‘Toddler milk’ has no nutritional benefits, report finds

The reasons infants drink formula are varied, from allergies to a mother’s inability to breastfeed. Formula provides the nutrition babies need in those early months.

“Toddler formula,” however, provides no nutritional benefits, according to a clinical publication from the American Academy of Pediatrics. These products are targeted to parents of children 6-36 months old.

“The words toddler formula (are) misleading,” Jenelle Ferry, a neonatologist and director of feeding, nutrition and infant development at Pediatrix Medical Group in Florida, told CNN. Not only is it not the same as infant formula, she said, it’s also not necessary.

The Infant Formula Act regulates products made in the United States and imported, and the Food and Drug Administration inspects facilities annually. But the FDA doesn’t have a category for older infant-young child formulas, or OIYCFs.

“Some of these formulas have been criticized as having elements considered to be unnecessary or potentially detrimental, including high or low protein, higher sodium content relative to cow milk, and added sweeteners, among others,” the AAP wrote in its report.

“Compared with cow milk,” it continued, “consumption of OIYCFs, which have been considered by some as ‘sugar-sweetened drinks,’ has been associated with greater intakes of sweetened beverages as well as sweetened dairy products, such as fruit yogurts and cream cheese desserts, perhaps because of an influence on taste preference.”

The AAP and similar groups recommend breastfeeding through age 2 or giving your child whole cow’s milk or “other acceptable nonformula dairy source.”