FORMULA ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE

[spendalittlelivealot]

Ive always breastfed exclusively so this is a new thing for me, but I want to try mix feeding my new baby ( cant express otherwise id give Ebm)

Im wondering which formula is best to give. I know hospitals tend to recommend aptamil as its closest to bm, sma my hv said steer clear because of my family history of reflux. any ideas? I looked at farleys on the shelf and its sooo much cheaper. whys this?

Many thanks
s
35+3 x

Had problems with SMA, but completely fine with Aptamil and the nappies are slightly more pleasant. But, would go with whatever's easily locally available in powder and ready-made cartons (handy when travelling)

They are all the same - they have to be by law, and they all claim to be closest to breastmilk, but there is absolutely no evidence that any one is better than the others. Because if it was, the law would require that they all included that ingredient.

Just choose whatever you can get easily.

And expressings not that difficult you know - have you tried hand expressing ?

Never got on with SMA either (caused constipation and hideous poos). We have used Aptamil. I often wonder why Farleys is so much cheaper, but presume it must for some reason so steer clear of it. Was chuffed to see Tesco have put the price of Aptamil down HURRAH (still the most bloody expensive mind you but I am too scared to try to change it now).

I'm with EGG. I ahve used Atamil with all 3 of mine, no problems.

I have often heard of babies being sick on SMA. Just to clarify though, some are some aren't.

I have often wondered why Farleys is so cheap also

Different experience here - with dd1 we used Aptimil to start with when I switched from breastfeeding. She was quite refluxy and between about 3 and 5 months she kept waking at night screaming in pain. We changed to SMA and never looked back. She stopped being sick, started sleeping and turned from an unhappy, crying baby into a little delight.

Have only used SMA for dd2.

Because Farleys have decided to make that their differentiator in the market. They all have to be made according to v v strict guidelines on composition etc, so theres no difference on that front.

Don't fall for marketing! Farleys is cheaper to carve out a place in that end of the market. Aptamil is targetted at the other end. You can see differences in the packaging - Aptamil is more 'sophisticated'; Farley's actually looks a bit cheaper - brasher colours, for instance.

All the brands claim to be closer to breastmilk in one way or the other and make these claims in their advertising in the health professional journals.

They can't all be closer than each other!!

Spendalittle - mixed feeding may lead to full formula feeding...it's not easy to keep both going.

thank you everyone 4 your advice

cmotdibbler yes ive tried expressing hundreds of times and failed with all methods including hand expressing, so for me yes expressing is that hard you know!

tiktok yes i realise mix feeding may lead to full formula feeding but i need to take the risk for many reasons. thank you for the advice x

My DD is on farleys (cos it was cheaper) and she is fine on the first milk but the 2nd milk clogged her.

DD has reflux and until we gave her solids she was sick - We tried other formulas and did the same.

Sorry dont know anything about formula but wanted to say that I found expressing harad work with DS1 but tried hand expressing in the shower or bath with DS2 and found this much easier. Might be worth a try.

SMA wasn't great for us (lots of spit ups and DS took ages to bring up his wind) and we switched to Cow & Gate and it was great! DS brought up wind really easily and his poo was much better than when on SMA Gold (which was always quitet hard and he had to strain to go).

SMA was rubbish for us, sick and just not settled.

Cow & Gate was good, no major probs.

Now on Farleys, and to be honest, its been the best of the lot. We used Farleys with DD2, but I tried others with DS and he is now on Farleys too.

Yes it may be cheaper, but DS is thriving well and guzzles it!

SMA didn't work for us either, Cow & Gate was better.

BTW Aptamil and Cow and gate are the same , both made by Nutricia, but targeted at different makets (a la Ticktok). Aptmail to the well off (hence the colours) and C&G to the other end! Now hows that for hype?

Hi spendalittle. How did things go with your growth scan? everything ok?
I personally used cow and gate after my milk stopped but that was prescribed by the doctor as he was low birthweight and prem and Nutriprem has extra calories/ minerals etc in it. We were then told to stick to the cow and gate after he came off nutriprem as that's what he was used to. He hasn't had any probs on it.

None of them are any "closer to breastmilk" than the others.

Most it's trial and error.

DS2 was SMA Gold, DS3 also started on SMA Gold but we decided to try Aptimil - and it disagreed with him horribly - and he refused to drink it, so went back to SMA.