What Formulas Are Available For Youngsters With Food Allergies? What Formula Should I Select If I Cannot Breastfeed?

— -- Question: What formulas are available for youngsters with food allergies? What formula should I select if I cannot breastfeed my baby?

Answer: Well, there are a number of options, and there's no one formula that's perfect for everyone with food allergies.

The most common formulas we use are referred to as ''hypoallergenic'' and they're made by taking a protein, usually milk protein, and breaking it down to small enough fragments that the immune system doesn't tend to react to it any longer.

There's some children, though, who might be okay with a soy formula or, on the more extreme end of things, a group of children who require extremely specialized formulas that are referred to as ''elemental formulas.''

And those have been produced by taking proteins from the test tube rather than natural proteins to even more severely limit the chance your immune system will react to them.

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