Baby

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These are items we’ve found useful in raising Luke.

Diapers We’ve had good experience with these – no leakage in 6 months	<br />	<br />	<br />
Kitchen items Spoons for feeding solid foods Containers for freezing pre-prepared baby foods Bib keeps baby clean	<br />	<br />	<br />
Teething Toys Teeth come in about 5-6 months Chewing on hard rings helps relieve pain	<br />	<br />	<br />
More Teething-Useful Toys Not primarily for teething but the baby can use these for teething comfort	<br />
Exercise equipment These can help the baby learn to walk Placing the music keypad under the bumper jumper makes it more stimulating for the baby	<br />	<br />
Furniture Safe and comfortable places for the baby to sit, lie, or rest	<br />
Play Equipment It’s helpful to have multiple play stations and move the baby between them to avoid boredom	<br />	<br />	<br />
Clothing – Sleep Sacks These are most useful at night	<br />	<br />	<br />
Clothing – Day Use These are cotton, comfortable to wear and easy to put on and off	<br />	<br />	<br />
Diaper Changing Washable changing cloth is a good surface for diaper changing Vaseline on diaper and baby powder on the baby’s bottom can help prevent diaper rash	<br />	<br />	<br />
Wash Cloths & Swaddle Blankets Wash cloths clean drool or spilled milk Swaddle blankets are light all-purpose coverings and play cloths	<br />	<br />
Feeding – bottles and nipples NUK bottles are light and easy to hold NUK nipples have a ventilation hole that helps prevent gas; change from slow to medium to fast flow as baby grows Avent bottles accept NUK nipples	<br />	<br />	<br />
Bottle and nipple cleaning We use bottles no more than 8 hours, then wash in hot water and soap, then boil to sterilize them Drying rack is very convenient	<br />
Formula Favored commercial formulas: Enfamil Newborn, Similac Advance, Gerber Gentle Good Start We alternate formulas	<br />	<br />	<br />
Supplements Vitamins A, D, and C are crucial for infant growth and are probably too low in both formula and most mothers’ milk For formula only, vinegar (for acetic acid) and fish sauce (for nucleotides) can help make up for deficient levels of oligosaccharides (fiber for gut bacteria)	<br />	<br />	<br />
Pacifiers Designed by age — 0-6 months and 6-18 months	<br />	<br />
Car Seat & Stroller; Carrier Car seat is essential first purchase to bring baby home from hospital Convenient to be able to mount car seat on stroller – in this case, a jogging stroller BabyBjorn carrier has worked well for us	<br />	<br />
Bathtub Luke loves to bathe Virtually no drowning risk, comfortable and fun to play in	<br />
Flooring/Mat (educational) A soft durable mat on which to sit; removable letters and numbers to play with	<br />
Educational Toys Learn physical coordination and other early age skills	<br />	<br />	<br />
Musical Instruments For musical toddlers	<br />	<br />	<br />
Shoes We recommend minimalist shoes at all ages	<br />	<br />
Board books Physical play toys as well as introductions to reading	<br />	<br />	<br />

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17 Comments.

Heather April 17, 2015 at 9:38 am

I am so confused why you are promoting formula use. If you had to use formula with your son (not familiar with the circumstances), I’m so surprised that you used run-of-the-mill formula and not home-made or at least organic. I feel like you’re just trying to sell stuff from your Amazon link!

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- Heather April 17, 2015 at 9:39 am
  
  Just to add, I am a big fan, but am totally giving the side eye at this!
  
  Reply
- Paul Jaminet April 17, 2015 at 11:48 am
  
  Hi Heather,
  
  Breast milk is better, but not everyone can produce enough. It’s not easy to make your own, and not necessarily as good – the WAPF formula for instance has too much protein, which is hard to avoid in food-based formulas. These are the best commercial formulas we could find, in terms of mimicking the composition of breast milk, which is what we are after.
  
  Reply
  - Casey November 4, 2019 at 4:02 am
    
    Hello Dr. Jaminet,
    
    You’ve written that the WAPF formula has too much protein. My husband (a mathematician) and I looked at the numbers and all the organic European formulas (which we use as we live in Europe) for 6 months + have the exact same amount as the WAPF: 1.5 grams of protein per 100 ml of prepared product. Is this too much or normal for that age?
    
    I don’t really see a difference with the formula you show here. It’s 2.2 grams per about 150 ml.
    
    How many grams of protein should a baby be getting per kg? An egg yolk contains about 2-3, right, so if my son drinks about 200 ml four times a day, isn’t this a lot of protein? Is it even ok to add liver or meat to that? I occasionally give liver pâté.
    
    Please answer! I am so confused and worried that I’ve been giving my son excess protein for months. He has appetite issues, but if he doesn’t drink enough his nights are too short.
    
    Reply
    - Paul Jaminet November 4, 2019 at 8:52 am
      
      Hi Casey,
      
      The relevant number is not grams per ml of product, but calories as a percentage of total calories. The formula should ideally match the percentage found in human breast milk, about 7%. Most commercial formulas do that.
      
      The challenge is that human breast milk cannot be replicated by a combination of natural whole foods. I don’t know what “organic” means in the context of infant formula, but in order to make a formula that replicates the content of human breast milk, it is necessary to make a processed food, not a natural product composed of food items. Thus, while we formulated ourselves a PHD Baby Food, http://perfecthealthdiet.com/recipe/phd-baby-food/, this is not intended for use as a formula, but as a food (with the nutritional composition of a complete meal) to introduce at the time of weaning, of transition from breast milk or formula to food, typically starting at age 4-6 months.
      
      European organic formulas could be excellent, I don’t know, you would have to check the ingredients and nutritional composition. But the WAPF design did not mimic the composition of breast milk, and therefore was in our view inferior to commercial formulas. We looked at this some years ago and perhaps things have changed since.
      
      I hope this helps you understand why we recommend commercial formulas for those who can’t breast feed. They appear to be the best available products at present.
      
      Best, Paul
      
      Reply
      - Casey November 6, 2019 at 2:34 pm
        
        Hello Paul,
        
        Thank you for the taking the time to respond! Unfortunately, I don’t understand why not grams of protein per ml rather than caloric percentage? In fact my husband said that it’s not possible to calculate the percentage of protein with the information given on the container. It gives total calories, protein, carb, and fat grams per 100 grams and 100 ml of prepared milk. But what does that change anyway if we can see the grams of protein per ml? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.
        
        Sadly, any powdered milk formula is certainly far from excellent, it seems. That is why WAPF tries to make it from real, raw milk (as you know).
        
        https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/ra/c9ra03223a#!divAbstract
      - Paul Jaminet November 6, 2019 at 2:54 pm
        
        Hi Casey,
        
        Protein has 4 calories per gram, so you can calculator caloric percentage from grams of protein per ml and total calories per ml.
        
        Cow’s milk has 20% protein by calories so it is too high in protein for human babies.
        
        Best, Paul
      - Casey November 16, 2019 at 10:03 am
        
        Hello Paul,
        
        I hope that you won’t mind pursuing this subject as I find it very interesting.
        
        I read from a few good sources that “mature breast milk” contains about 1.3 grams protein per 100 ml. Using the chart on the WAPF page this is indeed about 7% protein. The European formulas contain 1.5 grams per dL as I said, which I calculated to be 8.7% protein by calories. This is the 2nd stage formula designed for babies 6 months +, and again all the European formulas we’ve seen in France and Germany have this amount.
        
        I just calculated the caloric percentage of protein in the WAPF formula. It is 8.4 % protein by calories. Aha! Isn’t that fascinating? So the WAPF formula is actually better from this aspect than the European formulas? Perhaps you are not giving it justice?
        
        You said that cow’s milk is 30% protein by calories, but the WAPF formula involves diluting the milk by about half.
        
        I’m continuing to “nerd out” and checking the protein percentage on the formulas you have listed above here. The Enfamil has, unless I’m really awful at math, 8.4% protein by calories. Aha! The Gerber is even worse, at 8.8%. Surely you had checked these numbers? I’m confused and surprised.
        
        Honestly, I would very much like to use the WAPF formula for my 9-month-old, but I found the oils to be very annoying as they stayed at the bottom of the bottle and he didn’t even drink them. So I tried it by replacing them with just cream as he is well established on solids, and it didn’t work out. I do not know why, but he started pooping extremely frequently (even twice at each meal), and there were mucus strands, and he was starved. Eventually I decided that it couldn’t just be a matter of too little or too much cream, so I gave up. I realized that our delicious raw milk was from cows fed beets, corn, alfalfa, crab and mineral concentrate, so perhaps the feed was bothering him. (Yes, I love drinking raw milk!)
        
        Once I’m able to, I’d like to try again with the raw milk from an organic farm that only does grass-feeding. From your perspective, is there never an “ok” moment for a baby to have a higher protein milk? Sally Fallon says that around 11 months the milk does not need to be diluted anymore.
        
        Cordially,
        
        Casey
Claire May 9, 2015 at 3:56 am

H Paul,
With having your new baby who by this time must have started solid foods, would you mind sharing your babies weaning diet please. What foods you introduced to him first etc..
Would love to hear how you implement phd in babies 🙂

Reply
- Paul Jaminet May 10, 2015 at 1:41 pm
  
  Hi Claire,
  
  Great idea for a blog post, we’ll do that.
  
  Best, Paul
  
  Reply
  - Claire June 19, 2015 at 4:06 am
    
    Paul, when doing the blog post on baby weaning, any chance you could address wheat/gluten please. Apparently there is a study/ies showing that if tiny amounts of gluten are given to babies at the right time it could help them be more resilient to the negative effects of gluten later in life. I would have thought that gluten should be the last food introduced if at all but based on this study I heard via Dr Tom O’Bryan perhaps small exposure could be useful?
    
    Reply
Claire May 10, 2015 at 2:41 pm

Wonderful! thank you.

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Jo-Anne October 12, 2015 at 9:29 pm

Can you please explain why you don’t recommend an organic formula? I thought these brands contained harmful chemicals and the negatives of non-organic dairy… Thanks!

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Judy April 25, 2016 at 1:14 pm

Is there a reason to specifically use rice vinegar, as apposed to another kind, e.g. ACV? Also, how much do you recommend?

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Jeannie Manthe May 7, 2017 at 11:55 am

You already have the perfect healthy diet for your son = mother’s milk. Formula wreaks havoc to one’s gut. If not mother’s own milk, then donor milk. Formula use is not w/o risk. And, if there is an issue with supply, contact a knowledgeable ICBLC to help. There are many undiagnosed issues with baby or mom that can greatly impact supply. Keep searching for the person who can help you. There are many!

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Roseanne M. December 21, 2021 at 6:44 am

Dear Paul,
Could you please upload a supplement guide for babies/small children as well? Thank you.

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- Paul Jaminet December 21, 2021 at 7:33 am
  
  Hi Roseanne,
  
  Babies who are breastfeeding do not need supplements, if the mother is well nourished her milk will be sufficiently nourishing. Children can do without most supplements if they are eating a healthy natural whole foods diet, but a few may be beneficial: (1) vitamin K2 if they don’t eat sufficient fermented food, (2) vitamin D in the winter, and (3) magnesium. Possibly vitamin C if they don’t eat sweet peppers or citrus fruits. Feed them seafood weekly for iodine.
  
  Best, Paul
  
  Reply