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If breast milk is not available infant formula ensures a balanced intake of nutrients and is undoubtedly more suitable for infants than cows' milk. In particular, it should point out the absolute necessity to postpone to the end of the first year of life, or even after the 2 nd year, the use of cow's milk for the extreme imbalance of nutrients that lead to high- protein diets and low levels of polyunsaturated fats, iron and zinc. As a consequence, in the absence of breast milk, the use of an appropriately adapted formula in the first year of life and the use of "toddler milk" from 12 to 36 months may represent adequate nutritional alternatives, especially when compare to the use of cow milk, and in particular may appear to play a fundamental role in the prevention of iron deficiency anemia. Different varieties of toddler milk are currently available in Italy. This review outlines the nutritional differences between breast, toddler and cows' milks, and compares different brands of toddler milk. as for useful molecules from a nutritional point of view, but also and especially in its content in terms of the so- called "functional nutrients." In the absence of breast milk, infants should be given formula milk, avoiding the introduction of cow's milk in the first year of life. Its composition is in fact very different from breast milk (5) (Table 1), causing serious risks in infants whose organs have not yet fully developed. First, proteins found in cow's milk, as beta-lactoglobulin and casein, have a high level of allergenicity. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are almost entirely absent, while there is a predominance of saturated fatty acids. Lactose content, like vitamins, is much lower in cow's milk than in breast milk, while the excess of minerals, especially sodium, can lead to an increase in the activity of the physiological mechanisms for renal compensation. Thus, we should point out, for both breast-fed