Introducing formula - which is best?

[Peediebreeks]

I've a 12wk old daughter who had been sleeping through to 5-6am but has started wakening wanting fed at 3am, not sure if its just a grwowth spurt but been going on over a week. I currently give her a bottle of breast milk at 11pm but wonder about changing this to formula to see if it'll fill her up more?! Anyone have any advice on which formula to go for? Friends seem split on SMA/aptamil...

i chose aptamil (blue box) as it is apparently the closest in formulation to breast milk and has lcps which is good for their brain development. My health visitor agreed (off the record). i wouldnt use any of the hungry baby formulas because it gives them constipation. Unfortunately i think a lot of babies start waking up for more feeds as they approach the age when they need more than milk, of course she's too young yet. My ds was feeding every 4-5 hours until 19/20 weeks, which was a real pain!! He slept much longer once he was on 3 full meals a day and now sleeps like a dream. (lovely) .

Aptamil gets my vote

peedie, this often comes up on mumsnet and you might find some ideas if you look in the archives and on past threads. There's a thread at the moment which talks about the way formula is marketed to make it impossible to see which formula is closest to breastmilk, and how the claim is totally spurious! Your HV, MissLily, can know no more than you do whether the brand you have chosen is better or not - truly

peedie, your daughter is behaving normally - maybe she is hungry at that time, maybe she isn't, who knows? If you are keen on maximising the health effect of breastfeeding, then sticking to breastmilk only is worth it.

If you do go for formula, it really doesn't matter which one. If you want to stick to the same brand, then choose one you know if easily available to you in the shops where you live.

HTH

Thanks guys! I'll not expect her to go through to 5am anymore and that way if she does I'll be happy rather than going mad when she wakes at 3am (amazing how quickly you get used to those extra few hrs sleep!). I've gone for aptamil... But will hold off for a bit yet and work with expressed...

Ds2 has aptamil, as it was the only one he's accept. He was exclusively bf until about a month ago, then I just had to give him a bedtime bottle to get a bit of life and time back (bad mummy, but he is 9 months, so not that bad ). He doesn't drink enough, I know, but he takes that better than SMA, which he wouldn't touch with a bargepole. I think the aptamil tastes better too! I wouldn't worry aboutthe waking. ds2 slept right through from 10pm to 7am for the firsrt 4 months, now he wakes twice a night, sometimes needs a feed, sometimes we can coax him back to sleep. But he def wont take a middle of night bottle; should be interesting for dh when I'm at the xmas meet up

they have a growth spurt at 12 weeks so that's probably what's going on.