Which formula milk is best?

[no1childminder]

Hi, due to finding out last month that I have the PIP breast implants, my partner and I have made the decision to not breastfeed. Due to this I have been trying to find out which formula milk is the best. I compared Cow and Gate and Aptimal yesterday in Tesco, and theres only a slight difference in the nutrients/vitamins in them. C&G has 15mg of LCP, A has 20mg. C&G has 6.4mg of AA, Aptimal has 11mg. Does anyone know what these are? (They were under the 'fat' heading) And know if the difference is important? Theres £1.50 in the price difference, not much I know, but every penny counts so they say! :)

The best one is the one you can get from your local shop/nearest 24 hour place when you realise you've run out at the last minute/spill the powder all over the floor trying to juggle baby, bottle and kettle. They are all pretty much the same so just go for convenience.

yy to indith

its all the same so i went for the cheapest

There will be snobbery around this. I bf but, was encouraged to use aptamil if I needed a break (I didn't). For some reason it's held up as a gold standard. It's not, they're all much the same.

Do check out ethics though (ie how the company operates in the third world, google anti nestle campaign).

Good luck.

There is very little difference, some babies seem better on some brands but you obviously won't know which brand your baby prefers yet. Find a brand that is available widely in your area, nothing worse than not being able to get hold of it.

I used the cartons I know that they are more expensive but you don't have the issue of it not being sterile like the powdered variety. Formula fed babies have been shown to have higher rates of tummy upsets which was the reason I opted for the cartons, knowing it was sterile and leaving no room for error when measuring the amount was a good thing for me. You also don't have to remember to have cooled boiled water which is one less thing to worry about.

Ok, I take it back! No snobbery, just good, helpful advice! I've been hanging out on AIBU way too much!

thankyou everyone. yes i thought they all have to pass the same standards so it musnt be that important (the differences i found that is) C&G is the cheapest in my local tesco so il go for that. thanks :)

you want one you can get hold of easily!

i went for hipp organic, purely because its organic and the only formula brand that is and i figured that i preferred them to have organic in the same way that with meat/veg etc we buy organic when we can afford to, its actually not an expensive brand to buy either and they do the cartons etc.

but yes basically they are all the same as they have to pass certain standards and contain a set amount of calories, vitamins etc.

I stuck with C&G because it has a straight edge on the carton to scrape off the top of the scoop, very handy! Other cartons may have this by now, but last I looked SMA was still in a tin so thought it was worth a comment.

I went with Hipp organic, its the only one that DD seemed to settle on and its organic, I was mildly confused that C&G and Aptimil are made on the same trading estate and come in the same type of carton by a company called Nutricia So they are the same company surely.

In SCBU all the babies on formula had Aptimil. SMA has had a lot of bad press regarding its ethics and going against WHO guidelines I think.

At the end of the day, as others have said, it's about which ones are most convenient to you and suit your baby best

I've heard lots of bad things about SMA giving newborns bad bellies, and a lot of good about Aptamil which I used, Cow & Gate too.

my dd ended up in specialist formula due to being cows milk protein intolerant but we didnt find this out until she was 5 ish months so I tried most formulas before hand the one I found made her least sick constipated or runny was cow and gate.
aptamil and sma were awfull so I came to the conclusion cow and gate was generally kinder less rich etc and it used to be mid price range xx

I thought Aptimil has good bacteria in, a bit like the activia yogurts etc. could be (probably am) wrong?

There is snobbery, I was given the impression that aptamil was the upmarket choice and cow and gate was at the other end of the market- why this is I have absolutely no idea!

iloveminieggs - they would like you to think that, but have a google of how they've been told off for their 'Immunofortis' advertising...

I used SMA and Aptimel - I preferred the smell of Aptimel myself and ds seemed to prefer it. They vary a bit in taste so just see which your baby likes. Aptimel does have good bacteria in it according to the packet blurb.

I didn't find that in SCBU the babies were being given Aptamil at all. Most of the prems had SMA Prem 1 / Prem 2. When my partner's son was born it was during the middle of that huge snowstorm and they could only put the smallest babies on the Prem formulas, he was 31 weeks but nearly 5 lbs so got the choice of which formula to use - she went for Cow & Gate. He then went onto the SMA Prem 2.

But to the original question - they are all the same. Pick the cheapest / easiest to find and don't stress, you may need to experiment with baby.

I think it depends on the baby. When I first started FF with DS at 2 months I used SMA. He used to put up a bit after each feed. One time there was none left at the local 24 hour shop (emergency) so I bought Aptamil and never had the issue. Perhaps it was something that disagreed with him.

I gave ds aptamil because my cousin is a special baby care nurse and its what they give to the prem babies in hospital, apparently it easier on them.

My mother is a very experienced children's nurse. She is also a trained BF counsellor and gives a lot of advice about how to use formula safely.

She openly laughed at me for buying Aptamil when I stopped BF! Told me it was a huge myth and very clever advertising that lead people (and healthcare prof) to believe it was better.

Honestly, just buy the cheapest one your baby likes. They all conform to the same safety standards.

They are basically all the same. Despite being many different brands they are made by just 2 companies, Nestle evil and someone else.(not got college work to hand so can't check).
Go with whatever your baby likes.

And please don't worry about people judging you for not bfing, you have those implants which may be dangerous and you are making an informed decision to not bfeed your baby incase of potential harm. A sign of a good mum not putting their child in danger

poultry'i'm wondering if I know your mum! Spooking similar experience, a mum Of a friend told her the same thing...now I'm wondering about your name as it also fits my theory...

Just use the cheapest one that's readily available in your local supermarket. They all have to meet rigorous nutritional standards.

Oh dear Gaviscon, am I to be outed?

I'm in the North East?