When I found out I was having twins, I knew I’d have to have a plan for feeding them. I wanted to breastfeed them but I knew it was a possibility that I may not be able to produce enough for both. My two previous children were very sensitive to cow’s milk so I knew this time around I wanted to use goat milk formula in between breast milk donations.
In my search for goat milk formula, I knew I wanted the highest standard possible. But that meant most likely finding something not sourced in the United States. Without going into great detail, and in my personal opinion the US doesn’t have great quality formula because of several ingredients they use that are not healthy options. Have you read the back of a formula can recently? Did you know many have the first ingredient as Corn syrup? Or they include artificial ingredients or preservatives? It’s not just the ingredients, but it’s the way the ingredients are processed. There ARE better options out there.
I do believe breast milk is the best milk out there, and encourage all mothers to reach out to a lactation specialist if they need help. For my first two babies, I wasn’t able to nurse longer than 6-8 weeks for a multitude of reasons. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I had no idea how to get help. Nowadays, there are so many resources and options for help with nursing/feeding our babies. My lactation specialist (IBCLC) is incredible. She was able to assess my twins, take measurements, weight, check for tongue or lip ties and make so many suggestions to help with nursing. She also helped me with whatever route I wanted to go. I personally wanted to get them as much breast milk as possible and supplement them here and there with goat milk. So she connected me with some local mamas who could donate their precious milk to me. I love how respectful she is no matter which route you choose to go. If you are in need of one and are near the Sacramento area, I highly recommend you contact Shanee with Faithful Lactation Support.
The reality is that there are many moms who cannot produce or provide enough breast milk for their babies given certain circumstances. With me, I was barely producing enough for one of my twins. So it was important to supplement in the best ways possible for my babies.
I did a lot of research and tried many formulas to see how they worked for my boys. I feel like I’ve really narrowed it down to my top five goat milk formula choices that are the best out there and that can be shipped to the US. One of them is good in a pinch if you need to buy it right now. I will outline below and rank them in order of my favorites and why.
1. Little Oak Formula
I am obsessed with Little Oak Formula, to say the least. The main reason why they are at the top of my list is that the ingredients are high quality, and convenient to use. This formula is made in New Zealand which is the reason I believe the standards are MUCH better than the US. While not marked as certified organic, most of the whole goat’s milk they use is farmed using organic practices. LittleOak is made from fresh whole goat’s milk straight from their dairy in New Zealand. Starting with fresh milk means less processing, more natural goodness.
PROS:
- Clean and quality ingredients
- Non-GMO
- Ships to the US!
- There is no palm or soybean oils in it.
- It dissolves easily
- Scoops fit easily into Dr. Browns Bottles
- It is priced well and comparatively to other high quality goat milk formulas.
- Comes in a convenient pop top container.
- Easy to travel with. They even offer individual sachets for travel!
- Multiple stages of formula from newborn to toddler.
- Amazing customer service and communication.
- Save money on a subscription vs one time order.
CONS:
- Not certified organic
- Label is a bit confusing with different measurements and nutrition info.
- Due to high demand this has been extremely hard to get. I waited 4-6 weeks for each shipment. (But so worth it!)
- Use Promo Coupon Code to get a 20% discount for Black Friday: THATFRIDAYFEELING
*Visit Little Oak’s site here. Make sure to click “USD” on the side to let the site know you’re shipping to the Unite States.
2. Mt. Capra Formula
My other favorite which is why I listed it second is the Mt. Capra Goat Milk Formula. This is a make at home formula. You simply buy the ingredients from their website (they even have a handy simple starter kit you can purchase with everything in it) and follow their instructions to mix it up. You can prepare it as a dry mix or wet mix. I definitely preferred the dry mix as it lasts longer. I love everything about this company and what they stand for. They are a small organic goat farm in Chehalis Washington. They provide organic whole goat milk for homemade formula. I really love the quality of the ingredients and my boys also did really well on this formula (when Little Oak was back-ordered). In fact, the owner and creator of the company has a Master’s Degree in Clinical Human Nutrition.
He formulated this for his own children but saw a larger need for this organic quality goat milk formula. You will need to add in separate vitamins and minerals once per day to a bottle as well. It’s also fascinating to know that the owner collaborated with a Naturopathic Doctor to create a high-quality children’s multivitamin powder just for this formula.
Another great thing to note about this formula option is you can actually customize it by substituting ingredients individually if your child is gassy or constipated etc. This company runs a Facebook group where you can ask questions anytime and get help with making the formula from home. It is extremely helpful to have that guidance from other parents who are using the same formula. The main reasons why this formula isn’t first on my list is because you obviously have to spend time making it, the residue from the oils/fats are difficult to rinse out of the bottles, and you have to remember to add in the vitamins each day. It’s also a bit harder to travel with this formula because you need access to hot water to melt the formula (the oils) when mixing things together. These things aren’t a deal-breaker at all – but definitely things worth considering.
PROS:
- Whole fat goat milk (not skim like most companies)
- Has clean ingredients from a trusted small organic farm.
- Meets all nutritional criteria.
- Recipe is adjustable; you can substitute some ingredients if baby has intolerance or other issues.
- Facebook group with tons of help and guidance. Bounce ideas off of members, get support and chat with parents who have used this formula before.
- Most affordable out of the options.
- Very quick shipping from Washington State
- Great customer service
- You can order goat milk and goat lactose in bulk 10lb bags.
- Formulated specifically by a Food Scientist
CONS:
- You have to mix batches ahead of time. You’ll need a scale to be precise.
- You need to have hot water on hand to mix the formula then add some cold to top off bottle.
- You have to add in the multivitamin and probiotics separately in a bottle once per day, and it can be a bit of a hassle as it can get stuck in the nipple.
- Cleaning bottles is harder/more time consuming with oil residue.
- You have to measure out and weigh your scoops so you get as close to 30g as possible for an 8oz bottle. I used a scoop that when packed down was 15g for a 4oz bottle.
*This formula has also been known to help babies gain some weight. Especially since you can adjust/substitute some ingredients (with guidance only). If you fit into this category, I’d seriously consider this formula!
*Click here to get $10 off your first purchase of $50 or more with Mt. Capra.
3. Holle Goat Milk Formula
I came across this formula because I have heard of it before, but wasn’t sure how to get my hands on it. I wanted to try it because it’s made in Germany and has clean quality ingredients. It took me a while to research this one because some formula sites are scams, and I wanted to make sure it was a reputable source. The reason why this one is third on my list is because shipping was expensive for me (although it arrived very quickly). It also was the only one to constipate my boys. This is a great option if you need formula quickly, you’ll see on the site it is expedited shipping. It took 2-3 days to get from Germany to my doorstep, and I was very excited and relieved.
PROS:
- Nutritionally high quality and meets ingredient criteria.
- Easy to make a bottle and the scoop fits in the doctor browns bottles.
- Easy to travel with, small boxes are convenient to pack.
- Fast and great customer service.
- They have other brand options on the site.
CONS:
- The bags inside the boxes are messy. I preferred to pour out the formula into a container.
- Shipping prices were very expensive from Germany. For expedited shipping I paid $120.
- The box is hard to read and interpret as it is not in English. There are English measurements on their site you can print off.
* You can purchase this formula on two safe sites I’ve found. The first one here has lightning-fast shipping, but it’s costly. The formula however is less per box and they offer a wholesale pricing option when you buy a pack of 24. I think this one is the better deal, especially if you can go in on it with another mom or two and split shipping.
*The second site is another safe formula site to purchase Holle Goat Milk Formula from. The shipping cost to the US is $9.99 for 7-15 business days or $24.99 for 2-7 business days. The pricing for the boxes looks to be more expensive on here.
4. Sammys Milk
We tried this one briefly and after about 10 bottles decided to shelve it. Sammy’s Milk uses 6 simple, beneficial, and essential ingredients. They use avocado oil for healthy fats and include 23 vitamins and minerals. Although the site says “for your toddler” I compared the nutritional value and percentages and it’s almost identical to the infant formulas. I felt personally it was okay to use given the comparisons being almost the same. The story behind Sammy’s Milk is simple. She wanted to find something that was superior to what was out there. Like I mentioned previously, many formulas are filled with cheap ingredients, soy products, corn syrup, and tons of artificial sweeteners and preservatives. So she came up with this formula; which is very simple! I love the story behind this, plus that everything is non-GMO. The only thing that stopped me from continuing with it was the use of fish oils. It gives it a fishy smell that really bothered me. What was worse was when my boys spit up, it smelled even worse because of the fish oils. However, they do ship quickly, and as a limited-time offer say you can try the milk for free first.
PROS:
- Simple clean ingredients
- Quick Shipping
- Locally Sourced
- Non-GMO
- Can try free samples
- Great customer service
CONS:
- Not certified organic
- The DHA Fish oil smells bad
- Pricey
- No bulk discounts
5. Kabrita Goat Milk Formula
This formula is a local find at whole foods. This formula is okay if you’re in a crazy pinch and need something right now. You can drive to the store and pick it up and use it until your other stash of breast milk or goat milk order comes in. I’ve heard from specialists that this goat milk is okay for babies (even though it says toddlers on it). I don’t love a few of the ingredients in there, but the only reason it made the list is because when you are out of milk and it’s an emergency this is a better option than most on the store shelf.
PROS:
- Can find it locally at Whole Foods, or on Amazon
- Meets standard nutrition requirements
- Good in an emergency
- Non-GMO
- Sometimes Amazon has a sale/discount. Currently it’s 25% off per canister.
CONS:
- Uses non-fat goat milk instead of whole goat milk
- Contains Soy bean oil and Palm oil
- Not organic
Bottle Station Set Up
Lastly, I wanted to share our water and bottle station setup. Hopefully, this will help someone else and make their life easier.
In our master bathroom, we had everything set up on the counter. The best purchase we made for making bottles was this hot water machine that keeps the temperature constant 24/7. You can also choose how hot you want it. Anyway, it holds 5L of water, so enough to get twin babies through for 3-4 days of bottles. We kept it pretty hot and some additional cold water on the side to mix temperatures. The reason we needed the hot water separate was mostly because when we used the Mt. Capra formula, you need to have extra hot water to melt the oils in the formula, then you add the remaining cold/warm water to the bottle and shake.
We used Dr. Brown bottles, a bottle rack/draining pad, bottle brush, and then formula. In another area, we had a mini-refrigerator where we kept breast milk, and would also refrigerate the Mt. Capra formula to keep it fresher longer. The dry mix lasts for 5 days on the counter or 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
One of the most important things to us was having filtered water. We used our Royal Berkey Water Filter so we had the best water quality. No tap or sink water here with potential chemicals, viruses, or bacteria. The Berkey filters all that through.
Every few days we would refill the hot water machine with filtered water and it would reheat itself back up. Easy peasy!
Hopefully, this blog post helps other mamas out there who are searching for goat milk formula. We’ve really thrived on it and my twins are extremely healthy and happy. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out!
*Disclaimer: This blog provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this blog, website or in any linked materials are not intended and should not be considered, or used as a substitute for, medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This blog does not constitute the practice of any medical, nursing or other professional health care advice, diagnosis or treatment. We cannot diagnose conditions, provide second opinions or make specific treatment recommendations through this blog or website.
1 Comment
Such a great review!! So helpful! Thank you!