Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

calling all formula feeders

30 replies

MidnightKnitter · 20/08/2012 09:26

I'm in need of advice. What brand of baby milk do you use and why? Does it matter? I haven't got a clue and there are so many it's a bit confusing.

OP posts:

DawnOfTheDee · 20/08/2012 09:28

I use Cow & Gate. Tried SMA but it made my DD a bit constipated.

Aptamil is made by the same company as Cow & Gate and has the exact same ingredients but costs £2 more per box by the way!

MrsHelsBels74 · 20/08/2012 09:29

When I was feeding my son we used Aptimil as I was told it was most similar to breast milk. Son is now 2.6 & thriving. To be honest I don't think there's a great deal of difference between them.

Tangointhenight · 20/08/2012 09:32

I started off breast feeding and when that failed I went into Aptimil because I was fed the closest to breast milk propaganda.

I then decided to try hipp organic, it's the cheapest out there, it's organic which couldn't hurt, it doesn't smell rancid like the others and more importantly it agreed with my baby. They have now added the prebiotic to it like aptimil and cow and gate.

handbagCrab · 20/08/2012 09:33

I use sma as it was recommended by a midwife. Also they do disposable bottles and teats which are really good for out and about. However, they've recently changed the packaging of their ready made formula and it is now extortionate!

SugarBatty · 20/08/2012 09:33

Cow and gate and only because it has a little scoop leveller built in so you don't have to use a knife!

With dd it was sma I think because I liked the tins!

They are all pretty similar I think. I never use follow on milk though. Just straight to cows milk at 1

StormGlass · 20/08/2012 09:33

We use Cow & Gate.

DS was in SCBU for a while when he was born, and the neo-natal nurses there told us that the different brands of formula were all pretty much the same. The only thing they said was that it was best not to switch brands too often.

CherryBlossom27 · 20/08/2012 09:34

I use cow and gate as I didn't know what to choose and that's what my mum used with me and my brother. I'd go for whatever one is cheaper and sold in your local shop tbh as I don't think there's much difference between them.

SugarBatty · 20/08/2012 09:34

Is Hipp cheaper tango? I thought it just had less in the box!?

BlackOutTheSun · 20/08/2012 09:35

All formula is the same just depends on what suits your dc. I used sma.

fishybits · 20/08/2012 09:36

Cow and Gate

Tangointhenight · 20/08/2012 09:39

Yes it's cheaper per kilogram (check the labels on the supermarket shelf). Same goes for the ready made stuff it's cheaper per litre.

gettinganumbbum · 20/08/2012 09:40

Sma purely because it was widely used by friends/family at the time so I thought it must be good, it was fine for both of mine,

SugarBatty · 20/08/2012 09:40

Ok, that's good to know because I use ready made quite a bit.

BedHog · 20/08/2012 09:41

There's a website somewhere (can't remember what it's called or I'd link) that listed the ingredients of each brand of formula and what it provided in terms of nutritional value, vitamins etc. They were all fairly similar, but Cow and Gate seemed slightly better in a number of factors so we chose to use that.

DS never BF very well so was FF from 9 weeks, and we used the powder. DD BF much better but has a bottle of formula some days so we use the readymixed formula for her as we felt that was safer than having an opened box of powder festering for several weeks.

Indith · 20/08/2012 09:41

They are all basically the same.

Buy the one that you can easily get in your local corner shop so that if you have a shopping fail and run out late at night you know you can get your hands on some.

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 20/08/2012 09:43

Aptamil :) steered clear of sma as it disagreed with me as a baby.

Cow &gate made dd1 very constipated
Hipp organic turned her poo white.

Dd2 was on the aptamil pepti which she thrived on too :)

YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 20/08/2012 09:44

Formula content is very heavily regulated. Basically, all the stuff they need to include is in all of them, and the stuff they try to promote as 'great added extras' tend to have very little scientific support.

So since the content is basically the same in all, try out one and see if it agrees with your baby. If not, try another. The practical things are the most important to bear in mind - where locally sells it? if you want to use ready made at any point, where sells that and how expensive is it?

Also, try not to get sucked in by the Aptimil premium pricing - it is just paying more for the same product. People think it must be like the difference between a premium ice cream and a basics one. Or a premium sausage and a basics one (i.e. nicer ingredients, tastes better, etc). It isn't.

Original poster

MidnightKnitter · 20/08/2012 09:45

Wow that was quick. I didn't know c&g and aptamil were made by the same people. Won't be buying follow on milk i do know that much. I did wonder how much of a difference there could be between them. Time to do some price checking i think (had to get mnet wisdom first

OP posts:

tabulahrasa · 20/08/2012 09:47

I used Aptamil because I was still BF as well and I was told it was closer to breastmilk - for what it's worth, I never understood that to mean it was more like breastmilk than any other brand, just that it the taste made it easier to swap backwards and forwards.

It doesn't taste like breastmilk though it is slightly less disgusting than some other brands - I have since been told on here that Hipp tastes nice though.

My sister used Cow and Gate, I know someone else who used SMA and someone else who used whatever free samples she could get to supplement BF - all are perfectly healthy children now.

They all have to have a certain nutritional standard, so really you can pick any way you like - I'd go for one that they always have in a shop close to you, in case you need it quickly,lol

YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 20/08/2012 09:56

Tabulahrasa - it is such a scandal that Aptamil get away with marketing that 'closest to breast milk' bollocks. They aren't allowed to do it to consumers, but the stuff they say to HCPs (and which gets faithfully passed on) is shocking isn't it. As people who have seen me on these threads before may know, I have a deep and ingrained hatred of Aptamil for parting people with far more money than necessary for no benefit .

LST · 20/08/2012 09:59

Cow and gate.

Tangointhenight · 20/08/2012 10:03

youlllaugh I feel the same way about aptimil, my HV was disgusted that I switched, but I wasn't giving those robbing bastards anymore if my money when they play on women's emotions and guilt, I couldn't BF therefore I wanted the next best thing which my HV told me was aptimil, what a pile of bollocks!!

YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 20/08/2012 10:21

Glad it is not just me . I am not anti-formula at all, but I am very much anti Aptimil! Bit awkward as almost all my friends who use formula seem to use it!

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 20/08/2012 10:31

I think you just have to go by what suits your child. If you go in adamant your not going to use a particular bran you might miss out on the one that would suit baby best. Granted I was guilty of same thing with sma ( as it made me ill as a baby) but had none of others fitted I would have tried it.

Plus farleys were worse IMO. Went from being the cheapest claiming to be fair in their pricing to re branding and bringing out "nurture" which was even more expensive than optimal. Personally I couldn't give a crap who's making money as long as my child was thriving on the milk . :)

YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 20/08/2012 10:40

I am not talking about people who have tried lots of formulas (or is the plural formulae?!) and found none suited their baby. I can understand in that situation you would suck up the price differential and totally agree with you.

I am talking about the way Aptimil has made their product the automatic go to product for large swathes of people - basically by marketing it as the 'premium' formula, perfect for mixed feeding and moving on from breastfeeding. They have succeeded in making theirs the 'premium' formula, and who wouldn't want 'premium' for their baby. Yet there is nothing premium about it, or about any formula, because the law essentially requires them all to be as good as they possibly can be.

Flip

1 2