CMA ready to feed formula in UK

[KShannon]

Hello fellow parents!

Our daughter (now 5 months old) has been diagnosed with CMA and they've prescribed us SMA Althera formula.

So far this seems to be working however whenever we go out for the day we need to use ready to feed formula at the moment we are just using a normal ready to feed one (Kendamil ready to feed). But that is just normal cow's milk read to feed and thus not ideal for her CMA.

We have looked online for extensively hydrolysed formulas that are ready to feed but in UK we were unable to find any through Google. We did get some hits in USA such as this one;
Similac Alimentum (ready to feed)
www.similac.com/products/baby-formula/alimentum-ready-to-feed/2fl-oz-bottle-48pack.html

But literally cannot find any at least not through Google that are ready to feed in UK.

Our next paediatric appointment is some months away so we can't ask them about it. We do still plan to ask GP and Health Visitors but also wanted to check on Mumsnet first.

Thanks in advance!

Never used the ready to feed bottles, even for days out. Can’t you just take the powder and bring some hot water in a thermos? Not as convenient, I understand, but easily manageable. If it’s not available it’s not available, not much else you can do.

Sorry but EV117 is right. You need to start looking at changes that will fit the baby's health, even though it requires more faffing. Best of luck with the cmpa journey for your little one!

Do you mean Cows Milk Protein Allergy or something else? I don’t want to misunderstand as it’s too important! If you mean CMPA, I never found ready to feed formula and had to lug pots of Nutramigen and sterilising stuff around everywhere if we travelled but this was 3/4 years ago. Put a real stop on things for 6 months but we got braver/less risk averse with the sterilisation process and got through it in the end.

I never used the pre-made bottles, too expensive!

Take pre-sterilised bottles, powder (pre-count scoops into a small container so it’s ready to go) & a thermos of boiling water. Or ask a cafe/restaurant/McDonald’s etc. for a cup of boiling water.. 🤷🏼‍♀️ A 5 month old is presumably not feeding every 5 minutes, probably more like every 3/4 hours? You don’t need that many feeds for a day out? Plan your day so you leave shortly after a feed, then max of 2 feeds/2 bottles when out depending on how long you are gone!

Really not that hard, def no need to take sterilising stuff. Just sterilise 2 bottles to take with you before you go!

I never took the pre-made stuff because it cost a fortune. I just made all the bottles up in the morning and kept them in the fridge until needed. If I went out anywhere I'd keep them in a cool bag with an ice pack.

Can you not just take a flask and powder and a sterile bottle? You can't premix the amino acid formula as it's only good for approx an hour after mixing. Why would you give your cmpa baby dairy? That's madness!

I mix fed my cmpa babies. I had a cheap baby bottle with boiled cooled water in it. The mam dispensers with the powder measured out. A new life venture thermal mug with boiling water in it. And I soon knew how much hot and cooled water to put in a mam bottle (which are self sterilising in a microwave) to get the correct temp.

You can't use ready made formula especially Kendamil as it's a full fat milk formula if your child has CMPA it will
Make them sick even just once in a while.
My girl is cmpa and we use Neocate, we just make the bottles up as needed when we are out , lots of cmpa formula doesn't need to be made with hot water you can use it cold so just make it when out.

Thanks everyone for your replies so far!

So a lot of people have mentioned bringing a flask of boiled water, that was our first thought but we were worried then about what would happen when the water in the flask is no 70 degrees as then it would no longer be sterilising the formula and thus could end up making her sick. At least this was our fear. Thus why read to feed just for when we are not at home all day was what we were using before she was diagnosed with CMA/CMPA

@EV117 @Daqqe @FreezyFreezy @romdowa
How do you cool the bottle while you are out and about? Do you bring a container with cold water or you just find a place with a tap and run the bottle under the tap water? What if you are in a park with no running water facilities?

We have gone ahead and ordered a better flask that should hold the temperature better I think the flask we already had just wasn't good enough thus why we were worried about the loss in temperature.

@SadButTheTruth CMA and CMPA are the same thing (according to NHS website) but yeah I guess we will have to go the flask route. We actually were already using our own sterilised glass feed bottles when we were using the read to feed formula while out before she got diagnosed with CMA/CMPA. We've ordered a better flask and will use that solution like everyone recommended.

Though we are tempted to order some of the read to feed CMA formula they have in USA and have it shipped to friends in USA and then have them ship it over to us here in UK. Need to check on shipping costs first though.

Do you bring a container with cold water or you just find a place with a tap and run the bottle under the tap water? What if you are in a park with no running water facilities?

I’d bring a flask of cold water to cool for a young baby if I was feeding on demand - but honestly at 5 months I would just prepare with the hot and add a shot of cold to help it cool quicker - that’s if I really needed it then and there. But at five months I would also anticipate a feed and make it a little in advance. To be honest all this applies more for a very long a day out which are few and far between. If I’m just going to a park or a morning/afternoon out I’d make the formula before I left the house so it’s then just ready to drink, it will keep fine for 2 hours. I think advice now is that you can even keep it for four or five if left in a cooler bag or with an ice pack, but check on that as I may be wrong.

I just used to take some cold water or ask for some to sit the bottle in.. by 5 months both my DDs had pretty regular feeding patterns, not bang on but I could be reasonably certain they’d need a feed 3 or 4 hours after the last one. So if we fed at say 10am, I would prep the next feed around 12.30pm in preparation for a 1pm or 2pm feed. It would then have at least 30 minutes to cool! A bottle lasts up to 2 hours once prepped. Occasionally, I wasted a bottle if DD decided she’d go more like 5 hours between feeds but that was pretty rare!

It did get less predictable once we started weaning as both my DDs loved food from day 1 & so I could never quite tell when they’d fancy a bottle inbetween! But both DDs dropped all daytime bottles by 8 and 9 months in favour of 3 meals & snacks 🙈😂 Still big foodies now, DD2 is like a dustbin 😂

The cmpa formula I had for mine had to be mixed with water of a specific temperature, I seem to recall 35degrees. So it’s worth checking the one you have

@tothemoonandbackbuses

The cmpa formula I had for mine had to be mixed with water of a specific temperature, I seem to recall 35degrees. So it’s worth checking the one you have

We got prescribed SMA Althera on tin it just says boiling water (thus circa 70+ degrees celsius)

Do you remember what formula that was? I can always see if I can buy a tin of that just for outings as long as the ingredients are the same as that from SMA Althera.

Three CMPA kids here OP and I know how annoying this is.

Options are

• pre make up 1/2 feeds and put in a good quality cool bag (can last up to 4 hours in this) so works well if you’re not going to be out all day

For feeds later on you can take a flask as people have suggested with hot water, and a bottle with cooled.

Or you can just take cooled and ask in a cafe/pub nearby for a small cup of boiled water and then just top up with your cooled water.

Or lots of places like supermarkets or any place that says they have baby food making facilities have a microwave, so microwave a small amount of water to heat it then top up with the cooled again. (I know the cafes in the forestry england places have them, along with Asda/Sainsburys/IKEA).

I always take a back-up of one premade SMA with me, just in case I can’t get one made so I could still feed them, but this was okay for us to do as a one off as all our DCs issues were digestive/eczema related so caused discomfort but not dangerous.

Look up the Nuby Rapidcool! Game changer.

@Catfox1

Look up the Nuby Rapidcool! Game changer.

That does indeed look very handy, might get two of them and buy my own flask

Thanks for the tip!