have their own
proprietary formulations, brand-name and store-brand formula
must contain at least the minimum levels of all nutrients
specified in FDA regulations, without exceeding maximum
levels, where those are specified."
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