I recently had to buy my first can of of formula and I was amazed at the variety -- soy-based, milk-based, DHA, etc. I think I stood in front of the shelf for a half hour trying to decide what to buy. I had no idea I should have done research first. Who has used formula, and what kind did you use?

Let me share this...my pediatrician’s office advised me about a year ago that a parent of another patient is a scientist/chemist of some sort. This parent took it upon himself to investigate the claim on “off brand” formula (Walmart, Kmart, Target and grocery store brands) to “Compare to Similac/Enfamil”. He/She DID compare and his lab study confirmed that only one of the store brands, Target, is EXACTLY IDENTICAL, ingredient for ingredient, compound for compound, mineral for mineral, etc. to the name brands. This parent sent the lab report to my doctor’s office and my doc agrees. So we switched from the more expensive name brand Similar ($25.00+ per large can) to the Target store brand ($11.89 per large can). Savings of over half....adds up, Moms and Dads!

I used Formula. The doctor had me use Enfamil Lipil it had DHA in it. It had a yellow label. That worked best for my daughter, we started her out on Lacto-free which has a purple label by Enfamil but it caused my daughter a lot of stomach pain and she got constipated often. So we switched.

We LOVED Carnation Good Start. It was the only one my daughter didn't puke all over me..haha...so when we had our second and eventually went to formula, we used it as well. The cool thing too is that if you sign up through their website, they send up coupons all the time. They send ones for $5 off and ones for free cans! It helped us out a lot.

That's great to know, TripleAMom -- what a huge savings!

When I weaned my two, I switched them to Earth's Best organic formula. My DS loved the soy based one. My DD did not like it and I gave her the milk based one. However, they LOVED it! I felt good knowing it was organic. It is not any more expensive than the non-organic. I bought it at Mother Earth. They make it for infants as well as toddlers.