There 's a lot of heated debate surrounding the issue of baby formula, with countless parents willing to take one stance or another. While many mothers feel as though breast milk is the ultimate form of nutrition and that baby formula can be harmful, other mothers believe that infants should be introduced to baby formula at the earliest opportunity. So why is there such brouhaha around the issue of using baby formula, and how can you determine if your child is ready to go on it?
First, let 's examine how formula first came about. Centuries ago, mothers who had a difficult time producing breast milk were often forced to turn to a wet nurse for assistance; yet for many mothers, this was a luxury that was simply unaffordable, which resulted in the eventual death of the infant. However, in 1869, the first baby formula was invented by Justus von Leibig. Made out of a potassium bicarbonate, wheat flour and malt flour, this formula could be added to cow 's milk in order to provide babies with much-needed nutrition. Later that year, the new and improved formula was available to the masses for a dollar a bottle.
Bottle formula continued to evolve until the 1960s and 70s, when almost a quarter of women were using bottle formula in order to provide their children with the
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Organizations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to the World Health Organization (WHO), a health committee formed until the scope of the United Nations, recommend that mothers nurse their infants, as breast milk has been shown to fight off infections, defend against allergies and even ward off a number of diseases and infections. In fact, the AAP believes that mothers should exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of the child 's life, and recommends continuing breastfeeding until the baby reaches 12 months in