To ask which formula brand you would recommend for a newborn?

[MissMattyJenkins]

I'm posting in AIBU for traffic as I'm running out of time before the baby arrives and I want to buy some for the house. I couldn't find any recent threads on this when I searched.

A couple of pharmacist friends have suggested Aptamil (with the proviso that they think the brands should all be much the same). I've noticed since then that aptamil is more expensive than SMA or cow and gate!

Anecdotally I've heard a few people saying aptamil is easier on the baby's digestive system when browsing older threads on mumsnet but not consistently.

What do people think?

Some advice i could have used is not to buy too much. I bought loads of cow and gate, and then lo had bad reflux, wouldn't keep it down at all, so couldn't use it or refund/exchange. Had to go out and buy c&g anti-reflux formula, did the job though.
Good luck with the new baby

The plural of anecdote is not data. Just because two children were fine and not made ill by an unsafe practice simply indicates the risks are low.

I think that it depends on the baby.

Ds1 had SMA with no problems. Ds2 didn't do well on it, green poo, constipation, I switched him to Aptimal after 4 weeks and he was much better but still has reflux and gets quite uncomfortable.

I was breastfeeding but after a few days of ds feeding and suckling constantly I was in pain and couldn't bear it anymore, dh ended up driving around at midnight trying to find a shop to buy formula as I was in tears with the pain, I wish I'd had some emergency formula in.

I did go back to breastfeeding and also expressed milk for a couple of weeks before permanently switching to formula, but we were lucky to find a shop open that night.

With regards to making the bottles, I wash and steam sterilise them. Initially we made a couple up at a time I now make a days worth in advance.

I know it's not recommended but it works fine for us and I feel there's more chance of me making an error making them up in the middle of the night.

I boil a kettle 1.5litres, then let it cool for 30 minutes, the water must be above 70 degrees to kill bacteria in the powder as it's not sterile. I make the bottles and flash cool them in cold water before refrigerating.

If we go out I use a cool bag with an ice pack or bring empty sterilised bottles and ready made cartons.

Ladyrosy, Aptamil tub says leave water to cool for 30 mins before adding powder, so water will not be 70 degrees.

OP, lots of advice here, see what works for you.

I think that the water would still be 70 degrees after 30 minutes?

My understanding is that 70 degrees is the optimum temperature. Any hotter would kill some of the nutrients any cooler would be too old to kill bacteria.

30 minutes cooling would reach optimum temperature.

It's worrying that there's so much misinformation out there.

Do you test the water temp?

No but I know that 1.5 litres of water kept in the kettle won't have cooled below 70 degrees within 30 minutes.

mum sterilising the bottles and sterilising the powder are two separate acts.

Mumhum Even Aptimil say to cool the water for no longer than 30 minutes.

To quote their website: "Boil 1 litre of fresh water. Leave kettle to cool for no longer than 30 mins."

Link for you:
www.aptaclub.co.uk/article/aptamil-first-milk-safe-preparation

There is information on the NHS website and the WHO website about safe formula preparation.

Both for making bottle fresh or what to do if you're going to make them in advance.

When Ds went on to formula properly I used aptimil for a while then used hipp organic till he had cows milk

We switched from aptimel to SMA gold as there was a slight reflux problem. Seemed to work better.

Apparently it's impossible to kill the nutrients but it is necessary to sterilise the powder pyjama.

I wash, steam sterilise, then make them up as needed using a small amount of just boiled water first and then top up with cooled boiled water that's kept for the purpose. I have absolutely no idea if this is right because literally everything else we have done has been criticised by someone or other. The idea that there's a Right Way is beginning to feel like an urban myth.

And I say that having scrutinised the WHO thing.

Yes there are lots of views, in the US they rarely sterilise bottles for a start.

We always found Aptamil great for DD (she had terrible reflux and it got much better on the Aptamil as opposed to when I was bf) and having a kettle that heated water to 70, 80, 90 or 100 degrees was really useful.

I've got to admit the killing the nutrients bit is something I've seen on various forums, I assumed it explained why the advice is to use water cooled for no longer than 30 minutes, rather than just advising to use immediately.

I can't find any proper advice that mentions killing nutrients, only that the water must be hot enough to kill bacteria in the powder.

Stopping, it is an urban myth. The "advice" changes every few years at most.

We used to be advised that when out and about we could take just boiled water in a vacuum flask, a sterilised bottle and a small pot containing the correct amount of formula powder. A feed whilst on the go could be made up using that. It never did mine any harm, but no doubt is frowned upon these days.

US dishwashers aren't as energy efficient as ours because they wash at much higher temperatures. Hence the lack of sterilising.

Cow and Gate was great for us, better than SMA. We never tried Aptamil because it was more expensive.

We boiled the water and added the powder straight away... see this is the sort of formula advice midwives and HVs should be giving. I'm sick of seeing people say "What sort of help could you need with formula feeding?" in a sneery way - there's so much conflicting advice!

Cow and Gate was great for us, and it was available in the local Spar

Definitely agree with not stockpiling as different babies prefer different ones; just like adults.

SMA for the first four.

I used Cow and Gate for the fifth, it was the more gentler formula for sensitive stomachs but I can't remember the full name. I then switched to normal Cow and Gate after 6 months.

I preferred the Cow and Gate over the SMA but I never thought to try it with the others.