Homemade formulas can result in a baby not getting the right nutrition or having the ratio of their electrolytes disrupted.
And adding extra water to stretch the formula you have can dilute the essential nutrient profile and lead to serious health issues and interfere with proper growth and development, she added.
"You can actually choose a toddler formula at that point where normally you'd want to wait until they're exactly a year of age," Altmann said."Talk to your pediatrician, always, first." "Not all international formulas are created equally so you may want to make sure you know what you are getting and that it's a high-quality product," she said.
The FDA recommends against importing formula online because it could potentially be counterfeit, a spokesperson said."What we want people to do if at all possible is to be as flexible as possible and make formula switches," Abrams said.