Nutritional habits that are formed in toddlerhood have a huge impact on the overall health and well-being of our children. In fact, you can help your little ones significantly decrease diseases like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancers by ensuring a proper healthy diet.

With that said, feeding toddlers can often be challenging. Several developmental changes are happening at this time and toddlers are striving for independence and control over everything, including meal time. During this stage, a toddler’s growth rate starts to slow down and with this comes a decrease in appetite.

During these transitioning years, families often become baffled on the best way to bridge the nutritional gaps in their toddler’s diet.

To help parents find balance in their toddler’s diet, many baby formula brands produce toddler formulas - also known as toddler milk, follow-on formula, or stage 3 & 4 European baby formulas. Formulas labeled for toddlers contain a slightly different mix of ingredients and nutrients than infant formula and are usually designed for babies 10 months old and up.

European baby formulas and follow-on toddler formulas are the most regulated nutrition in the EU. European produced formulas have the highest-quality pure ingredients that are guaranteed to be free of GMOs, additives, sugars, or other unwanted components.

European toddler formulas go beyond American standards with organic, sustainable, and eco-friendly ingredients that allow your little one to grow and thrive today and set the foundation for a healthy future.

American toddler formulas are not all FDA-regulated for their nutritional content. So while these over-the-counter toddler formulas make promises of healthy ingredients, little regulation and poor guidelines make it difficult for families to have complete confidence in these products.

Made with soy, non-lactose sugars, and questionably sourced ingredients, American toddler formulas can cause health problems that will follow your toddler into adulthood.

As an infant grows towards the toddler years, families start to think about moving away from breast milk and baby formula. Parents may consider transitioning straight to dairy milk as soon as the first birthday rolls around.

Turning one year old doesn't mean your little one should do without a balanced diet. The nutrition that goes into your toddler’s body is the fuel for brain development, body growth, and dexterity that is needed for the play-to-learn stage. Every vitamin and mineral is crucial to your child’s development.

As new taste and textures are introduced through solid food, it will soon be evident that it is difficult to ensure your toddler is receiving all the proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals needed every day to support healthy growth and development.

So finding the perfect supplement that encourages solid food exploration and balances missing nutrition is important. By looking into the ingredients and sourcing, parents can make an informed choice between European toddler formulas vs cow’s milk found at the local grocery store.

The current guidelines set by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and FDA recommend that babies older than 12 months transition from drinking breast milk or formula to cow's milk. These American dietary regulations recommend that children ages 12-24 months drink 14-16 ounces (or 2 cups) of whole milk per day.

Pros

Whole milk contains vitamins and minerals such Vitamin A & D and calcium to support good bone teeth and muscle health. Plus, there is natural B2 and carbohydrates in the form of lactose ready to be converted to energy that will power playtime and healthy growth.

There is also natural protein in cow’s milk for skin and muscle development. Macronutrients round out whole milk for balance and over all body system support.

Cons

As with all American food regulated products, the industry guideline on dairy milk and animals is severely flawed. American dairy cows live sad, lonely lives that cause both psychological and physical distress. Factory farmers separate the cows from their young almost immediately after giving birth and breed them as frequently as possible to increase milk production.

Many American operations feed dairy cows such unnatural diets that their udders swell so much they can’t remain on their feet. The food an American cow is given is designed to enhance milk production rather than to keep the animals healthy.

All of this, along with an unnecessary regimen of antibiotics and growth hormones that passes into the milk supply, make this a less than desirable option for a toddler.

Designed specifically to fill nutritional gaps in a toddler’s diet, European formula manufacturers recommended no more than 10 ounces of stage 3 or 4 follow-on formula a day. This allows for solid food exploration while balancing missing nutrients in your toddler’s menu.

Pros

European infant and toddler standards are made with families, the environment, and source animals in mind. Toddler formula companies that manufacture nutrition take every aspect of production from soil to production into account.

All milk comes from 100% grass fed animals. You will never find antibiotics, growth hormones, or pesticides used on or near the animals. Gentle animal husbandry is the practice set forth by EU guidelines as it has been well documented that happy cow’s produce the most nutritious milk.

All stage 3 and stage 4 toddler formulas have nutrients that far outweigh whole milk. Complementing a toddler's diet instead of replacing it, European toddler formulas offer support for every system including; Vitamins A & C to boost immune system response, Vitamin D and iron to strengthen bone and joints, and naturally occurring Omega 3 and Omega 6 to help brain and eye tissue development.

As with all European baby formulas, parents can count on their toddler’s formula to be pure and clean with no added sugars, steroids, preservatives or unwanted additives.

Cons

European toddler formulas are not readily available over-the-counter like you find with American based toddler formulas.

The good news is My Organic Company can easily solve this problem by bringing toddler nutrition straight to your door. With easy to order single cans or the convenience of 6 and 12 packs, we ensure you will never have to worry about running out of quality nutrition.

Designed with all organic ingredients and both prebiotics and probiotics to aid absorption of nutrients and support maturing digestive systems.

Building on the trusted brand of infant nutrition, Kindermilch Toddler formula is specially designed with your toddler in mind. This nutrition is intended to be offered in a cup to further enforce the balance of formula to solid food.

One of the most well respected brands of European baby formula brings you both organic cow-milk based and goat-milk based toddler formulas that have the perfect balance of whey and casein proteins. All Holle toddler formulas are made with 100% grass-fed alpine cow’s milk sourced from biodynamic farms that are sustainable and eco-friendly.

Starting at 10 months all the way through the 2nd year, Holle nutrition is the perfect supplement for babies transitioning to toddlerhood.

Holle A2 is Organic certified nutrition for sensitive little ones that can benefit from cow’s milk protein given in a gentler form, which is easier on a toddler’s digestive system.

Holle goat milk is organic and Demeter certified. Babies that are intolerant or sensitive to dairy can easily digest this gentle toddler formula.

The gold standard in infant nutrition has developed toddler formulas that benefit not only your baby’s health but also the environment. High quality cow’s milk and goat’s milk formulas to meet all your toddler’s digestive needs.

Ideal nutrition for toddlers starting at 10 months. Made with pure, simple ingredients your toddler will love and parents will appreciate.

Organically made in formula from Switzerland and sourced from 100% grass fed cow’s milk. This European toddler formula is made without palm oil to complement the finest essential ingredients.

Toddlers are full of energy and are constantly on the go. They need balanced nutrition to support growing bodies and developing minds.

As your little one's solid food experience expands, European toddler formula is there to give the nutritional balance they need to grow and thrive. Pure ingredients that are organically sourced are preferred over in store whole milk that comes from questionable practices.

My Organic Company strives to offer the best nutrition from birth all the way through the toddler years so you can focus on what is most important, your child.