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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

What formula for a 7 mnth normally BF baby?

20 replies

Catz · 28/02/2008 17:13

I'd be v. grateful for any advice on what formula to try.

DD will be in nursery 2 days a week from about 6 wks time (when she'll be 9 months). She's currently BF and when I go back she'll be BF whilst not at nursery. At the moment that means there'll be two milk feeds that she'll need whilst at nursery. I know that in theory I could express for her but I've never really managed to get much out and for various reasons it doesn't seem practical. So I've been looking at formula but feel so depressed when I look at the cans that I've not been able to bring myself to buy one yet!

Can anyone give me advice on what to go for - follow on milk or standard formula, brands etc. I am totally clueless on this stuff. Thanks for any advice.

OP posts:

luciemule · 28/02/2008 21:39

If you're still a bit iffy about the formula thing, why not start getting small amounts of ebm built up and then frozen that you could use whilst your DD's at nursery. If you start soon, you'll have built up a good stock by the time you need it.

I think follow on milk has more casein protein which doesn't digest as easily and therefore 'blocks' them up (oops I mean fills them up) for longer between feeds.

I gave DD Hipp Organic when I had to but she didn't like the bottle so just carried on BF. That smelt better than the others so I fugured it would taste better too.

moondog · 28/02/2008 22:59

Catz,by this stage,your baby will be able to go through the day without a breastfeed or formula.
Mine did from 8 months-just had juice or water and food and then b/fed when with me.I didn't want them to have formula and also found expressing difficult.

Original poster

Catz · 29/02/2008 10:40

Thanks for the replies.
Moondog - I hope that'll work for us too (though she needs milk to sleep at the moment - I guess we need to tackle that too!)
Thanks Lucie, I think it would be virtually impossible to store enough EBM because I need to get her used to the bottle too so I'll need to keep giving her some. Getting a whole ounce out is a good day for me so managing to get enough to practice and store would be a nightmare!

OP posts:

helenelisabeth · 29/02/2008 18:48

Hi Catz, I am in the middle of weaning my nearly 6 month old DD (who has never had a bottle of formula until Wednesday this week!) and tried Aptimal (sp?) which didn't agree with her, now I am using SMA White which she is fine with. I would say you will have to try one (Aptimal is the one my HV advised me to use) and see how she goes.

Good luck!

moondog · 29/02/2008 21:16

HCVs shouldn't be advising anyone to use any particular brand of formula as they are all much of a muchness.

rubles · 29/02/2008 21:50

moondog, why didn't you want yours to have formula at that point?

moondog · 29/02/2008 21:52

Because I didn't want my children to have a vastly inferior highly processed product when my own body was producing the very best thing in the world for them.

helenelisabeth · 01/03/2008 20:52

Moondog, the HV is a friend and gave me advice as I|had asked for it. She most certainly wasn't pushing me towards any particular brand.

Your last comment is unhelpful as you insinuate that anyone who wants to wean their 6 month old onto formula is inferior. IMO you would have been better not to have said anything at all. Anyone who exclusively BF their child to 6 months has done pretty damn well.

onepieceoflollipop · 01/03/2008 20:58

My dd was exclusively b/f untiil 25 weeks (she is 28 weeks now). I offer Hipp Organic but only because I like the idea of an organic formula. She still chooses to b/feed most of the time. She will take a bottle (or either ebm or formula or water) when she feels like it. Often she chooses to wait until she is offered the breast again. We tend to offer one bottle a day around tea time (5ish). Sometimes she will take 5-6 oz, other times only 1 oz or even nothing.

afaik most of the infant formulas are very similar/almost identical.

MrsWaggsnapps · 01/03/2008 21:11

I'm using Hipp too as a supplement to BF, there were two reasons (plus a third rather "low" one).

*It's organic (there has been a study showing organic cows milk has more omega 3 in it, so figured this would be good).

*It comes in a box with two separate sachets, so as we only use it once a day , it stays fresher and doesn't get wasted.

*The low one - it's cheaper than all the others (I know this shouldn't be a factor but it is helpful esp. as we're not using it much).

Tho DD is 7 mths we still only use the stage 1/infant stuff as most of the HVs I've spoken to say that follow-on is entirely unnecessary

onepieceoflollipop · 01/03/2008 21:16

Mrs Ws - any idea why it is cheaper?? NO one seems to know! Bizarre as most organic food etc is more expensive generally.

I use the stage 1 as I have heard more than once that follow-on was introduced by some manufacturers to "get round" the code on advertising. i.e. they can advertise the follow on (although tis a grey area afaik) but not the first stage milks.

MrsWaggsnapps · 01/03/2008 21:18

Weird isn't it, I saw an ad for baby formula the other day on TV and nearly exploded til DH pointed out that it was for follow-on milk (can't for the life of me remember which brand tho - to busy going "but, but but....").

Original poster

Catz · 01/03/2008 22:35

Thanks for the replies - interesting to hear about the follow on, I'd not heard that. I'll try her with the HIPP organic or aptimal and see how that works. thanks

OP posts:

helenelisabeth · 02/03/2008 12:11

onepieceoflollipop your DD sounds just like mine, she will sometimes take 7 ozs but then the next time only take 2. I always offer her the breast afterwards as I don't want to stop BF yet, I just wanted to introduce a bottle so I wouldn't have the 3 month battle I had with my DD1 (who was BF until 9 months) to take a bottle. I have tried to give her expressed BM but for some strange reason, she always prefers the formula!

onepieceoflollipop · 02/03/2008 13:34

helenelisabeth (love the spelling of your name by the way, same as my dd2 but we use a shortened form of Elisabeth for her)

Sounds like we have had similar experiences. My dd1 never took to a bottle at all, and would only ever drink breast milk from the breast. Once I went back to work (and my job isn't really compatible with expressing anyway) she only had a quick morning b/feed.

I was wise to this when we had dd2 so gave her a bottle of ebm from 6 weeks. She is in some ways a more flexible baby (but a bad sleeper!) and will happily switch from breast to bottle (even if I give her a quick breast feed while the bottle cools down), and doesn't seem to notice/care what it is - even water. If she is thirsty, she will drink. So different to her big sister. I think the formula tastes a bit sweeter, but I haven't really tasted b/milk so can't say that for sure!

Sabire · 02/03/2008 14:19

"as you insinuate that anyone who wants to wean their 6 month old onto formula is inferior"

No she doesn't. She's not making any sort of value judgement about mothers at all.

She just says outright that formula is vastly inferior to breastmilk (which of course it is), and that's why she personally doesn't want to use it.

On a personal note, I wouldn't bother with formula for a baby of this age, if they were well established on solids.

I'd be offering water and watered down fruit juices during the day, and breastfeeds morning and evening.

I'd also be happy to give one drink of unmodified cows milk a day.

I mixed fed my first for a few weeks when she was tiny, but other than that have never purchased formula. Since I've got savvy about the disgusting marketing tactics of baby milk companies both in the UK and in developing countries I've not wanted them to have any of my cash, so I wouldn't be purchasing formula on principle, not if there was any way of keeping my baby healthy without it.

helenelisabeth · 02/03/2008 19:59

Sabire as much as I admire you for supporting what Moondog wrote, I am afraid when you come onto a thread where someone is asking what formula she should use, her comment did not come across as the right one to make.

We all know that breastmilk is superior to formula but that wasn't the question.

helenelisabeth · 02/03/2008 20:03

Onepiece - are you sure our DD's aren't one and the same?! My DD2 is also far more laid back but a worse sleeper than DD1. I am currently up 3/4/5 times a night with her. This is also one of the reasons why I introduced a bottle, I was wondering whether my milk was diminishing (had quite a lot of stress recently) but even having the formula, she is still waking the same! So that throws the theory that a baby will sleep better when formula fed (I am mix-feeding atm though)! She is a week off 6 months and will not eat anything that is not finger food so BLW here we come!

helenelisabeth · 02/03/2008 20:03

helenelisabeth · 02/03/2008 20:04

Sorry return key went a bit crazy then.

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