This homemade infant’s goat milk formula is great for babies who need a healthy alternative to store-bought formula or breast milk. This recipe is based on ONE day of baby’s total intake for nutrition needs. You may need to alter quantities based on baby drinking more or less than 36 ounces in one day to avoid underdosing or overdosing. Be sure to read the daily serving size on the label of products used.
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Why Should You Give Your Baby Homemade Infant’s Goat Milk Formula?
Perhaps you’re here because you need to stop breastfeeding and switch to formula. Maybe you never wanted to breastfeed, or couldn’t, and this is your go-to alternative. Or your baby’s stomach doesn’t tolerate store-bought formula or has an intolerance to cow’s milk. Whatever the case may be, this is a great option for giving your baby all the nutrients they need.
What Led Me to Create This Recipe
I never thought I’d be making my own baby formula. I actually thought I’d be able to exclusively breastfeed my babies and supply them with breast milk and the nutrients they need. However, once my first son arrived I quickly learned I was going to have to supplement because very little breast milk was coming in. I was crushed, to say the least.
It wasn’t until my second baby that I realized I had Insufficient Glandular Tissue, an actual diagnosis. That meant I physically could not produce enough breast milk no matter how much fenugreek or milk thistle I took, or how much time I spent power pumping and eating lactation cookies. (Although the cookies were a nice treat!)
My mother suggested the homemade formula recipe she used for my brother and me – evaporated milk and Karo syrup. This combo was actually quite popular back in the day, but at that moment I couldn’t fathom giving my baby milk without more nutrients. The store-bought formula had tons of nutrients on their nutrition labels. Even if I didn’t know what all of them did I was sure he was supposed to have them.
After a lot of research, I found a common thread of ingredients that most homemade formulas utilized. Goats milk is actually the closest thing to human breast milk. This is the most common ingredient I found.
Molasses, infant probiotics, infant multivitamins, and agave nectar were among the other ingredients. Then I researched what nutrients an infant should be having on a day to day basis for healthy growth. Thus, forming my very own goat milk baby formula!
Can Goat Milk Formula Lead to Iron Deficiency Anemia?
This has been a common topic brought up when others hear about goat milk formula. If anyone, big or small, is ONLY receiving goat milk without anything added to it, their diet would be deficient in more than just iron.
They will become malnourished with multiple vitamin deficiencies, and lack of carbohydrates for healthy brain and muscle growth. This is why it’s very important to include vitamins and other nutrients in their milk to ensure your baby is receiving their daily nutrition.
If a baby is not receiving folate, vitamin B12, or iron in their milk they can develop anemia, or a lack of healthy red blood cells, that help carry oxygen to tissue in their body. The symptoms of anemia can range from mild with weakness and lethargy to very severe with heart irregularities/abnormalities.
Vitamin C is also important with aiding the absorption of iron.
The bottom line is, goat milk formula with added vitamins is essential in preventing anemia and maintaining a baby’s healthy diet.
How Do You Add Nutrients to Homemade Infant’s Goat Milk Formula?
If you look at the back of a store-bought formula container you will see all kinds of added vitamins for maintaining healthy growth. A lot of infant multivitamins contain those exact same vitamins and I will go over a couple later in this post that I have personally used for my baby.
Goat Milk Powder
Goats milk is the base of this formula. I tried a few different brands at our local health food store. One of them was Meyenberg’s goat milk powder, which is a great brand. Have you ever felt powdered goat milk before? It’s silky, yet cloud-like.
If you’re wondering if this is pasteurized, powdered milk is actually made from dehydrated, pasteurized milk.
Agave in the Raw
Just like breast milk and store-bought formula, you need to add something to give your baby carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are an infant’s main fuel source, and necessary for proper growth and development. An infant’s daily intake of carbohydrates is 60 grams of carbohydrates, while those who are 6 months to 1 year should have 95 grams of carbohydrates to aid in brain growth and muscle movement.
Like breast milk, this also provides a sweeter taste for babies, which draws them to drink it.
Agave in the Raw has worked well for me. Blue agave nectar is what I started out with, but I found it to be the cause of his bad gas. Since the switch, I haven’t had any issues.
ChildLife Multivitamin & Mineral
I have been using ChildLife’s Multivitamin & Mineral for several months and it’s worked very well! It’s also nice that it comes in a bigger 8-ounce bottle to last a tad longer than my previous multivitamin.
Keep in mind while reading this nutrition label that it is for TWO teaspoons. I also show an image with dosages to show you what you need for your age. My baby was 4 months old when I began this multivitamin and I began him with 1 teaspoon.
If you’re looking for it locally, I know the Whole Foods in my city has it so you can easily buy it there if you have one nearby.
**It’s important to research what you are giving your baby. Not all multivitamins have the same vitamins/minerals.
Lovebug Probiotics
Probiotics are important to help your baby’s digestive tract. It’s essentially a “sterile gut” when they are born, and they need healthy bacteria strains to aid in digestion.
If your baby is having diarrhea from antibiotics being given probiotics can help with diarrhea by bringing healthy bacteria back in.
I have tried 3 different brands of probiotics with different strains and each time I begin them my baby does have a day of diarrhea as the probiotics run through his digestive tract, which is normal and to be expected. After that, his BM’s return to normal.
Probiotics have active cultures that can die off if they are mixed with warm/hot water. The water needs to be cold or room temperature for them to be active.
Lovebug probiotics have won me over because they’re a powder form that’s easy to mix and they’re in 30 individually wrapped packages. The other two probiotics I tried were liquid and quite oily and as a result, the oil made a mess of my bottles and pitcher.
Lovebug comes in packs based on age. You can get 0-6 months, 6-12 months, and 12 months to 4 years for toddlers.
Plantation Blackstrap Unsulphured Molasses
Unlike refined sugar, which has zero nutritional value, Plantation’s blackstrap molasses contains vital vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium.
Molasses can also help with constipation, but can also cause diarrhea if given too much. You may need to alter the amount if you’re noticing a continuance of diarrhea.
Make sure you are getting unsulphured molasses, meaning, it has no preservatives.
Dr. Brown’s Mixing Pitcher
Lastly, you will need a pitcher to mix these ingredients together. This Dr. Brown’s pitcher and I have been through a lot together. A lot of formula, that is. I have used it for both kiddos to make formula ahead of time. Late-night feedings are made simpler by already having it premixed. It’s a lifesaver and time saver!
This pitcher goes to 40 ounces, but that is filled to the very top. If you are brave enough and do not spill you can attempt to fill it that high, but I go to 36 ounces and stop.
But it’s all too much?
Another option is trying out European baby formula. They have different regulations with their baby formula compared to the US and even offer ones with goat milk. I read reviews for HiPP and Holle brands, researched their formula, and ultimately tried the Holle goat milk when he was a few months old (just to see if I could go without having to mix all these ingredients daily!), and my son’s stomach still did not tolerate it as well as he did with the homemade formula.
Their formula is in stages based on age, so be sure to look at what age you need to correlate.
It’s definitely worth looking into. There are web sites that ship them to the US without costing an arm and a leg. I had used Huggable, which I am not affiliated with whatsoever. Shipping was fast and free at the time!
Homemade Infant’s Goat Milk Formula
Course: Baby Formula, DrinksCuisine: American36
Ounces5
minutesThis homemade infant’s goat milk formula is great for babies who need a healthy alternative to store-bought formula or breast milk.
Ingredients
9 tbsp (about 1/2 cup) Meyenberg’s Goat Milk Powder
1/2 cup Agave in the Raw Nectar (or similar agave nectar)
1 tsp MultiSaurus Infant Multivitamin -or- 1 tsp ChildLife Multivitamin (check dosage on bottle for age appropriate dosing.)
1 tsp Plantation Blackstrap Unsulphured Molasses
1 packet Lovebug Probiotics
36 oz Room Temperature Water
- Optional Thickener
1 tbsp Rice Cereal or Oatmeal Cereal (I like to put plain steel cut oats in a food processor and blend them to powder for formula)
Directions
- For easier mixing, I fill my Dr. Brown’s pitcher about halfway to 20 mL and put all of my ingredients in, then blend it vigorously to break up any lumps from the powder. Then, I fill the rest of the pitcher with water up to 36 ounces and carefully blend once more.
** Remember not to use warm water as this will kill off the active probiotics. Store in the refrigerator once mixed. Use within 3-5 days.
Notes & Tips
- This recipe is based on ONE day of baby’s total intake for nutrition needs. You may need to alter quantities based on baby drinking more or less than 36 ounces in one day to avoid underdosing or overdosing. Be sure to read the daily serving size on the label of products used.
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How long does this recipe keep for in the refrigerator?
The main ingredient to worry about is the goat milk once it is mixed with water. Pasteurized goat milk can last for 3-5 days in the refrigerator once mixed with water. It’s recommended to use the powder goat milk within 2 months of opening the container.
Cheers!
Tiffany
I want to put my baby on this because he has a sensitive digestive system and we are on the most expensive Formula just short of the elemental formulas. My baby has Constipation issues already and gets gas easily. I’m wondering if this will mKe it worse?
It’s hard to say if he would have difficulties if he has a sensitive stomach. Probiotics do help with constipation, so you could try giving him just probiotics in addition to the formula you currently give him and see if that helps subside it.
The molasses in this recipe also helps aid with constipation.
I will say, in my experience, that both of my sons were constipated with store-bought formulas. We used soy formula for my firstborn as that was the best we found for his colic at that time (I’m wishing I had thought to make it from scratch like this.) My second son who drinks this goat milk recipe has regular bowel movements daily now. He was going 4-5 days without a bowel movement and straining to go in the first few weeks until I began making this for him.
If you do try it, let me know how it goes.
Can you warm this up formula up after is it mad or do you have to give to baby cold?
If it is warmed up too much the probiotic strains will no longer be active so it is best at room temperature.