Baby formula is made taking into account the physiological needs of a newborn baby according to their age and possible health problems. It’s true there’s no infant food that can be a 100% substitute for mother’s milk. But manufacturers do their best to make their products as similar to it as possible. In order to do this, they add components that can normally be found in human milk, as well as those that largely benefit your baby’s health and development.
It turns out, some of these components can boost your little one’s memory and cognitive skills. Let’s talk about them.
Prebiotics
The main purpose of prebiotics is to help the growth of beneficial bacteria in the child’s intestines. Other properties, such as the ability of prebiotics to improve the frequency and consistency of stools, thus helping with constipation, are also related to this.
The addition of prebiotics to infant formula is also based on the fact that breast milk contains a large amount of these substances, called oligosaccharides (GOS).
The introduction of prebiotics in infant formulas was a big step forward since their positive impact on both the composition of the intestinal microbiota and the provision of so-called “comfortable digestion” has been proven by multiple kinds of research. A recent study has also shown that this component can also improve brain function.
Prebiotics are often included in HiPP formula.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids
This is the name given to linoleic and alpha-linolenic fatty acids and their derivatives docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acids. You can usually see labels like “DHA for brain development” on the packages as is the case with Holle formula.
In fact, these fats can’t be synthesized in an infant’s body sufficiently so it’s now difficult to find a formula that doesn’t contain these fatty acids. As for their effect on brain and vision development, many studies confirm the effectiveness of these lipids on brain and vision development, especially in preterm infants.
Conclusion
Powdered infant foods can’t replace breast milk but they are the next best thing. They include lots of useful ingredients that boost your little one’s health and development.