Seed and Grain Milk Maker Machine

I know it sounds “crunchy,” but I’m going to make my own milk from seeds and gluten-free grains.

My naturopath recommended this SoyaJoy Soy Milk Maker machine. It grinds beans, nuts, seeds, and grains and also can be used to make soup. It sounds a bit time consuming, but I think we’ll save a lot of money after the initial investment of the machine. I opted for the newer G3 model that makes both raw and heated milks. It has received high ratings on Amazon and sounds pretty easy to use.

I plan on experimenting with different gluten-free grains like oats, quinoa, brown rice, and buckwheat, and seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, hemp, and sesame. My naturopath recommended adding flax oil, probiotics and water from steamed vegetables to make a nutritious milk supplement for Fussy Buns. He thinks that this will be much better than store bought rice milk because that is basically sugar water. I like that I’ll know exactly what is in the drink, and that should make identifying allergens easier if she shows any symptoms.

Corn-free Infant Formula

Fussy Buns has recently decided that she’s interested in eating! This is great news because at her last appointment she had lost 1 ounce (not a big deal I guess) and was “leaning out” on the growth chart, as breastfed babies often do. Our concern was that she was not gaining enough weight, so the pediatrician recommended we supplement with formula.

I’m not excited about supplementing with formula for many reasons:

1. Regular formula is expensive!
2. Hypoallergenic formula is even more expensive!
3. Ready-to-feed hypoallergenic formula is extremely expensive! (I guess you’re paying more for the convenience.)
4. I’m concerned that she will have a bad reaction to even a hypoallergenic formula. The only “safe” formula I’ve been able to find is Similac Alimentum Ready to Feed. (Only RTF is corn-free!) The other 5 hypoallergenic formulas I came across all contain corn syrup solids as the first ingredient.
5. I’m concerned that she’ll actually be getting fewer calories if I supplement. Breast milk is said to contain 22 calories per ounce and formula only has 20. http://kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/milkcalories/
6. If I start supplementing, I might lose some of my milk.
7. I still think my breast milk is best for her, especially since I can control what goes into it, but I’m not going to get into the benefits of breastfeeding just yet.

The only reason I’m actually considering trying Alimentum RTF is because it contains iron. The pediatrician also said at our last visit that Fussy Buns is not getting enough iron through breast milk and since she’s not eating iron-fortified cereal, we should be giving her iron drops. Unfortunately every brand of iron drops seems to contain corn as a sneaky ingredient. On Baby Center’s Corn Free board, one mom suggested giving her maple syrup or molasses, but I’ll need to look into this more.

While I wait for Similac to mail me some coupons, I’m going to focus on offering her solid foods and try not to worry too much.