Anyone bought formula in the USA? Help selecting the right kind.

[Mimsy2000]

Have moved to the States - have half a can of SMA gold left and now have to find a new formula for my 6 month old. Can anyone make any recommendations?

Thanks

Hi Mimsy, I think that I bought Similac when I lived there about three years ago. Our DS was 10 months old when we moved over there, so still using formula milk, and had to choose from an unfamiliar range. Are you registered with a paediatrician or family doctor yet - might be worth asking the practice for some advice, although I think that the FDA rules will be the same as UK rules and there will be little to choose between them nutritionally speaking.

Hope that you enjoy your move - we found it v. baby friendly in diners etc, and that having a baby and being British was a real talking point for people and broke the ice on many an occasion. Oh and I really miss teh giant size parking spaces in parking lots!

thanks for the info. i am so looking forward to what i think will be a more family/child friendly environment [to be fair, getting out of london alone should help with that!]

Yeah, Similac or Enfamil are ok. You might be able to get samples from your peadiatrician so you can see which one your baby prefers. Or even contact the companies?

I know a few people who used the Enfamil Lipil...expect to pay more, but as MadamDeathstare said, if you can get it as Costco it will save you some money. Membership is good on both sides of the pond.

tried the enfamil lipil last night - mixed it up with half his SMA to make sure he took it. no problems. will get on to the costco thing - (slightly scared)

We traveled in the US when the DTs were 6.5 to 8.5 months. We used Enfamil Lipil mostly as it comes in ready to use cans (but much more expensive then in the UK).

Before we settled in this we chopped and changed them alot depending on what we can buy in any given town. They were quite happy with the changing and drank all types.

So I think the best one is the one that you can buy easily!

Also - note they put more iron in formula in the US so LOs poo may go black

thanks for the iron tip. i look forward to the possibilities!

If you call SMA they may be able to tell you the closest US formula. We used Aptamil for DD and went to the US for several months when she was 9 months and I called Aptamil who reccommended one since the US is a closed market. I was told the main difference is that US farmulas don't have prebiotics in them. I think we used Enfamil Lipil but it was 6 years ago!

I used Good Start - with "comfort proteins" - the others smelled awful (I tried Enfamil and Similac). Good Start is more expensive but I found it was worth it. Neither of my girls had any problems with it.