The Honest Company Acknowledges Formula Feeding Is ‘Natural’ By Introducing Their Own Line

The Honest Company is known for all-natural baby goods and adorable diapers, but now they’re adding a new product to the mix: formula. According to PopSugar, The Honest Company is launching their first-ever infant formula today, a product seven years in the making. It all began in 2007 when the company’s co-founder, Christopher Gavigan, and his wife brought home a new baby. They struggled with breastfeeding and their baby was eventually diagnosed as failing to thrive. The couple began using formula, but Gavigan had trouble finding one he trusted.

With his background in environmental science, he quickly began to research their options. “It didn’t lead me to a place I was excited about,” he says. “A lot of what’s in the marketplace today doesn’t meet my standards, so I began a quest to create a next-generation formula.”

The Honest Company ended up creating a formula that is closely modeled after breastmilk, as most formulas on the market claim, and is made with ingredients sourced from organic farms. It is also free of all the things that make people panic: gluten, GMOs, flavorings, steroids, hormones, and pesticides. Surprisingly, the formula will be the only one on the market that does not contain DHA, as Gavigan says the synthetic forms added to most formulas aren’t up to his standards, so people who buy The Honest Company formula will also have to purchase their DHA supplement.

I’m a formula feeding mom myself, and I think it’s wonderful to see a company like The Honest Company breaking into the formula market. As Gavigan says, “…if you look at the research, the majority of moms will end up doing some combination of feeding, whether it’s a choice or because they have to.” Formula is still incredibly common, even as breastfeeding becomes more popular and increasingly normalized. I support breastfeeding moms 150%, but I feel that having a plethora of increasingly higher quality options available when it comes to infant formula is never a bad thing for those of us who need to use it.

More than that, though, I think it’s a huge deal for a company like The Honest Company, which makes it’s name on being natural and wholesome, to acknowledge formula feeders in this way. They uphold that breast is best, of course. We all do. But they’re also acknowledging that there are formula feeders out there and that formula feeding does not go against the standards The Honest Company tries to uphold.

So many moms, myself included, have felt incredible guilt about either their inability to breastfeed, their need for formula, or both. The Honest Company website says, “We take a best-for-baby approach in everything we do.” It’s a wonderful nod of support to see a company who makes that claim acknowledging that sometimes formula can be what’s best too.

(Photo: The Honest Company)