Breast milk is the only food perfectly designed for human
babies. “It meets all of your infant’s nutritional needs and
provides immune components that compensate for baby’s
deficiencies, which is particularly important prior to receiving
vaccinations,” asserts Laura E. Wilwerding, M.D., FAAP, a
clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of
Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and the breastfeeding
coordinator for the Nebraska chapter of the American Academy of
Pediatrics. If breastfeeding isn’t a possibility for you, rest
assured that formula can provide adequate nutrition. “It’s
important that babies get an appropriate mix of calories,
minerals, and vitamins,” says Charles Shubin, M.D., director of
Children’s Health Center at Mercy FamilyCare at the Mercy
Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. “With formula— and I was
raised on it—what we’ve done as best we can is to make it
equivalent to human milk.” The bottom line: If your baby is
growing and acting happy and satisfied, her diet is most like