Ah, doesn't this bub look so satisfied with her baby formula? =P
We had a nutrition tutorial this morning with a paediatric dietition down at the Royal Children's Hospital (ie: my current base till next rotation). It was an interesting session in general, but the highlight of the day was actually sampling a few infant milk formulas (as prepared by the dietition herself)......
By doing so she aims to get a few points across by requesting us to:
1. First imagine a baby being on a type of formula milk for at least 6 whole months - which essentially means thriving on one TASTE during that interim.
2. Then imagine introducing different types of food to a child from 6 months onwards - more choices, a wide variety of taste, textures and colours.
At the end of that tute, we had the following to sample:
1. S26 (a cows' milk based formula)
2. Soy-based formula
3. Pepti Junior (a partially hydrolyzed formula)
Needless to say, we (unanimously) came down to this verdict:
Out of the three, S26 was the most palatable. I suppose that was not surprising, given that it IS cows' milk formula (and therefore the taste is quite similar to fresh cow's milk, obviously!)
The other two had mixed reviews however - some didn't mind the soy formula so much, although I personally felt that was the most disgusting-tasting milk I've ever had! (Pepti Junior came a close second)
Our dear dietition made an interesting comment at the end though: She said the taste of breast-milk varies according to the lactating mother's diet, and therefore babies who are exclusively breast-fed do have a variety of taste to sample from. What's even more intriguing is the fact that perhaps because of this, studies have also shown that exclusively breast-fed babies are usually more open to experimenting/trying new foods later in life...... =)
Labels: Medicine/Hospitals/Medics
