Which formula for a previously bf baby??

[Paige84]

Hi all. My 4.5mo DS is currently ebf, I'm heading back to work in a month and haven't been able to express anywhere near enough milk so am hoping to bf morning, evening, night and all day/night on the 3 days I'm not working. Does anyone have any recommendations on which formula I should try first? Are any better than others for a previously bf baby? I'm going to start introducing it one feed per day pretty soon so I'll be able to catch and deal with any gut upsets before being at work. TIA

Honestly I think it depends very much on your baby, Similac (from boots/Amazon) is supposed to be good but my son hated it when we tried it, he likes Aptamil. Just go by trial and error. The actual makeup of baby formula is really tightly regulated so in terms of the nutrients baby will be getting they're all very comparable. Good luck

I combination feed and use Aptamil. I read it was the closest to bf. DS gets on well with it but we did introduce it quite early.

I didn't combine feeds until a bit older but mine had Hipp organic when I started introducing formula and got on well with it.

None of them are remotely close to breastfeeding.

Useful products in their own right, and can be lifesavers when mother's milk is not available, but they are all broadly the same and not to be compared to breastmilk. So just pick the cheapest and see how you get on. Ignore the marketing gimmicks.

They are all pretty much identical. Pick the cheapest!

Weller - agreed none of them are remotely close to breast milk in terms of contents really

They all have pretty much the same additives etc so agree chose the cheapest one. I introduced cow and gate and aptimil to my ebf baby at 6 months in a sippy cup to have with food. I'd suggest you do that so you don't then have to later take away a bottle. There's lots of sippy cups for young babies that have sucking type soft lids so try a few.

As others have said, they're all much of a muchhness due to ingredients being tightly regulated. No brand is "closer to breast milk". Hipp is organic - if that's important to you - but there's currently a bit of a shortage, which is a pain! I'd choose based on convenience, I.e. Which brand is consistently stocked in your local shops.

Just buy a selection and try him in a testing session see which one he likes best

Don't be fooled by marketing. A member of my family is a paediatric dietician and says Cow & Gate & Aptamil are exactly the same composition. Have you tried a good double electric breast pump? I bought a double Ardo Calypso pump on eBay and it was so much more successful than my single Medela swing

I used Aptamil for DD1 but she was quite windy with it so switched to Hipp organic for DD2 which she got on well with.

You can find independent information on what's in different formula here:
firststepsnutrition.org/newpages/Infant_Milks/infant_milks.html

In summary they are all much the same because they have to be. There is generally weak evidence that any of the advertised extra ingredients have any effect.

As others have said, go for the cheapest or most convenient.

Pick whatever "first milk" you can get from local shops in a hurry

Can only give you my experience with Dc1 I found after breastfeeding, that hipp organic was the most suitable for her, I initially tried Aptimal but she had terrible green poos and awful wind, when I moved onto hipp she settled much better and her poos were back to looking like regular ones she had whilst breastfeeding. It really depends job your own child, you may find one better than another.

Job *on