figures Save Money On Getting What’s Good For Your Baby (NAPSA)—There’s good news for parents when it comes to doing what’s best for baby’s health. You can provide for little or no cost most of what your baby needs right now. According to the experts on infants at the Centers for Disease Control, it’s important to: Talk to your baby. It is soothing to hear your voice. When your baby makes sounds, answer him by repeating and adding words. This will help him learn to use language. Read to your baby. This helps her develop and understand language and sounds. Sing to your baby and play music. This helps develop a love for music and math. Praise your baby and give him lots of loving attention. Cuddle and hold your baby. This helps her feel cared for and secure. More good newsis that you can save money on feeding your youngster. Breast-feeding is not only generally best for baby’s growth and development, it’s free. If you do choose to use infant formula someorall the time, you can save by shopping for price without sacrificing quality. That’s because parents can save by buying store-brand formulas, which recently received a boost from several studies by pediatric researchers at the University of Virginia. “Our work proves there is no physiological reason you can’t switch from one brand of infant formula to another that shares the same protein source, which means store brands are just as nutritionally sound as national brands,” said James L. Sutphen, MD., Ph.D. In addition, Consumer Reports, perhaps the foremost authority on EZ es Sor ee o) Parents may be pleased to know they can feed their infants topquality formula andstill save. quality and savings, says there’s no need for parents to choose expensive national-brand infant formulas over their much more reasonable store-brand counterparts sold at drugstores, grocery stores and otherretailers. “Is the store brand as good as the national brand? It has to be,” writes author Sandra Gordon and the editors of Consumer Reports. “According to the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], all formula marketed in the U.S. must meet the same nutrient specifications, which are set at levels to fulfill the needs of infants. Although infant-formula manufacturers may havetheir own proprietary formulations, brand-name and store-brand formula must contain at least the minimum levels of all nutrients specified in FDA regulations, without exceeding maximum levels, where those are specified.” Parents looking to learn just how much they can save by choosing a store brand can use an online baby formula savings calculator at www.parentschoiceformula.com /baby-formula-savings-calcula tor.aspx or call (800) 485-9918.
