HA Food and Co.: Special milk formula for babies
If you cannot or do not want to breastfeed your baby, you will feed it with a ready-made milk for infants in the first months of life. However, some infants do not tolerate conventional formula products well. For such cases, there are some special dairy food products. You can find out what these are in this article.
What is HA food?
In addition to the conventional formula for babies, which we have described in the article “Bottles: Which milk for the baby?“, there are also various special or medicinal foods that are composed differently and are therefore particularly suitable for infant nutrition for certain problems. For example, they contain less lactose, additives of thickeners or fiber or were produced using special fats. Some of these special foods are only used for a short period of time, others permanently. All are usually prescribed by the pediatrician. Here you can find out about different forms of special food for babies:
- Milk for premature babies:Â Lactose, or lactose, must first be broken down in order to be absorbed by the body. The enzyme lactase is responsible for this. Premature babies are usually not yet able to produce this enzyme themselves, which is why they do not tolerate conventional formula well. For premature babies, there is therefore a special milk formula that falls below the lactose content of Pre Milch.
- AR food:Â AR food is special infant milk for so-called Speikinder. In these, large parts of the milk run back from the stomach into the esophagus after drinking. They “vomit” the milk again, often over several hours. The special composition of AR milk (Anti Reflux) ensures that the food gets a firmer consistency and can thus be better bound in the stomach. AR food should be used only in consultation with the pediatrician, who will prescribe it if necessary. Many health insurance companies reimburse the cost of AR food partially or completely.
- HA food:Â HA food is a milk formula that is particularly intended for allergy-prone infants. HA stands for “hypoallergenic” and indicates that the product in question is particularly low in antigen. HA milk is used to prevent early allergic diseases when one or both parents or a sibling suffer from an allergy.
HA food is similar in composition to conventional infant milk. However, the protein is broken down into very small parts by a special process, the so-called hydrolysis, which makes it difficult for the body to recognize it as a foreign protein. In this way, HA food causes allergies less frequently than “normal” infant milk. HA food has a slightly bitter taste due to hydrolysis. It is available from most suppliers as Pre, 1er or 2er milk.
The use of HA food is not suitable for the treatment of pre-existing allergies. It also only reduces the risk of developingneurodermatitiscaused by cow’s milk protein. It has no effect on other allergies.
For children with a proven allergy to cow’s milk, HA food is not suitable. Since it is only partially hydrolysed, cow’s milk allergy sufferers still show allergic reactions even with HA food. In this case, resort to special products for cow’s milk allergy sufferers.
Are there homemade alternatives?
You should better do without homemade milk for your baby. The ready-made milk that you can buy in the store is tailored to the needs of babies after years of research. Home-prepared milk, whether made from cow’s milk, soy-based or from almond or rice milk, cannot achieve this balanced nutrient content of ready-made milk. You can find out more about this topic in our article “Can I make my own baby milk?“.