Formula feeds in hospital

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I'm a little nervous about posting this as it seems that most people on here are bf. Anyway, I'm intending to ff my baby to be and have been reading (in Gina Ford's book) that hospitals usually have 2 types of formula milk. Does anyone know which ones they are? I want to look into the different ones in advance.

Thanks for your time ladies x

Hi

I attempted to bf but was readmitted after 5 days due to LO weight loss and had to express and then start ff top ups. I was offered ff (sma gold bottles with the teats memtioned above) but we had taken some of the ready made cartons in with us so used them and stored them in the milk fridge.

I would be surprised if they would offer formula if you choose ff straight away so would either call to clarify or stock up
On the cartons much easier initially though more expensive.

And whenever any HCP or other mother is making you feel crappy about your choices please remember 2 things I was told when I was struggling to BF DD

1. The nurse at SCBU - we had to go back in to hospital as the BF/DD/me & milk thing was not working and she was losing weight & getting jaundiced. Several very tough days later we were discharged again. As we left the nurse very gently said "It doesn't matter how, just feed your baby." she meant BF is all very well but it doesn;t really matter if is FF or BF. Just feed her.

2. My fab health visitor 10 weeks later. BF was still not really going well and finally decided to go to formula. My HV told me "TBH Fishfinger, when your DD starts walking, starts talking,school, or at her first parents evening, her first school nativity you will not give a toss what went in her gob when she was a baby. Being a mother is not about the milk you feed your child. It is everything else.". I loved her words - they were said with a grin, made me smile. And were so right. I look at DD, now 5 and on the gifted and talented list, and do you know what I did not give a toss.

And amusingly as soon as we went to FF DD thrived - went from a still skinny and scrawny thing at 12 weeks to big. chubby proper looking baby at about 14 weeks.

Feed, love and care for your baby. And enjoy.

Call the hospital - they'll let you know what is on offer.

And good luck - hope it all goes well.
x

If a mother is not breastfeeding for whatever reason, and has not brought in formula, no maternity unit will 'withhold' food from the baby - that's over-dramatising. However, the mother will be asked to get a visitor to bring in some formula from outside when they can.

OP - your best bet is to call the maternity unit and ask them. Don't rely on any book to tell you what current policy is in every unit - how could any author know for sure?:)

If you have something sensitive or deep-seated that is preventing you from considering breastfeeding, then if you have a midwife you like, you could ask to talk about it - midwives have to ensure you know about breastfeeding whether you plan to do it or not, and if this is a difficult area for you, tell them.

Fishfinger, trouble is, while those remarks helped you, they don't help everyone :(

Someone upset about bf not working out often does not want to hear 'it doesn't matter' - that's the same as saying you are getting upset over nothing. How unkind.

And while there are a zillion more things that are important in mothering, it's simply not true that years on mothers don't give a toss by the time the kid is in a nativity play. How crass. For a start, that's a long time to be upset and worried, and for another thing, many women grieve for years and years after a bad breastfeeding experience. They're not in floods of tears about it all the time but I have seen women weep and tear up about this 10, 20 and even 30 years on :(

Sorry - that's a derail of this thread. My apols, OP - that has nothing to do with your concern.

Thanks so much for all your help everyone. This website is a godsend for people like me who really don't have people around to help x

I ff all 4 of my girls , the hospital offered cow&gate & sma gold in pre-sterilised bottles with screw on teats

Not all hospitals provide formula. So check yours does just Incase u have to take ur own. The hospital I went to however had SMA, aptimil & cow&gate from what I saw

Tiktok - I know that not being able to bf for what ever reason can be upsetting, and it took me years to get over it.

Just for me I found it refreshing that HCPs tried to put the whole thing in perspective. Or at least some kind of perspective. You hear a lot of horror stories about HCP making new mothers feel guilt about BF (2 of my sister in laws were berated over it). Just trying to help OP in case she comes up against any berating.

I understand, fishfinger - as I say, the comments helped you. Anyone berating anyone for not bf should be sacked :) But telling women who long to breastfeed 'it doesn't matter' (when the mothers feel it does, and started off bf because this is what they wanted ) and 'you will get over it' (when it can take a long time) is akin to trivialising their feelings and that's just as bad, IMO. I don't call that 'perspective', I call that 'making huge assumptions', to be honest!

The OP is not in this category - she is not planning on bf, and so will not feel guilt if she stops bf, if you get me :)

I second the use of whichever formula your corner shop sells, they are all much of a muchness. When we were supplementing BF with formula I bought hipp because it was cheaper and there was less plastic packaging, less strenuous advertising and you get 2 sealed packets in a box (spurious reasons maybe but reasons nontheless).

It's also worth noting that hospitals wont save much money by not providing formula, again it is good marketing for the producers and often heavily subsidised by them. Instead I think it's a requirement for baby friendly status.

It's not necessary for Baby Friendly, I don't think....unless something has changed.

Hospitals certainly do save money - manufacturers are not allowed to do cheap deals with maternity units, because it was recognised as anti-competitive to allow this. Years and years ago, manufacturers gave the formula to units, and in fact gave incentives to units to be the exclusive supplier (such was the power of the brand you use in hospital). They have to offer a range of formulas which they have paid a commercial rate for - this is the law (it's nothing to do with bf/ff - IIRC it's European anti-cartel legislation).

Some hospitals supply formula for babies, I mean they are patients after all, so just check with the hospital.