which formula should i pick ?

[taytotayto]

my baby is almost 4 weeks old and so far ive been expressing ( long story but she refused the breast after 3 weeks of trying) and topping her up with hipp organic formula milk which seems to agree with her. however i now want to change formula to one that sells the ready made cartons as i go out alot and travel to ireland alot to family and would find the cartons easier.
the trouble is i have no idea which formula to pick. i did think about aptamil but i have heard from some friends that this caused their babies to have terrible explosive nappies. not sure if this is true. what do others think please

[colditz]

I always went with Cow and Gate, as SMA constipated my babies and Cow and Gate is available just about everywhere.

[floatyjosmum]

i used cow and gate when i stop bbreastfeeding but thats only because i cud remember what that one looked liked (was sending a clueless man and he needed descriptions - still had to ask for help tho)

have to agree with colditz about the availability of some formla milk - cow and gate is everywhere whilst others seem to be a bit hit and miss

[HoppityBunny]

Organic. With not organic milk the cows are pumped up with tons of hormones and chemicals in order for them to produce more milk as well as murdering their newborns calves and the mother cows are killed after their 2nd year of lactating. No body knows know what this treatment of cows with these hormones on a human baby.

[pigletmania]

Thanks hoppity for that bit of useful info, and making some of us who had difficulties bf feel so good.

[pigletmania]

Not all of us use formula out of choice, its that or baby starving, if i had the right support or body working i would have chosen to bf any day.

[pigletmania]

On a different not, I did use Aptimil as my SIL was using it and said that she liked it. DD did have some dreadful nappies though.

[HoppityBunny]

Aptmil has been done for advertising false claims. The 'help to protect against your baby defenses' claim isn't proven to be true, there's no evidence for it. The claim is just being used as a marketing sale ploy and yes it's working! Cos it's very popular with mums!

Organic formula is probably best. Although organic veg isn't proven to be any healthier, but eating organic animal produce is.

[LIZS]

Whatever is convenient for you to buy locally and your baby tolerates. There isn't a huge difference otherwise. Aptamil is available abroad, if in other guises, as is Hipp whereas SMA and C and G aren't.

[pigletmania]

IMO they are all the same really, I just bought it because my SIL was using it, had no idea of their marketing or anything at the time.

[PortAndLemon]

Hoppity, even the Vegan Society, who aren't exactly fans of the dairy industry, say that "Most modern dairy cows are sent for slaughter at about 5 years old, after only three or four lactations". Where does your two lactation figure come from?

[taytotayto]

i tried my best to breast feed, i was even kept in hospital for 4 days so i could get help with breast feeding but the little monkey refused to latch on so i have no choice but to formula feed her. thats unless anyone knows where i can buy breast milk from as my supply is drying up and she is a hungry baby. was nearly 10lb at birth.

[tiktok]

taytotayto - I read you have been expressing and that's a huge task to keep up....your milk will dry up unless you express many times a day inc at night, and it can be really hard to maintain this (how many times do you express?)

You might be able to get the bf going again with the right help - there is a thread at the moment in which a mother did just this, after 6 weeks of formula feeding.

[HoppityBunny]

PortAndLemon yes you're RIGHT! Sorry I wrongly remembered it IS killed after 3 or 4 lactation's. I am getting my figures from The Politcs of BF-ing book by Gabreille Palmer. It also says here a cow only needs to produce 10 litres a day to feed her calf and they make the cow produce over 70 litres a day! Amazing! By using hormones, antibiotics and intensive feeding. It also says these cow's milk is not as nutritious as originally produced milk. Very interesting, I didn't know this till I read my book.

If I was FF I would certainly choose organic, and "to help the immune system" claims on some formula brands are just a load of unproven crap to market their product and they may can be unhealthier for baby cos added extra ingredient. I haven't got anything against formula. But I think every mum should know exactly what they are buying for their babies.

[HoppityBunny]

Sorry organic milk not orginally milk!

[taytotayto]

im expressing about 4 times a day inc getting up at 3 am ish to express, god i would love to get breast feeding going, could i do it even though ive introduced formula?? if so how do i start??

[tiktok]

tayto, you need to express at least 8 times in 24 hours to build up and maintain a supply...is this something you could do? You would need to express both breasts each time. You can search 'relactation' on the web and in the mumsnet forums for more info. Yes, it can be done