Best Formula for Mixed Feeding - does it exist?

[BackwardsInHighHeels]

Please help. My wee one is 29 weeks old and I've had to go back to work full time and have been expressing during the day to send ebm to the childminder (between 400 and 500ml) but it seems to have coincided with a growth spurt and I'm getting reports of him being v hungry (they're giving him veg solids at lunch and he's wolfing it even after a 200ml bottle of ebm) and when he's had porridge as well as a feed before I go to work and a 200ml bottle in the morning. I can't physically express any more (my boobs are hurting because im probably being less than gentle when hand expressing because pumps don't work for me) and the stress of not producing enough isn't helping. If I were to buy premix formula to have as an emergency backup (and only as a dire emergency - I've no intention of stopping expressing or giving up bf in the morning/evening) is there a better one or are they all much of a muchness and ethically questionable? Thank you.

They are all much of a muchness when it comes to their content so none is better than any other nutritionally. Ethically SMA's parent company is being taken over by Nestlé so they'll be worst, cow and gate and aptimil are produced by Danone so no real choice there. You may find this interesting: www.cwt.org.uk/pdfs/infantsmilk_web.pdf

I used pre-made formula to top up bottles of EBM when DS1 was in nursery, it definitely took the stress out of expressing because their was an easy fallback and it made no difference to BFing when we were together.

Ack there not their.

I don't ff but have often seen Hipp Organic in the shops- I wonder if this is any better? (sorry this post is if no practical use to you OP)

I use hipp organic. As far I as I am aware, all formula is the 'same' in terms of content, just sold under different names. I found hipp the cheapest but also liked that it's organic. No probs with my dd (7 months). She has had sma and aptimal but both caused alot of wind

400-500mls sounds a lot for just the day feeds if he is also breastfeeding before/after work too.

Do you think the childminder might be mistaking his 'comfort me' cues with 'feed me'?

200mls per bottle is a fairly large size of feed, could they feed more often but smaller feeds.

Also, adding in fats and protein may help with his appetite as just veggies isn't really balanced enough - cheese and veg would be better at the very least!

I am no expert, but I agree that that sounds plenty of milk if also feeding when you are home and that I'd be tempted to increase the solids and introduce more variety too. At 29 weeks he can eat anything and there's no reason why he can't have a cheese sandwich with some sticks of cucumber and baby tomatoes or something similar for lunch, plus eating it himself will give him something to do aswell.

Breast milk is really sweet so I think its about finding what your DC likes. Try a couple of cartons from different brands as my DS HATED sma! It's quite expensive to buy a big £9 tub, only to find they don't like it.

Also you say it's for emergencies? Formula has a short expiry date, my DS has one bottle a night (8mo) and we often don't finish the tub before we have to chuck it, think its 3 or 4 weeks! Maybe you'd be bettter just buying cartons?

Ds tends to feed like this: (8mo)
Night - A couple of feeds
7am - BF
9am - Breakfast
12:30 - Lunch
3 - BF
6 - Dinner
8/9 - FF

When he got to 8 months, the 3pm afternoon feed has been getting smaller and smaller as he wants more solid food. Perhaps try increasing his amount of solids? The health visitor said that once they reach about 9 months they do tend to only want the occasional afternoon feed once their on three meals!

(well done for expressing by the way, its a lot of hard work!)

Thank you all so much.

I've (or my hubby has) bought four cartons of Hipp Organic formula to keep as a backup for extreme emergencies.

I'm managing to get at least 350, sometimes up to 500ml per day, but it does seem a lot when he's feeding a lot at night and early in the morning.

I've wound up with two childminders, one two days, one three (not ideal and I'd rather the three day lady could do all week but right now that's not possible) and it was the two day lady who put the fear of god into me on Tuesday when I picked up my son by saying that he only settled after she gave him the bottle and food at lunchtime and she thought he was really hungry. I hadn't been giving him breakfast before he went to the CM because I thought that he was ok with the fairly long feed first thing in the morning, but I honestly think that it's partly that he's a bit discombobulated by being away from me and because he doesn't know her as well as the 3 day a week lady.

We'd been starting slow with limited fats and proteins because we really only started weaning three weeks ago, but it seems like he's ready for more so we're upping the solids - just caught me by surprise and I felt like the world's worst mum not being able to produce enough milk to continue feeding him while I'm away.

The trouble is that none of his teeth have come through yet, so although we're trying baby led weaning, he's getting frustrated because he wants to eat by himself but keeps gagging because he can't always break things down into small enough pieces.

I guess it's all a process, and something we'll keep working on, but I think I'd just got myself into a tizz about the idea of giving him ANY formula, but on reflection, I guess it's better to have it as a backup and not need it than not.

The only thing I would be concerned about is 2 day CM's comments which kind of shows she not that up on recent (as in the last 10 years or so!) development. For a start milk feeds should be approx an hour before complementary solids, not given at the same time (how on Earth did she fit 200mls and food into his tummy at the same time??). No wonder he was settled afterwards - he was probably sleeping all the food/milk off!

Could you give her some pointers for feeding your DS?

Perhaps something like:-

Milk feeds are to be less than Xml and given an hour before his food,
Plenty of pauses during the milk feed to allow him to feel full,
Holding him while feeding him his bottle/cup,
Offer him water in a cup/beaker with meals,
If he seems distressed comforting him first rather than offering food as a first resort.....

I'm sure you have plenty of other ideas!

PS. BLWing babies don't need to have teeth just gums that can smush food - try things like banana (cut a banana in half then stick your thumb in the cut end at the middle [by the black seeds] this should split the banana into 3 fuzzy covered sections which aren't slippery), skinless potato wedges, par-boiled carrot sticks, chunks of cheese, breadsticks to suck on (dip in soft cheese/yoghurt/fruit puree), or just give him something like homemade cottage pie and let him stick his hand in!

As he is over 6m he can have pretty much everything (Except nuts/seeds, skin on apple/potato, whole round foods like cherries/grapes/cherry toms (fine in pieces!), high in mercury fish in excess, raw eggs, shellfish and honey) and a balance of fats, protein sources like cheese/meat/fish/meat substitutes and fruit/veg is fine.

IMO that's a really impressive amount you're expressing! There's a calculator here for the rough amount of milk per feed- maybe the CM is more used to FF quantities where the amount of milk goes up as baby gets older, whereas for BF babies it stays the same, as the calories increase?

Of course you can use the occasional FF, and can consider it one of many new 'foods' he's having, but if for whatever reason you'd prefer not to, it's worth working out what higher calorie foods he likes and could have instead of (some) milk if necessary. For my DS, banana, yoghurt (if messy, but they can learn to use loaded spoons) and his current favourite cereal can all fulfil this role, but you'll soon learn what works for your son.