What formula would you recommend at this stage?

[LudwigVanBeetroot]

Apologies if there is exactly the thread I am looking for on here, but a cursory search hasn't helped me clarify my question and I am a bit short on time. (Like nearly every mum in Christendom!)

Briefly, have EBF my boy to 9 months, but am back at work now and my freezer store of liquid gold has sadly gone. My boobs are just about keeping up with my son's needs - he still likes a lot of milk 500-600 mls a day - but I am struggling more and more to express enough milk for when I am at work.

He has had about 500 mls of Aptamil Formula in his whole life but I'm not sure whether I am giving him the right one. Given that he has pretty much only had BM, should I keep him on the stage 1 breastmilk replacement milk or move him to stage 3 follow on milk? It will still only be about 500 mls of forumla a week as I work from home most of the time so it's just for when I pop out to meetings etc. Also, Aptamil seems to agree with him, but as a rule he is prone to quite bad constipation (another reason why I am trying my best to breast feed for as long/much as possible) - so does anyone know from experience if there is an even better non-constipating formula out there?

Thanks so much for reading this, any info will be very gratefully received!

LVB

You can keep giving stage 1 formula, the rest are just marketing cons! There is very little difference between formulas, the general rule of thumb tends to be to give whichever is stocked in your local shop! Congratulations on expressing for this long :) Do you still feed him when you are not at work? You may find anyway that he will soon be happy with other drinks and food during the day.

First stage milk is probably the best one - follow-on will be a little cheaper but has extra (unnecessary) iron so can contribute to constipation.

I've found Cow & Gate to be pretty identical to Aptimil by the way - they are made by the same company. As far as I can tell the only difference is the price.

Sorry, didn't read properly, you do still feed!

I would stick to a stage 1 formula as if your son is having 500-600mls of milk a day he probably isn't very reliant on solids for nutrition so the first stage would be more appropriate.

Is your son taking 500-600mls on top of bfing from you? Or are you exclusively expressing?

Have you though of switching to a cup in case he is comforting himself on the bottle (understandably as he must be used to comfort nursing from you) and is taking more than he needs.

As to the constipation, does he drink any water during the day as upping that when introducing formula might help alleviate constipation.

Thanks so much Indith and Rita, really helpful. Will stick to stage 1 - had no idea about the extra iron, which will no doubt not help! Ta also for the tip about Cow & Gate. I'm hoping it's just the odd day here and there when he has it, and we can get to 12 months on mostly boob milk. Never set out to BF this long (started off thinking I'd do the first 3 weeks) - we've been lucky and it's worked out for us. But teeth have started to arrive and I'm just starting to get nervous about the inevitable bite!! Aargh...
Thanks again.

HI TruthSweet

No, the 500-600mls is what I think he takes during the day on top of solids. It's a guesstimate based on what he has consumed on days when I have left him expressed milk in a bottle. He mostly breastfeeds so I'm guessing that's the amount he takes on board then.

Cup feeding is fun for him, but not very nutritious. He's at that stage where he flings it around the room and all over himself and not much goes in his mouth!! I always offer him water at meals and during the day, and I think you're right about the comfort factor. He's been waking up again in the night for feeds which I have been putting down to teething comfort nursing.