When you choose to bottle-feed your baby, you will soon be confronted with different brands of food. There is food from companies that specialize in making baby food and food is offered by retail chains such as Hema and Etos. The cost of food can vary enormously. By choosing a private label you can save considerably. Can this actually hurt? Is the cheaper formula just as good as the more expensive brands? This article provides an explanation of the quality of the different brands of bottle feeding.

Contents

• What is bottle feeding?
• Expensive and cheap brands of bottle feeding
• Quality
• Which milk to choose?
• Bottle feeding versus breastfeeding

What is bottle feeding?

Bottle feeding essentially refers to artificial baby food. It is a powder that becomes a milky liquid by adding (warm) water. The powder is usually composed of cow’s milk to which various vitamins and minerals have been added. As the name suggests, bottle feeding is given to the baby with a bottle. A so-called sucking teat is placed on the bottle that simulates sucking from the breast.

Expensive and cheap brands of bottle feeding

Anyone who buys baby food will soon discover that there are many types and brands of bottle food. Naturally, you have to deal with the fact that a different type of bottle feeding is needed for every age, as bottle feeding for a 1-month-old baby has a different composition than bottle feeding. Another difference between bottle feedings is the price. It quickly becomes apparent that there are significant differences between the different brands of bottle feeding. Packs of bottle food from, for example, Nutricia (Nutrilon), Nestlé or Friso quickly cost several euros more than packs of bottle food from, for example, Jumbo’s own brand, Hema, Albert Heijn or Etos. But what does this price really say? What are the other differences besides price?

Quality

For anyone who has doubts; Both expensive bottle feeding and cheap bottle feeding are of good quality. Bottle feeding sold in the Netherlands meets strict quality requirements. Anyone who closely compares the compositions will see that there are not many differences between the different brands. In practice, it is true that the more expensive brands are somewhat ahead in terms of new developments. Because of the research that precedes this, the more expensive brands are forced to charge a higher price. The packaging is often more solid, the packaging of the more expensive brands looks nicer and sturdier. After all, in the Western world you always pay more for an A-brand than for a private label, because of ‘the well-known name’. The A-brands often also spend more money on advertising, etc., which of course must be recouped.

Which milk to choose?

So it actually makes little difference which brand of bottle feeding is chosen. By choosing the cheaper brands, your baby will not lack anything. By choosing the cheaper brands you will of course save a lot of money!But what is perhaps most important when choosing a brand of bottle feeding is how your baby reacts to the different brands of bottle feeding. Every baby is different and can therefore react differently to the (small) differences in the composition of the bottle food of the different brands. So always buy bottle food that your baby tolerates well. If there are different brands that your baby tolerates well, you can still look at the price.

Bottle feeding versus breastfeeding

It is stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend breastfeeding over bottle feeding. There are more benefits to breastfeeding than bottle feeding for both the child and the mother. In practice, not every woman wants or can breastfeed. This may be for practical reasons such as work or due to insufficient production of breast milk.

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