Baby milk in Malta

[MummyinMalta]

I’m in Malta and my 6 month old DD is really unsettled on the powdered milk and boiled spring water. We use cow and gate but they don’t sell the ready made formula out here, which she is fine with. She’s crying a lot which is unusual as she never really cries.

Does anyone have any advice on what we should or could do? We don’t fly home for another 48 hours and she’s so unsettled. I don’t know whether to just fly home early but I’m worried about her becoming ill or dehydrated in the meantime.

I though you shouldn't be giving spring water to formula fed babies, it's something about mineral (spring water can often contain quite high levels of sodium) overdose I think. I'd check how much sodium the spring water contains and seek medical advice based on the levels tbh.

Maltese tap water is absolutely safe to drink can you not just boil that and use it?

Use the tap water.

Looks like if you can get to a bigger supermarket they sell aptamil ready made bottles of formula in Malta.

Generally, the advice is to avoid using the tap water and use the bottled water. It’s all safe in terms of low sodium and sulphate content; it’s all as per NHS guidelines.

Sadly, she doesn’t agree with Aptamil at all which is why we use Cow and Gate. We took a load of ready made bottles with us but the airport had very few in stock on the day we travelled, and we tried to do a boots online order but it kept getting cancelled (but they couldn’t give us an explanation).

I'm Maltese (live in UK) we all use the tap water - last time I was there DS was less than a year old and I used the tap water for him and all my friends and family use it in their houses. I have honestly never seen concerns about it - and it will be boiled anyway surely?

Your DD is 6 months, so as long as she is weeing frequently and isn't clearly dehydrated I don't think heading home 48 hrs early in order to access different formula is necessary. Have you started weaning at all, could you increase her solid food intake a little to make up for her drinking less formula?

There are only 69 calories in 100ml of baby formula, so a small amount of solid food would make up any deficit in calorie consumption.

When I was on holiday on Gozo we (a group of adults) were not to drink the tap water. That was only a couple of years ago too.

Is she drinking enough but she’s unsettled, or is she also drinking less than she should be?

@GiraffeLaSophie probably because it can taste a bit salty - it's not bacterially unsafe at all.

It will be the mineral water. Boil tap water.

Greens have Hipp, and have you tried Arcadia (kinda under the Hilton) - they used to have Waitrose stuff so might be worth a try for different brands.

Are you sure it's the formula and not the heat?

It could be something unrelated like teething. I know it upsetting but it's just 2 days, offer cooled boiled tap water if it's very warm in addition to feeds

Thank you all. We were advised by our Health Visitor to use boiled bottled water within the safe limits of sodium and sulphate content which is why we’ve been doing so.

we are BLW but she’s refusing solids, refusing water and refusing the puréed pouch food we’ve bought in an attempt to try to get something into her. She’s drinking around a third of each bottle but no more. I’m just concerned she’s going to become dehydrated as it’s very hot here, not that she’s been outside all day.

Have you had a look in her tonsils or her ears? Does she have a blocked nose or signs of teething? I’d be worried she was unwell and in pain. If you have or can get some calpol I’d give her some then see if that settles her enough to help her drink some milk.

Also in Malta currently, and have travelled here regularly since my kids were tiny. The tap water is absolutely safe to drink, you should use that (boiled) to make it formula, not bottled water. Aptamil and C&G are essentially the same product, made by the same company, just marketed differently.

My kids were often fussy when abroad in hot weather. I offered them water to drink as well as milk, plus plenty of fruit/yogurts/custard etc (whatever they usually like) to ensure plenty of fluid.

So long as they are having at least 3 wet nappies a day I wouldn't be worrying.

How annoying, that’s definitely not what we were told- it would have saved us carrying litres of bottled water back from the supermarket each day! Oh well.

If you don't think she's very well just pop into a pharmacy - they can advise or there's normally a visiting doctor that will have a look.