What formula??

[ladyderbs]

Not planning on BF, I have 10 weeks left and want to think about starting to get stuff ready for my hospital bag.. one question, which ready made formula do you recommend and how much should I take? Will the midwives hate me for not even entertaining the idea of BF and make my child go hungry?!

[JasperDamerel]

Midwives won't hate you. If you are making an informed decision to formula feed from birth and are happy with your choice, that's all they need to know.

I didn't ff, but one tip that I was given us that it's good to use a brand that is available at your local corner shop/late night convenience store, for the time when your entire household has come down with an illness and you realise that you are about to run out (or similar emergency scenarios).

[CupofTeaTime]

I bottle fed from the beginning and was recommended to use Aptamil by the midwives in hospital. We never had any issues with it and used it right up until my DS came off milk altogether. I'm pregnant again and will use Aptamil again

[MaryManchego]

The ingredients that they must contain are covered by law, so all first milks are pretty much the same. So yy, look for something you can find easily and that you can afford.

First Steps Nutrition has some good quality information about different milks available in the UK.

[SausageSoda]

I used Aptimil (until DD was diagnosed as CPMI now I have to use special stuff). I didn't produce any breast milk but I don't feel the midwives judged me for not persevering. I can't imagine you're little one will go hungry - it's easier to tell how much milk they are taking when they are FF.

[QuilliamCakespeare]

I combi fed as my DS had problems latching. The nursery nurse at hospital recommended Aptamil to us.

[champagneplanet]

Don't worry about the midwives, a decent one will inform you of the facts about bf and ff, respect your decision and then if bf provide the appropriate support where needed.

I used Aptamil as I was told it's the closest to breast milk and I intended on starting to bf then switch over or coronation feed, it didn't quite work out as planned but we had no problems with Aptamil and I will use it again for DC2.

[BastardBernie]

I've always used Cow and Gate with my three because it's Aptimil (the expensive "good" one) but with different packaging

[Horispondle]

All formulas are much the same. I second PP who said go with the one that is stocked in your local shop. If you are given formula in the ward check the date!! I bf but my DS had low sugar so they insisted in given him a feed of formula. The bottle was 3 months out of date. My DS vomited lots and ended up in Neonatal for 6 days.

[AndWhat]

I used cow and gate, get a newborn starter kit with the pre made bottles for the hospital and 1 tub of powder to get you started.
Also agree with pp make sure it's an accessible brand

[teenyrabbit]

I use cow and gate. As a pp said, it's aptimil in a different container.

Midwives shouldn't be recommending brands of formula

They're all much of a muchness but you might find your baby gets on with one more than others!

[UnicornPee]

I used cow & gate with my two and plan on using it with this one.
I was always warned off SMA as its notorious for giving babies constipation.

[UnicornPee]

I also reccomend the Dr Brown bottles as they are amazing for ensuring your baby doesn't get colic

[Foxley11]

My boy started on Cow & Gate, but following 3 months of feeding problems I changed him to HiPP. I hadn't realised he was getting constipated on the C&G and at 4.5 months old he's very happy on HiPP still. The feeding problems were actually caused by tongue tie... but if I had another I'd try HiPP first. Different brands suit different babies though!
My hospital provided either C&G or SMA ready to feed bottles.
The HiPP online shop sells ready to feed bottles with teats.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Aptamil as that's what they used in scbu.

[greggscreamslice]

Used cow and gate with our first as ingredients identical to aptimal (made in the same factory apparently too?) but using hipp organic for our second. Would highly highly recommend hipp, no wind, no constipation, really gentle on tummies!

[Thirtyrock39]

Don't be swayed by the Aptimal 'closest to breast milk' it's no better than cow and gate etc... Your midwives may encourage you to at least give the baby colostrum (the milk you'll have in your breasts when baby first born) as its sooo good for immunity etc but they won't force the issue. They shd tell you to replicate bf by feeding little and often, lots of skin to skin, one main feeder.

[My2centsworth]

As others have said the formulas are almost identical. Get the cheapest. Paying more is for a brand.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I tried cow and gate when we got out of scbu and regretted it pretty quickly as ds got really badly constipated so we went straight back to Aptimal.

[My2centsworth]

That is a good point Dame. They do say changing can cause constipation so you are better sticking to one.

[PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon]

We went for aptamil purely because it's what dd had in hospital. I think the recommendation is to not switch up formulas too often so we just stuck with that.
I never thought about what you can get from your corner shop but mine opens less hours (and not at night) than tesco does. I would be surprised if you got through more than one tub of aptamil a week (if that's what you use). I think I bought 2 in 2 of my weekly shops in 8 months and never ran out

[CommaStop]

We started off using aptamil as it was readily available but about a week in she had constipation and just after her two week check switched to Hipp Organic - started pooping straight away and no problems from there on in. Having said that the packaging is less handy as are their single use cartons - the aptamil/sma etc looked much handier so if I were ff again I might start off with one of the main brands and see how it went. I don't think they're massively different to each other but different things suit different babies and for us Hipp really worked and it seemed to be the consensus online at the time that it's good if baby experiences constipation on other formulas.

[Shadowboy]

After 4 weeks of hellish Brestdeeding and bleeding nipples I used HiPP organic as I was told this was less likely to give her constipation. She certainly never suffered from constipation at all.

[BeardMinge]

We started off on Aptamil, but it stinks because of the fish oil, is expensive, and is just C&G with a different label (made in the same place and the ingredients are basically identical).

We switched to HiPP, and although the packaging is a bit annoying our baby was fine with it. You can buy packs of four boxes on Amazon for convenience sake.

[Minispringroll]

I'll be getting some Hipp to have at home (will have a go at breastfeeding, but I have no intention of getting stressed out about it), mostly because my parents live in Germany and it means I wouldn't have to take any with us when we go and visit them.