Review: Which Maternity Milk is the Best?

During my pregnancy, I wasn't sure if I ought to consume maternity formula milk as I received varying opinions about it.

• My gynae was for it.
• A nutritionist I spoke to at a Cordlife conference recommended it after I shared that I only had the habit of eating 2 meals a day.
• My mother-in-law was against it as she believed drinking it will make one fat.
• A few mummies on Dayre were also against it, claiming that the high sugar content could cause gestational diabetes later (not so sure if this is scientifically true though!)

I also have a bad habit - I can be quite the workaholic at times, and there have been many occasions (even during my pregnancy) where I've been so tied up at work that I've simply...forgotten to eat my meals.

Having heard from different folks and after consulting my gynae, I eventually decided to drink maternity milk throughout my pregnancy to ensure that I would be getting enough nutrients to feed my growing baby. This decision came about because I examined my own diet (two meals a day) and realised I really wasn't getting enough nutrients from my food and lack of meals. Moreover, my gynae was supportive of me drinking maternity milk as my baby was underweight during our scans.

For those who already are consuming enough nutrients from your regular meals, perhaps it'll be better to speak with your gynae to see if they would recommend it in your situation.

However, while the instructions on the cans typically call for 1 - 2 glasses a day, I modified it and only stuck to 1 glass a day, which I usually consume together with my granola as a snack in the afternoon. 

The great thing about maternity milk in Singapore is that you can first sign up for free samples so that you can try out the different brands before committing to one:

Goodie bag from Nestle's Baby Club...I loved this!

Dumex sample + changing mat + a really useful pregnancy guidebook.

Photo of the Abbott Similac sample and goodies, taken from a fellow mummy friend because I
didn't get to take a photo of my parcel before my mother-in-law kept it.

Goodie bag from Cryoviva when their sales rep came to pitch their cord banking plans to me.
I ended up not storing with them though, for reasons detailed here. 

Since my decision to drink the maternity milk was largely due to its nutritional content, I set out to compare across all the different milk brands in order to discern which would be the best (green denotes the best in that nutrient):

*Note: The above comparison is only done across the normal / vanilla flavours. The chocolate ones (offered by Anmum and Enfamama) and strawberry (Similac) were not included as it wouldn't then be an apple-to-apple comparison with the other brands given the additional flavouring.

Abbott Similac Mum came out superior in this regard for nutritional level and low fat.

Aside from nutritional content, the taste of the milk and whether it dissolved easily were other key factors that I considered. Here's how they fared for me:

If you're looking for the best-tasting one, I felt Enfamama A+ Chocolate was the nicest tasting. For the vanilla ones, I often ended up adding 1 spoon of Milo powder so it'll be more palatable to me (disclaimer: that's because I'm generally not a fan of cow/goat milk and only drink soy or flavoured milk). However, adding Milo would also add to the calorie and sugar intake of your drink, in contrast to simply drinking Enfamama A+ chocolate directly.

In terms of price, I paid nothing because I managed to get sufficient free samples to last me throughout my pregnancy (I only started consuming the milk from the 4th month onwards) by signing up directly with the various brands. Just as I was about to run out, a fellow expecting mum (who didn't need her maternity milk as her baby was of good weight) gave me her samples as well. Thanks Isabel! :)

So in the end, I didn't have to fork out a single cent to purchase any of the milk that I was consuming as a result of all the free samples. I was really lucky in that sense!

Where to get free samples of maternity milk in Singapore:

• Wyeth ProMama
• Nestle Mom & Me
• NatureOne Dairy Pregnancy Formula
• Abbott Similac Mum
• Anmum Materna
• Dumex Mamil Mama
• Enfamama 
• Frisomum

On average, the samples from these online sites took 4 - 8 weeks to arrive, so I would suggest to sign up early if you can. 

Another great place to get samples would be when you attend pregnancy conferences (Thomson Medical holds quite a number of good, educational seminars every year to help expecting parents, and the entry tickets usually cost under $10 per person!), which usually give out a goodie bag to all attendees and where you'll find some sample sachets of maternity milk as well. Baby fairs and your gynae's office might have some samples as well (mine did, for Dumex, Anmum and Enfamama).

I would HIGHLY recommend that you attend some of the pregnancy conferences as they are not only affordable, but also extremely educational. I attended a few and learnt about breastfeeding tips, labour techniques, cord blood banking, and more. 

When to start drinking maternity milk?

Anytime! In my case, I couldn't really stomach anything in the first trimester because I suffered from really bad nausea, and the smell of milk itself was enough to send me running to the sink. It was only in my fourth month (second trimester) onwards that I started drinking it for its nutritional content and ensure that both my baby and I were consuming enough nutrients.

I hope this post will help those of you who are considering whether to drink maternity milk, and which brand to get! With so many samples available, you can also try them out for yourself before making a decision, but if you don't have the time or energy to compare them individually, I hope this post helps you to make a decision for yourself :)

With love,

Budget Babe