[music] The moment you've been waiting
for is almost here,
the birth of your baby.
And having a baby
is a beautiful life-changing event, but
it's also a time where new moms have so
many questions and so much to do-- the
checklist is endless; the baby registry,
the pediatrician, crib, room, and more.
And more importantly than that the
baby's nutrition.
Many moms still debate over
whether they should just breastfeed or
formula feed and that decision is really
a personal one.
Joining me this morning
to discuss this is Tiffany DeWitt, a
registered dietician at Abbott, the maker
of Similac infant formula.
Good morning.
Does that all sound
familiar because that was 15 years ago
for me but I remember just struggling do I
breast feed, do I not?
Listening to
people, the advantages/disadvantages--
I decided to breastfeed for six months
and it was just a personal choice, I did
it.
Yeah it's a very personal choice and
then the same thing happened with me
only in the very recent future and so as a
dietitian I always recommend breastfeeding first, but when it
comes to your personal decision for me it
wasn't necessarily one or the other but
what worked best for my family and my
babies to make sure that they got the
nutrition that they needed.
So what did you do you
combined both?
I did, I went back to work
and so what worked best for me eventually is to make sure that
we combined both breast milk as
well as formula-feeding.
And you hear that from a
lot of moms who want to do the right
thing but a lot of them have to go back
to work quickly and they can't breastfeed or they don't want to
and that's okay.
It is, it's more than okay and we all
know that breast milk is the gold
standard for infant nutrition but it's
really breast milk that drives the
development of infant formulas and it's
understanding that research and what
specifically is in breast milk that gives babies the growth and
development that they need, and that my
work at Abbott nutrition and why I love
what I do is that I'm able to help
educate and empower moms around infant
nutrition so that they can feel confident in the nutrition
decisions they're making for their
families.
And that's important because again
you're making so many decisions before
the baby arrives-- I remember looking at
I don't know how many car seats, how
many strollers, and then going to the
supermarket and seeing the endless line
of formulas it was just overwhelming.
It is there are so many
options, and so many great options out
there for mothers today and so it's
important to understand that while
breast milk is the gold standard, it's
important to understand your nutrition
options as a mom and what to look for or
what to talk with with your pediatrician.
So what should we look for?
Yeah so
there's a few important things to look
for when you're thinking of infant
nutrition, so first, you may have heard of
calcium for strong bones right?
Of course.
And so when you are reading
or talking with them, with people you may
have heard of lutein, DHA, and vitamin E,
and these ingredients are important to
support the brain, and eye development
for babies.
The second thing is groundbreaking research on human
milk oligosaccharides-- Similac
infant formulas are the first infant formulas to
have two FL, human milk
oligosaccharides or HMO and this is important for
your babies because it supports the
development immune system of your babies
and this was previously only found in
breast milk at significant levels.
So as moms we're always trying to
protect our babies from every new contact
that they have during the day and so this
will help support that developing
immune system.
And last for many parents it's
not necessarily what's in the formulas
but what's not.
Which is important as
well.
It is and so it's giving moms
options to look for with no artificial
growth hormones as well as non HMO, so
babies can make sure that they're
getting the nutrition they need.
So it really is a great option for
moms looking for a good infant
formula.
Yes moms need to feel confident that
they're making the right decisions for
their infants and with Similac it's
been around for over 90 years now
giving babies a strong start and giving
moms the confidence that they need to
make sure that they're nourishing
their babies.
But who doesn't want to give
their baby the very best right?
Exactly that's all that we want
regardless of what we choose-- that's what we
want at the end of the day.
Thank you so much for your time Tiffany.
Absolutely.
I really appreciate it,
and if you'd like more information on
this you can go to Similac dot com or you
can go to our website thebalancingact.com
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[music]