Alabama Pediatrician: Conversations & Information for Your Practice
Oct 23, 2026 · 40 min · 10 segments
We've talked about infant formula and their nutritional value, but what about breastmilk?? Dietitian Desiree Walker returns to share more about breastmilk and its importance, as well as how mother's…
So how does breast milk compare to regular infant formula? Are you talking about like
calorie density versus nutritional differences? So by comparison, you know, infant formula is pretty similar to energy provision per volume when compared to breast milk.
both forms of nutrition are usually around 19 to 20 calories per ounce when you're talking about mixing infant formula per the instructions on the can.
But it's important to know the true differences because when it comes down to it, breast milk is engineered specifically for that individual infant.
Breast milk is naturally tailored to a baby's changing needs, whereas the infant formula is carefully formulated to meet infants' nutrition requirements.
The macronutrients, carbs, fat, protein, they will change over time and during the actual feeding when a mom puts baby to the breast.
Whereas with standard infant formula, the composition is usually pretty consistent.
Digestion, breast milk is often easier for babies to digest because things are just made a little bit simpler for that baby to digest breast milk easier.
Sometimes it doesn't always sit well with kiddos and they need maybe, you know, a different type of infant formula to help them with their digestion.
And as long as infant formula is prepared correctly, sometimes you have those instances where families don't understand how to mix formula or they decide to kind of tweak it themselves at home.
So when it's fixed according to the CAN instructions or per pediatrician's instructions, it absolutely can support normal growth as does breast milk.
But there's also, you know, different, gosh, there's so many different like things that moms can register for, you know, on their baby registry to help make, you know, preparing formula on the go a lot easier.
So how does breast milk compare to regular infant formula? Are you talking about like
calorie density versus nutritional differences? So by comparison, you know, infant formula is pretty similar to energy provision per volume when compared to breast milk.
both forms of nutrition are usually around 19 to 20 calories per ounce when you're talking about mixing infant formula per the instructions on the can.
But it's important to know the true differences because when it comes down to it, breast milk is engineered specifically for that individual infant.
Breast milk is naturally tailored to a baby's changing needs, whereas the infant formula is carefully formulated to meet infants' nutrition requirements.
The macronutrients, carbs, fat, protein, they will change over time and during the actual feeding when a mom puts baby to the breast.
Whereas with standard infant formula, the composition is usually pretty consistent.
Digestion, breast milk is often easier for babies to digest because things are just made a little bit simpler for that baby to digest breast milk easier.
Sometimes it doesn't always sit well with kiddos and they need maybe, you know, a different type of infant formula to help them with their digestion.
And as long as infant formula is prepared correctly, sometimes you have those instances where families don't understand how to mix formula or they decide to kind of tweak it themselves at home.
So when it's fixed according to the CAN instructions or per pediatrician's instructions, it absolutely can support normal growth as does breast milk.
But there's also, you know, different, gosh, there's so many different like things that moms can register for, you know, on their baby registry to help make, you know, preparing formula on the go a lot easier.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
