What's The Deal With Toddler Milks? : The Salt When parents transition a baby from breast milk or formula to cow's milk, it can seem like a big jump. We talk with a researcher who looked at just what's in the array of toddler drinks on the market.
NPR logo Toddler Milks: Filling A Nutritional Need Or A Marketing Niche?

Toddler Milks: Filling A Nutritional Need Or A Marketing Niche?

Toddler milks are more expensive and generally less nutritious than milk, says a researcher. Arian Melchor Manzanero Pool /Getty Images/EyeEm hide caption

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Arian Melchor Manzanero Pool /Getty Images/EyeEm


Arian Melchor Manzanero Pool /Getty Images/EyeEm







Still, manufacturers are pursuing this market with gusto. In 2015, manufacturers spent $16 million promoting toddler milks, compared with $9 million on baby formula, according to an analysis from the University of Connecticut. Mead Johnson Nutrition, the company behind Enfagrow toddler transitions formula, noted strong growth in U.S. and Canada for their "growing-up milks" in their two most recent annual reports, in 2014 and 2015.

We chatted with Pomeranz about what she discovered about these products. Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.

What, exactly, is a toddler milk, and how are these products different from formulas for infants?

This is actually a tough product category to nail down. When we first started this project, it took us months to determine what to call these things because there are so many names, and the European words are different than the ones used here.

Whether a product is called a follow-up formula, a follow-on formula, or a growing-up milk, these transition formulas all contain similar ingredients: powdered milk, corn syrup solids and other sweeteners, vegetable oil, and sodium. Infant formulas, too, contain powdered milk and corn syrup solids, but the FDA strictly regulates the nutritional composition of all formulas meant for babies under 12 months.

Without those nutritional regulations, most toddler milks have more sugar, fat and sodium than infant formula.

Why did you look into toddler milk labels?

Besides regulating the composition of infant formula, the FDA sets standards for labeling products for babies. Manufacturers have to include a specific nutrition panel and a statement to "use as directed by physicians," and they can only make certain kinds of claims about infant formulas on packaging.

Once a formula is intended for a child older than 12 months, those regulations don't apply, so it made sense to survey the 17 toddler milk labels available when this study was conducted.

In most cases, it's hard to tell infant formulas apart from the toddler milks on the shelf. They have similar colors and wording. But toddler milks are usually cheaper, and that lower price point means parents may mistakenly buy these products for infants.

Do you have recommendations about these formulas?

My view is that these companies created a fake feeding period that they filled with this new product. We're adding in now another few years of processed food consumption that didn't previously exist.

But to regulate the products that will remain in the market, it would help to assign them a standard name, so parents know what they're buying, she says. Requiring labels to clearly specify that toddler drinks aren't for infants would remove some of the confusion.

A directive encouraging parents to check with a pediatrician before feeding a child a toddler drink would also be good. Given that most toddlers do well with food, water, and milk, pediatricians don't typically recommend these transition formulas.