Page 2 | How many cans of formula do you use each week?

KristinaM · 2004-10-28T22:44:33+00:00

I'm helping my friend's daughter work out a realistic £££ budget for herself and her baby after its born. She wants to bottle feed - how many cans of formula will she need per week? I know its goes up after the first 4 weeks and stays about the same for the next 5 months. Is about 2-3 cans a week right? I mean the big 900g tins - I have already priced these at about £5.20 from the local health centre. I did try to work it out from the information on the can but its measured in scoops and the tin contents are in grams...sigh.....

suedonim · 29/10/2004 18:09

And you can feel terribly virtuous at the same time, knowing you're playing your part in saving the earth .

throckenholt · 29/10/2004 18:46

I would say about 1 can per week (juding by the amount I got through with my twins when I was combi-feeding).

fairydust · 29/10/2004 18:56

All kristinaM has asked for is the price of cans of formula and once again MN people try to make people who bottle feed out to be bad people.

Not everyone wants to BF yes it may be cheaper / have extra benefits but that's the mothers choice not society choice to ram it down there throats.

Kritina if she is on IS then will be entitled to milk tokens - i think it's a lovely thing your doing trying to do helpnig her out.

I'm sorry if i seem harsh but it seems it happening far to much.

hunkermunker · 29/10/2004 19:07

I just think it's a shame she doesn't even seem willing to consider it, that's all. If she's thought it through and still wants to formula-feed, then so be it, but to not even consider the option of breastfeeding if you're on a budget seems odd.

I'm a bit fed up with not being able to mention the word breastfeed to people who bottlefeed!

hercules · 29/10/2004 19:47

Not sure where the bit is about making anyone feel bad.

Original poster

KristinaM · 29/10/2004 19:53

HM - I didnt say that she wouldn't even consider BF so i don't know where you got that from. I don't think she's made up her mind yet. I'm just trying to help her get as much information as possible so she can make informed decision.

I didn't know about the milk tokens - that's very helpful.

I would like to encourage her to come on Mumsnet and ask all these questions herself but i'm a bit scared that people would jump down her throat. If you are a young mum2be its hard not to get upset. There are enough people IRL telling her what to do

OP posts:

hercules · 29/10/2004 19:56

I dont think it's telling people what to do, more informing people so they can make a choice based on the correct information. Sadly you cant get this from the so called health "professionals" normally and there is a lot of myths about breastmilk and breastfeeding.
There is a lot I wish someone had told me about breastfeeding before I had ds. I was able to read up and be knowledgable for dd thankfully.

hunkermunker · 29/10/2004 20:57

Hi KristinaM - I just thought by a process of elimination when you said she wants to bottlefeed, she wasn't considering breastfeeding. If I read more into it than there actually is then I'm sorry.

I hope she's able to come to an informed choice and I think it's brilliant you're helping her with this

throckenholt · 29/10/2004 21:39

I found the major expense of breast feeding was the amount of extra food I had to eat (I am sure I am not the only one) - so it isn't "free". If it works for you then I agree it is by far the easiest option, and arguably the best option.

The rest of the paraphanalia of bottle feeding you can get second hand, so that is somewhere she can ecconimise.

I agree it is a shame that anyone decides to definitely bottle feed before the baby is born, and it is a shame that this is more common for people with low incomes (I don't know why) - but it definitely shouldn't be a reason for her not to benefit from Mumsnet - hopefully it will be a useful resource for your friend's daughter - just like it has for the rest of us .

colditzmum · 29/10/2004 21:51

I know I will be publicly crucified for saying this, but I bottlefed from birth and refused to even try to breastfeed, despite huge pressure from all the midwives. Personally I find the idea of anything sucking my breast to be nausiating, but support all my freinds for giving it a try. The amount of guilt that was piled onto my head by the health visiter was shocking, but I am quite a strong personality. One of my freinds admitted to me that she only breastfed because she was scared of the health visiter. I think new mums have enough to deal with, without being bullied into something they really don't want to do!
Having said that, I still agree that breastmilk is best for babies, just that some people really cannot bring themselves to do it.

linnet · 29/10/2004 22:01

My dd2 is on bottles and she gets through 1 box of Aptamil First a week, which is a 900g box, dd2 is 5 months old. We buy it from our local health centre where it is cheaper than the shops and we get it even cheaper because we get child tax credit. I usually go in once a fortnight and buy 2 boxes to save me going in every week.

For bottles I recommend getting bottles from Mothercare that are sterilising bottles. You don't need a seperate steriliser electric or microwave as you just wash the bottles then set them up in a certain way and put the bottle in the microwave to sterilise. They are fab and I wish they'd been around when I had my dd1.

throckenholt · 29/10/2004 22:08

colditzmum - you shouldn't be berated - successful breast feeding is a very dependent on your mental state. If you found the thought repulsive you were unlikely to be successful and would have been a very unhappy mum which would have been worse. It is a shame you never got the experience the really special thing breast feeding can be - it is indescribable and I am a bit sad I didn't get to do it with my twins. But there is so much more to being a good mum than what you feed them in the first few months.

colditzmum · 29/10/2004 22:15

Thanks throckenholt - son is 18mths now and half the tirade is still because I secretly feel guilty. A friend of mine tried so hard to breastfeed and couldn't, and I couldn't do anything to help her except encourage her, because I had never even tried. Have a horrible feeling that I would have been perfectly capable too . Enough hijacking....

Angeliz · 29/10/2004 22:50

colditzmum, i bottlefed too and i am pregnant again and will bottlefeed again!
The only way i can describe it is that it is similar to someone scraping nails down a blackboard FOR ME PERSONALLY! I too got HUGE guilt trips, (well they tried), from the midwives, even after i'd given dd a bottle, stil another midwife came in and asked about did i know breast was best! (She actually said that with a smirk!)
I do try and stay away from these type of conversations as i got quite upset one night with some of the comments about bonding and "not EVEN trying", i mean, if i could stand it for a few weeks , then i wouldn't stop.
My dd's Godmother breastfeeds and my friend who i was out with today does and i watch and think it's lovely, but i just can't!

I actually lie awake at night worrying about all the new vaccines and the new babies health but still know i couldn't do it!
Please don't feel bad+++++++++++++++++

KristinaM, hope your freinds dd gets some good info from here, she really shouldn't be scared off, even if people disagree it's still a great place for a new mam+

colditzmum · 29/10/2004 22:58

I found that you do have to be QUITE FIRM with the midwives. Mine asked me if there was a good reason why I wouldn't try and I told her I thought it was revolting - which I DON'T, but 36 hour induced labour doesn't bring out the best in anyone.
As for the milk, if you are on income support apparently you get free formula. She will have to speak to the health visiter about it (quite firmly!)

colditzmum · 29/10/2004 23:02

I found that you do have to be QUITE FIRM with the midwives. Mine asked me if there was a good reason why I wouldn't try and I told her I thought it was revolting - which I DON'T, but 36 hour induced labour doesn't bring out the best in anyone.
As for the milk, if you are on income support apparently you get free formula. She will have to speak to the health visiter about it (quite firmly!)

throckenholt · 30/10/2004 07:16

just a thought for those who can't stand the thought of breast feeding - you can express - it is an alternative, and although it seems really odd to begin with you soon get used to it.

tiktok · 30/10/2004 13:25

fairydust....where are the words in any replies which 'try to make people who bottle feed out to be bad people'?

I am genuinely asking, 'cos I can't see them, and maybe I am lacking in reading between the lines!

MN is a conversation - questions lead us up different byways and sideroads. It would be a shame if this wasn't the case.

All I see on this thread is a widening of the discussion beyond the basic 'how many cans of formula a week'. Kristina and others have learnt that there are ways to save the cost of this (via the welfare system) and we've discussed whether or not breastfeeding is truly free - you may not be alone in finding that you ate a lot more when breastfeeding, throckenholt, but this is not the case for everyone, and research shows it isn't generally necessary (or possible for much of the world, either).

And why should anyone be 'publicly crucified' for saying they didn't want to breastfeed? I don't think there is even a hint of this, colditzmum. None of us can help deep seated feelings like the ones you had.

People may feel a bit defensive when they say they didn't breastfeed, because of the known benefits of it, and because they may wish they felt differently. But I don't see any attacking on this thread.

For what it's worth, breastfeeding is a good experience when it works well, and when you want to do it. But no one should feel they have to want to do it.

puddinggal · 30/10/2004 13:47

tiktok - your posts weren't attacking - just condesending.

If the question was "my friend wants to find out what is cheaper breast feeding or bottle feeding" then fine, but why does it always have to be a debate?
Sometimes it would be nice if somebody could post a question and get an answer without a debate or lecture.

hercules · 30/10/2004 13:53

It is a discussion forum and if you look at other threads you'll see that very often they get side tracked as do conversations in real life.

beansmum · 30/10/2004 14:09

i didn't read any lecturing threads on this post,
i think people were just trying to help. If someone is so worried about money that they have to budget for every can of formula then they should consider the fact that bfing is a much cheaper option

hercules · 30/10/2004 14:16

I disagree though that money should be a factor in the decision. There are lots of things I could do to save money in my life and we could really do with cutting back on certain things. But I dont. I choose not to.
I dont think you can discuss the choice in terms of money. I see it as part of the benefits of bf that it saves me lots of money and I'm glad of this.
If you decide not to bf then you should be able to go along with this regardless of the money. If you are happy to bf then it's great and saves money. But if you're not happy to bf then the money is neither here nor there.

beansmum · 30/10/2004 14:24

well the only reason I mentioned bfing on this thread was because it saves money. the friend is obviously on a tight budget and if she tries bfing because of this and discovers that she likes it and continues to bf then fine.

tiktok · 30/10/2004 19:43

Where was I condescending, puddinggal?

Where did I lecture?

zebra · 30/10/2004 19:50

Well I wasn't trying to criticise, I meant what I said as friendly teasing... is that not allowed?

Well done to Kristina's friend for making sure she does a proper budget -- including formula costs. Remember the baby who died because his parents reckoned formula was too expensive, & tried to sustain him on gravy & mashed potatoes?