Baby formula??

[mkj20001]

Hi 👋 I was just wondering which baby formula everyone recommends and why? I fed my now 4 year old SMA when he was a baby but I have heard is isn't the best? Im having my 2nd baby in august and was wondering weather to change from SMA to a different brand? TIA x

Formula is tightly regulated and all are nutritionally equal so just pick what you can get easily.

Paramilitary used to be considered closest formulation but I’m sure most are equally good now.

Paramilitary??! What?

Aptamil!

Whichever one you can get hold of easily/locally in case of realising you are almost out and need to pick some up quickly.

Whichever one is easiest to get in your local shop.
I've been using SMA because it's super easy to get both on Amazon and in my local shop.
But I thought they were all pretty much the same nowadays due to regulations.

I just use cow and Gate 1st milk
Both babies have been fine on this

Always easy to get hold of as well

Whichever marketing design you prefer... they're all the same!

I went with SMA as it's in about 3 shops in walking distance of us.

Aldi do one for £7.40 or thereabouts. We get that a lot.

They’re all much of a muchness because they have to be!

Personally I like Kendamill best (seems ‘cleaner’ and snells a bit nicer) but you can’t get it round here, only in big Tesco out of town.

I don’t ff but I agree with getting one that you can easily get, people recommend Aldi as it’s cheap but unless you have one very local I would go with a brand you can pick up anywhere or have delivered easily, they are all pretty much the same.

As PP have said, they are all pretty much the same. We started DS off on Aptamil though and found it was really frothy and grainy even after thorough mixing/shaking and he was really gassy and sicky. We changed to Cow & Gate and it improved massively (and is also £3 cheaper!) but we chose what was most readily available at our local shops to try

www.firststepsnutrition.org/parents-carers

Useful evidence based information included on the link above. Download the PDF's and have a read.

We used aptamil with dd and will again for dd2. It was available from the 2 closest small supermarkets as well as the 2 local pharmacies so seemed the best choice in case of any emergencies.
Plus they do the small bottles with the sterilised teats that I took into hospital - but other brands might also do these, I'm not sure

I use hipp organic mainly because they also do a uht version. The midwife told me it doesn't matter which formula you but try to stick to the same. I don't know if that's important though.

I wouldn't recommend hipp organic though as in my town it's becoming really difficult to get. I had to go to three supermarkets to get the last box. I will probably switch to kendamil now.

Nutritionally all infant formula is the same. However, they do not all have identical ingredients, e.g. palm oil vs no palm oil, fish oil vs no fish oil, whole milk based vs skimmed milk based.

DD1 had terrible, hospitalisation causing reflux and HiPP was the only one she could keep down.

DD2 refused to drink enough HiPP so we tried many brands but she barely touched them all. The only one she’d drink enough of to stabilise weight until weaning was Kendamil Goat. Bloody annoying as it’s very expensive and hard to get hold of locally.

Personally I’d start with just one tin of whatever you like the look of, but be prepared to change if it doesn’t suit the baby.

I’m so pleased to read so many replies to the effect that all formulas are now the same.

I fed both of ours (6 months, first, then 4ish, second) and moved on to formula thereafter. At the time ((27 and 19 years ago), I chose aptamil because we were advised that it was the closest in formulation to breast milk. Back then, this made me feel uncomfortable. It was about £4 per tub more costly than other brands. We could afford it, wanted to do the best we could and could afford it, so obviously bought it.
Overwhelmingly, parents in every economic circumstance want to do the best they can for their little ones. The idea that they were then not able to sat very heavily on me (us).

I’m so, so happy to read that they are by regulation all equal now.

Kendamil is nice. I bought it on a recommendation from a friend and had it delivered on a subscription in the end which was really easy.

My baby is fed SMA. We were in hospital for a week when she was born and that’s what they provided, so I stuck with that. They do the ready made bottles and cartons, which are such a big help in the first few weeks.

The alsi Maria one is very popular and cheaper than many others

Aldi mamia

We’re using nanny care, my son has a severe cows milk allergy (he does have a goat milk allergy, but much much milder), so it would have been unsafe to use a cows milk based formula for our daughter.

@ForksAndSpoons

I use hipp organic mainly because they also do a uht version. The midwife told me it doesn't matter which formula you but try to stick to the same. I don't know if that's important though.

I wouldn't recommend hipp organic though as in my town it's becoming really difficult to get. I had to go to three supermarkets to get the last box. I will probably switch to kendamil now.

I use Hipp organic too but there has been a manufacturer's shortage. Can't find it anywhere except the 200ml ready made ones.

I started on SMA with our DD initially as it was available everywhere I went and the easiest to get hold of. DD didn't quite get on with it though so we've moved across to HIPP organic qnd DD was much happier on it. As mentioned above though it's been a nightmare to get hold of recently due to shortages.

You can order it online directly from them with no delivery charge. They’re having supply issues so limited to 2 boxes per order but they’re in stock online now