Is Parent's Choice Premium equivalent to other expensive name brands?

[AirForceWife7]

I've been feeding Brenna Parent's Choice Premium (Comparable to Enfamil Premium Infant Formula). It's Wal-Mart's brand & I've been feeding it to her since she was about 2 months old. On the label, it says that under the "Infant Formula Act", all formulas on the shelves of stores must meet the same FDA nutritional standards. PC is soooo much cheaper than the expensive brands, it's $17.00 for a huge 36 oz. container as opposed to a 25 oz. container of Enfamil that runs $23.00-$25.00 a can. I've just been wondering why the price for PC is so mch cheaper than Enfamil if they have the same ingredients? Is it because PC is a store brand? I'd feel awful if PC actually isn't nutritionally equivalent to Enfamil, & that all these months Brenna hasn't been getting the nutrition she needs. I guess that's my biggest fear. Anyone else use PC?

 

[LoveleeB]

I've used it ,thought it was great. Think it's actually made by one of the 3 big formula companies. I believe it's cheaper because there's no advertising.

 

[AirForceWife7]

Thank you so very much!

 

[summer rain]

I believe in the US, as here, all formulas must meet certain standards; so a cheaper formula is just as nutritionally complete as an expensive one and more often than not there is no medical advantage to premium ingredients added to the pricey formulas xx

 

[mommybrain]

Actually, Parent's Choice is made by PBM Products Inc, now owned by Perrigo. They are the manufacturer for nearly all store brand infant formulas. Similac is made by Abbott, Enfamil by Mead Johnson, Good Start by Nestlé.
Yes, all infant formulas are made nutritionally equal. The FDA has requirements that ALL infant formula manufacturers must meet.
The reason you can save so much money with Store Brands is because of marketing. If you think about it... Name Brands buy commercials, and ads everywhere. TV, Magazines, etc. They also give hospitals across the country (possibly even the world) *free* samples of formula. They give them enough to feed the babies in the nursery, and send tons of samples home with new parents. We had twins and we got almost two weeks worth of samples. It's not free.. so they pass on the cost to the consumers, driving up the prices of the retail units. Pricing has nothing to do with quality of the ingredients of amount of nutrients..
Basically, you can pay almost $30 for a can of formula, or you can pay almost $15 for a can of formula, and you are getting essentially the same thing.
We used Parent's Choice once we ran out of our samples. My hubby and I literally pulled cans off of the shelves and sat down in the aisle comparing labels before realizing they were just about the same thing and buying up a few cans of Parent's Choice. We saved over $1400 in the time we used formula. So glad we had the option!
Hope this helps