Combined feeding, which formula is the "best"?

[hannahlouhoo]

Hi my ds is 8 months old and as he has dropped to only 2 feeds a day i cant express more than an ounce a day! He sleeps out once a fortnight at my mums so me and dp can have a date night(or watch a dvd at home and fall asleep by 9pm!). I had a large store of breastmilk in frezer which has now run out so i will have to send ds with some formula.

The question is - which is the "best"? I would hate to fall under the spell of adverts which at the moment is all i have to go on! Any help and no judgey advice would be great!

thanks

none are best. I'd just pick one and go with it. actually, I would pick the cheapest organic one probably.

Whichever one is the cheapest - anything that should be in them has to be, by law, and the rest of the stuff they talk about is of unproven value.

I found both my DS' managed much better on Aptimil than any others.

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I would go for organic. Non-organic cow's milk has mucus and all sorts of yuck in it.

mucus?how why? what yuck? you have scared me now.I'm not a big believer in organic (maybe i dont know enough about it) i always thought it was a buzz word. thank you for your advice neenz, but dont really know what you mean by yuck and things? how do you make a cow organic?

My HV said Aptimil was by far the best and most like BM. She said something about the cows feeding in much healthier areas of the world!!??

I would stay very clear of white or hungry baby milk, very heavy compared to BM.

Don't buy a huge quantity of anything to start with - I gave dd formula when she was about 10 months for one or two daytime drinks - she hated Aptamil (and I hated the smell, I have to say), but was fine with SMA. try wee cartons if you can - your baby may well decide for you!

aptamil is NOT the best. and it is NOT the most like breastmilk.

no formula is anything like breastmilk. they are all much of a muchness.
HV's shouldn't be spouting crap like that. they are not allowed to promote any one formula and it makes me very when they do.

ds1 was formula fed, and aptamil make him very sicky. SMA made him constipated and we ended up with cow and gate organic.
however, this is purely anecdotal. you'll get different answers from everyone.

so just choose one you like the look of, or the cheapest and see how you get on!

and as for cows feeding in healthier parts of the world???? what is she on?
I doubt the manufacturers of aptamil care one bit where the cows who produce the milk come from. they choose the cheapest stuff and bung it in.

The cheapest, I would say. They all have to pass the same safety tests and I would imagine are all nutritianly similar.

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If cow's milk has mucus in it then there is no reason why organic cows milk would not have mucus too. Organic cows are milked in the same way. However, the mucus thing is mostly vegan propaganda used to make you feel disgust . After all, milk itself is just a bodily secretion of a cow, same as mucus is a bodily secretion.

because regular cows are more susceptible to infections (ie mastitis etc) and are given more anti-biotics.

organic herds tend to be smaller, and better cared for and have lower incidences of mastitis and other things

Yes, 'cos fish oil is good for babies, isn't it? It's just like the fish oil in breastmilk.

And milk from cows living in 'the healthier parts of the world' (where's that, exactly?) is easily distinguishable from milk from cows in unhealthy parts of the world, and they separate it at the factory gates, doncha know?

I love these threads, 'cos we hear what rubbish mothers are being told by the very people whose job it is to try and advise them on these things.

Aptamil is no closer to breastmilk than any other branded formula - but it is more expensive and it is advertised heavily to HPs. It has classy, sophisticated colours on the packaging.

There is no evidence that any formula permitted to be sold in the UK is any better than any other - so go for the package whose logo you like best

thisisyesterday - your a little rattled arn't you! Others are entitled to post their thoughts and experiences you know!

Don't worry OP, not long and you can switch to cows milk, organic, non-organic, fat cows, thin cows, chav cows........oooooh the choices will be endless!

I knew when I posted the mucus comment that I would be asked to justify it . It is just something my mum and sister always say, so I assume it is right! Will go googling now...

Certainly organic milk has no pesticides, antibiotics or hormones in it.

Aptamil is NOT like breast milk. I can't believe they get away with putting 'breast milk substitute' on the box

i think the aptamil cows live in yurts in cornwall and feed on only the purest organic grass.

yes, I am rattled. because health visitors should NOT be promoting formula.
and especially not with crappola reasons like that.

www.mom-going-organic-sensibly.com/benefits-of-organic-milk.html Nothing about mucus but some benefits v normal cow's milk

www.omsco.co.uk/index.cfm/organicmilk/WhyOrganic.Health - benefits of organic milk.

Sorry nothing about mucus so maybe I am wrong - that'll be a first.

thisisyesterday - my FIL runs a dairy farm producing organic milk, and while its true that in the old days before the farm was converted, they used antibiotics, the means of milking the cows remains the same and they still get mastitis from time to time just like the non organic herd did. Mastitis varies from cow to cow in terms of susceptibility, just like humans . I don't think my FIL treated the cows any worse in the old days, nor are they given lavender udder massages with velvet gloves these days.

FWIW I buy organic, but lets not forget that a lot of normal milk does come from relatively small producers who treat their dairy herds just fine.

Anyway wasn't it meant to be pus not mucus, last I heard anyway. Myabe they've toned it down since my student vegan days

nah, it's still pus

yummy pus and mucus, well when i started bf he ingested all of the above and blood from cracked nips!!!!

tbh i'm not overly keen on the aptimal becaus of the "immunifortis" which means nothing and is a pure marketing ploy. my mil even bought me some when ds was 2 months old so i could have rest from feeding ( i was demand feeding every 2 hours up until he was 3months even at night) "because its the same isnt it?"(angry)and

thanks for all your comments i think i will just buy a couple of cartons of different brands and see which he takes!