Can you give formula to a newly born baby?

[Andyrourkerip]

Or can you only breastfeed? I mean a baby that has just been born that day. Sorry if it sounds stupid I'm just not very clued up! I mean I know not all mothers are physically able to breastfeed, so do they allow you to give the baby formula in the first couple of hours of his life?

Yes. A baby can have formula from birth. It's not a stupid question at all, if you don't know you don't know!

Thank you!

Yes you can! Lots of people don't breastfeed for a variety of reasons.

Yes you can.

Thanks for the answers

Yes, my daughter was unable to breastfeed.

Yeah of course you can, you can get tiny little bottles with pre made formula and little sterile treats, so you don’t have to faff abut with the kettle. Xx

Yes you can, are you asking because you are planning to formula feed from birth? If so, most hospitals don't have the space or facilities to steralise while you're on the ward. This means you can't use the powdered formula or the ready made packs that you pour into a bottle as you can't steralise the bottles afterwards. You would need to buy the starter packs where they're one-use tiny bottles with pre made formula inside. You'd just use one for every feed, and then when returning home you can choose to make up formula as you wish (powder, cartons etc). Just something to bear in mind ☺️

You can feed formula from newborn but you can also hand express colostrum into syringes and feed that to baby instead of directly breastfeeding if that isn’t desired or possible.