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I've also never bottle fed but when I was on the maternity ward and asked about formula as midwives thought DS needed a formula top up I was told there was not much difference between brands but that in NICU (at the hosp I was at anyway) they used only aptamil. I planned to give DS that when finished BF but turned out he was cow milk protein allergic so bf for over a year. This time if no allergy have same brand in mind post bf.

TT and aptamil, DS gulps it down!

With ds we used TT closer to nature whilst I was still bfing him, but moved to mam as he was a bugger who wouldn't open his mouth much, he loved the mam bottles. Dd liked TT but she was bf for a year one bottle a day so I think they're best for mixing with bfing. I prefered mams tbh.

C&G my ds wasn't keen on, hipp was very greasy and made him sick, aptamil was where he settled.

aptamil is no closer to breastmilk than any other formula - it's just a marketing trick they have pulled off to justify the higher price. The ingredients of formula are tightly regulated in any case so one brand isn't any healthier for the baby than another so whatever you choose is fine. Obviously some babies might do better on a particular brand rather than another so trial and error. Don't know much about the different bottles - I only have Avent ones - the normal ones are fine but the ones with the anti-colic ring have an annoying tendency to leak.

Tommee tippee here and aptamil. I chose aptamil because it's supposed to be the closest thing to breast milk. My ds loved it and he didn't have any digestive problems, not sure if that was down to the milk. Im using tommee tippee closer to nature again and will use aptamil again this time if I'm unable to breast feed. Dr browns bottles are supposed to be really good though as are the new mam bottles. Hope this helps

Thanks strawberries!

Oh and MAM do a set of bottles on amazon for £20 about 8 bottles in varied sizes.

I used tommee tippee with DS and SMA. Both were crap (in retrospect).
This time im using MAM and cow and gate, had i been a bit more clued up I would of tried several last time not just stuck it out.

Ok thanks. Its a minefield. Makes my very long stint of bf previously seem like a walk in the park!
Right so I'll get a couple of bottles in and a brand of milk and hope that I don't give birth on before Xmas day! Just trial and error I suppose. just thought I should have something in the cupboard for when we first arrive home.

Most bottles do anti-colic teats now. We got anti-colic ones for our Nuk bottles. Our DD has tongue-tie so she has orthodontic teats too. It is a good idea to just get the bigger bottles. We bought the smaller ones for DD then had to buy bigger ones as her milk intake increased. However, she's never been that into milk and has always been behind on how much she should apparantly have, so she ended up back on the smaller bottles.

If I was you I'd just get a few bottles, a steriliser, maybe a few different teats? Milk-wise I think they babies tend to go with what they are given. At first DD was mixed feeding C&G and expressed breastmilk... now she's just on C&G and starting solids. My Nephew had SMA but it made him feel quite sick, so he went on C&G, then my sis found out he was intolerant and he had to have soya milk.

Some companies like Avent send free bottles if you sign up to them online. They usually come within a few days... it's worth a try xx

Hipp caused awful constipation in both mine and my friends babies. We both switched to Aptamil and had no problems with that.

Each baby is different

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

Oh yes the dreaded colic. Good tip to avoid that then.

I think dr browns are anti colic ie they are best at stopping any air getting into the milk which would cause wind.

Rather 'avent'

Ok so agent is most popular. Isn't dr browns for expressed fed and bf babies, to avoid confusion?

Good point ie sizes which size to get? Sorry I'm not being lazy but getting to the shops is limited now and I know I'll over analyse so I'm drawing on your experience to make a quick decision.
I like that mama geek - "smelled the nicest"

Aptamil and mam bottles

I used avent last time but I might try dr browns this time. Tried the tommee tippee closer to nature ones but the teat kept going misshapen in the bottle and ds couldn't suck properly. I got one of the avent natural ones in the post so I might give them a try.

We used aptimil last time as was recommended by the hospital, but moved on to a prescription formula as ds had suspected cow's milk protein intolerance.

We tried a few milks and DD seemed to prefer Hipp and it smelled the nicest to me. We used MAM bottles, often get the starter kits in TKMaxx.

I'm using SMA, and found the Dr browns bottles to be fantastic, they are 10.50 for two in asda's baby event at the moment.
I never bothered buying the smaller size bottles, as I heard they don't last long at all

we used aptamil for ours and mam bottles for the first 2, DD2 has the new avent natural ones and really pleased with them! I didn't like the tomme tippee ones (we won a whole set just before DD1 was born), DD1 hated them and they didnt feel as good quality as the mam or avent ones when we compared! Although the mam bottles also fit the 'normal' avent teats, so can try 2 different types of teats on the same bottle if baby doesnt like one kind!

Ok thanks. I do want to have a couple of bottles in the house and a packet of milk as this time of year with weather, bank hols etc I don't want to be stuck. Not planning on buying a lot. I thought there would be one brand I must get as it's better etc but seems people use them all. I'll ask at the hospital too.
Thanks for your replies.
Thanks jilted its nearly over now!

We mainly gave aptimil because hospital gave that to us but also used Sma and cow and gate if local shop had no aptimil and I mix fed too. Dd was. Dd never cared which brand or even the temp.

Used tommy tippee closer to nature bottles. V good for us.

Agree with Mahna, it might be worth finding out what milk they give at your hospital, don't get too much before the birth and first milk is recommended until 12 months if you're not bfing.

I personally wouldn't get too much until the baby comes. After much research, DH and I bought the Tomme Tippee Closer To Nature bottles for our DD. We spent £60 on an electric steriliser, the bottles, teats etc... DD was born, refused to have the teats on the bottles we had bought so DH ended up doing a mad dash to Boots to get some Nuk bottles with different teats.

We feed her Cow and Gate because it's what they gave us in the hospital. You can keep them on that until 12months, don't bother with the follow on milk xxx