What is the fattiest formula on the market?

[scrabbledabbl]

Hi all I would really appreciate your help!!

After a traumatic birth and prolonged stay in hospital due to a phantom infection we finally got to bring our LB home only to find out after recent health visit he's not back up to birth weight yet as expected by 2 weeks (day 14) and now I'm freaking out.

I've been trying to BF but I've lost my confidence in it now - he only latches on for 5 mins at a time and clearly isn't getting what he needs out of it cos he's not back to birth weight. I have so much milk though I leak continually I don't know why he won't last longer than 5 mins. He goes on 5 mins goes off burps gets nappy change then goes back on for a few mins then done. I've had tons of midwives and lactation consultant's say the latch is fine so I'm not sure what's going on.

I want to supplement with formula and was wondering which one in your experience is the best for putting on weight?

It's just one thing after another :( I feel nervous now every time I have a midwife call me or a health appointment - they never seem to give good news it's always some marker that we aren't quite meeting.

My baby also didn't (she was premature and despite me trying to feed my milk just never developed more than a few drops). Don't skip straight to fatiest formula. Just get a normal Formula thays easy for you to get hold of as they're all pretty much the same. There are some "hungry" baby formulas but don't use them.. They're a con and can wreck havoc with his digestive system.

He doesn't need to put on weight as fast as possible just steadly going forward. You'll be suprised how fast they start gaining once given enough milk

@Bells3032 hey thanks for getting back to me. How long did it take your girl to get back to BW? What was your journey if you don't mind me asking? I'm just so paranoid / freaked out.

Which formula did you use?

We used aptamil. She list about 9oz (which when she started at barely 4 and a half was loads). Once we got her on the right amount of formula took about 5 or 6 days I thjnk

Just normal formula is fine.

Many many babies aren't at birth weight by two weeks. It's entirely your choice if you want to top up at all - I'm not suggesting you ignore medical advice, but it is your decision.

If you've got plenty of milk then you need baby at the breast more for them to take more in. It's difficult when they're tiny and sleepy but in these early days it's pretty much all that should be going on - feeding baby and then they sleep. Then they feed, then they sleep. Oh, and nappies!

I know from experience that a traumatic birth / first few days can leave you double guessing yourself. But take a breath, be kind to yourself, do what you need to get through this first stage.

With my second, who was following the 2nd centile after birth, I did use top ups, but I made it the 10pm feed - that point in the day where you're exhausted and feel you've nothing left to give, and they just want to feed feed feed. We went all day on boob and before I went to bed he'd have a small bottle. Sometimes it even meant I could get an hour of sleep while DH fed him and bought him up.

These days are really tough and everything seems really serious and immediate. I promise you things will get better.

Normal formula is fine, if there is an issue with weight gain there is prescription formula, my oldest was on it as she has various health issues. It sounds like you don’t need that though.

If you have tons of milk could you express some and give via bottle?

They're all regulated to have the same fat, carb, protein content as this is important to be properly balanced.

If you don't feel things are fine then don't be fobbed off with "the latch is fine".

Have you seen an IBCLC? Or a breastfeeding counsellor or been to a peer support group at all?

By all means try some formula if you feel it will help, but definitely keep pursuing proper bf support as well. I'm sorry it's so hard and not immediately available. It should be.

Expressed milk is also a great idea for top ups if you want to give one.

I had a baby that dropped to the 0.4th centile so i know what it's like when baby isn't gaining weight. But i could just not produce enough milk for her. If you are leaking lots, have you tried a hakaa pump? You can get them for about £10 in Boots and they collect the milk that is leaking. You could then give that to baby as a bottle top up.

www.boots.com/lansinoh-silicone-breast-pump-10272372-

If you do want to give formula top ups, then just use whatever is most available in your normal shop. We just did cow and gate first stage as they also did the ready made bottles for out and about.

The other thing to do is to ask your MW / HV for a referral to the infant feeding team. They are more specialist than normal midwives and really helped us by devising a feeding plan with regular weigh ins for DD. Helped her get back to her birth curve (9th).

Congratulations on the birth of you little one! These weeks are hard, but they do get easier!!

My baby was 2nd centile at birth and then lost weight. She didn’t get back to birth weight until I started exclusively formula feeding at 5 weeks (she couldn’t latch even with nipple shields despite help from numerous lactation consultants, I had supply issues and then got mastitis, just a total nightmare. I hired a Medela pump but I just couldn’t pump enough to meet her needs) She has laryngomalacia which goes hand in hand with reflux - so she spits up a lot as well which doesn’t help with weight gain. We tried Aptamil and HiPP organic but she didn’t get on with either, we’re now on Kendamil and at 12 weeks she has gone up to 9th centile so it’s clearly doing something for her that the other two didn’t! She doesn’t bring as much of this one up either. Plus it smells nice 🙂

(Getting the ready to feed is a bit of a pain but we get the powder on subscription)

I know how your feeling, my baby was 4.12lbs at birth and lost 11% in 3 days due to EBF so I was advised to include formula aswell as BF. We use Kendamil, it uses whole milk as opposed to skimmed or semi skimmed and at 6 weeks she's now 8.3lbs. Do whatever works for you 😬

You have breast milk op. Keep offering it! Takes a while to get decent feeds going. .. Don't lose heart!
Congratulations on your dc!

@WorryMcGee hey thanks so much for your reply I've never heard of Kendamil is that something the doctor recommended / prescribed? Do you know whether it has a higher fat content then the others? I'm glad your LO is back on track it's nice to hear positive stories Xx

@Keepitrealnomists hey thanks for your reply I'm glad your LO is back on track you are the second person who suggested kendamil I need to get hold of it! When you say EBF do you mean exclusive breast feeding or expressed breast feeding? Xx

How often are you feeding? Mine fed every one and a half hours once they were established, during the day. My first didn't gain weight and it's because I thought I should only feed every 4 hours...but that's formula. You cannot overfeed a breastfed baby. Once I offered the breast every time he squawked at all, he gained weight much better. Kellymom is a fantastic breastfeeding website.

@scrabbledabbl no they’d never heard of it either haha but are really happy with how she’s progressing since being on it. I found it when looking for formula without palm oil! We’ve been so impressed with it, there’s no fish oil either and we like that it’s made here in the UK. I don’t know about the fat content in comparison to others but I know it’s full cream milk not skimmed like many others. Also the first ingredient is organic whole milk not water (I was surprised when I realised many have water as the first ingredient)

Now I sound like a sales person 😂 I’m not, honest! We’ve just had such a hard time of it and finally finding something that works was such a relief!

All formulas are pretty much the exact same as each other, they have to be, it's the law. Nothing is better for your baby than your breast milk, breast milk is the absolute gold standard. So express some out and give him top ups in a bottle.

Formula doesn't have more fat or calories than your breast milk.

You sound really anxious which is understandable, sounds like you've had a rough few weeks. Make sure you check in with the GP If you feel you need to. You have to keep yourself well too.

I was exclusively breast feeding then expressed and then back to breast feeding. I hate expressing and breast feeding is much easier 😬

Kendamil like other formulas is a regulated recipe. I don't think any of them are higher fat than others.

It's very easy to get hung up on the mechanics, but basically if your baby has the right volume going in, all will be ok. It doesn't matter much what it is providing you aren't giving them Carnation.

Breast milk is best, and in most cases breasts produce plenty of it, but the transfer process can be tricky if your baby is premature, or has feeding issues such as clefts, tongue ties (posterior or anterior), or allergies.

Kendamil is made from goats' milk iirc, which might make a difference to those with cows' milk protein allergies but probably not, as most with CMPA have allergies or intolerances to all mammalian milks.

Sorry if someone has already mentioned it but I would get a private tongue tie assessment done from an IBCLC as latches can look fine with a tongue tie. I can’t comment on the formula but my failure to thrive baby didn’t put on more weight with formula, we realised I had a supply issue due to my undiagnosed under active thyroid. But I would look at tongue tie as these are commonly missed by nhs as I know from a relative’s experience.

My son has severe CMPA and we were told he will be certainly be allergic to goat milk as it’s similar protein but turns out he’s fine with goat milk but still allergic to cows. Wish I’d tried it earlier rather than the metallic smelling elemental formula which did nothing for him though I wouldn’t recommend experimenting if baby is anaphylactic. We tried it on skin first then gradually increased. I think there are more people who can handle goats milk than medics realise.

Kendamil do a goats milk but it’s a separate product. Their normal formula is cows milk. I agree that formulas are nutritionally the same by law, but they aren’t identical by any means and anyone who has had to feed their baby formula - even when they hadn’t originally wanted to - will know this.

Yes breastmilk is incredible, we all know that. But when you have a tiny baby that isn’t putting on weight no matter what you do, and formula helps, mums shouldn’t be made to feel guilty. My breastfeeding journey, the pumping nightmare and my baby’s weight gain issues contributed massively to my PND; and in hindsight I struggled on longer than I should have because in our case it was not best for my baby as there wasn’t enough of it when I pumped, and she couldn’t latch on properly/long enough to get enough from me directly.

If the OP manages to resolve this via exclusive breastfeeding that’s incredible. I wish I had been able to. But it’s not always “best” and there is a lack of support for formula feeding too. For example, I was bottle feeding my baby wrongly for a while because no one showed me how to pace feed. We had to research the minefield of different formulas ourselves as the NHS line is “they’re all the same”. They aren’t!

Sorry if this is the wrong place but I just feel very strongly about this, as someone who intended to breastfeed and had support and still ended up formula feeding.

Kendamil has been fantastic for our LO

Honestly - breastmilk is actually higher fat than formula! Have a 'babymoon' loads of skin to skin, maybe a bath together and just let baby snuggle into your boobs for a few days. I wouldn't be worried about the 'short feeds' as baby may just be an efficient feeder and getting what they need (my 2nd was the same)
Also - if you were given fluids during the birth that can make baby weight heavier so they may not actually have lost as much as you think.
The best sign is plenty of wet and dirty nappies, if your getting that then your doing amazing!!

Thoose first 6 weeks are hard, like super hard. You'll second guess yourself and it'll take time, but you'll get there. If you are worried then try and see a lactation specialist, just to double check no tongue tie etc as midwives/HV can miss them.
If you choose to give formala, make sure it's a decision YOU make and don't feel pressured (unless it's dangerous for baby obvs)

You've got this mama!!!