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! :)

Haha! No, we're in the south west! You have a spiritual twin down here though :o

Ah! Never mind! I thought you might have been my twin looked through a couple of your posts this morning to see if I recognised you < trying not to appear stalkerish emocion > and you're me! Near the end of pregnancy, SAHM, DD same age, went hideously overdue last time!

hi Debs75 thankyou about your comment about not worrying about people judging me for not bfing, that is something i am worried about. but im also not shy, so i dont mind explaining to people why im not going to. even though i shouldnt have to!

thankyou everyone, Im a nanny and most families have used Aptimal but they said they just did cos their friends did. we are getting married 2 months after baby is born so il def be buying the cheapest! (C&G) :)

I'm sure I read somewhere that cow and gate and aptamil are produced in the exact same factory anyway so are virtually identical apart from the packaging?

I may have imagined this though.

Boggler - same with my mum being special baby care nurse and giving it to prem babies. She recommended Aptimil to me as the best. Although when I said this previously on mn got berated by others as apparently all formula is the same!

My DS is on cow and gate and has had no problems with it, plus it tastes much nicer than SMA (which he was on briefly in hospital.

I used Cow & Gate, was good for ds does chubb them up though.

I use sma infant gold (chosen in the local shop which stocked tins and cartons) and LO never had a problem with tummy upsets/constipation.

I agree with OhBrother in going for C&G for the convenient packaging. You can do the bottles one handed as it has a lip thingy for levelling off the scoop. And the tubs are handy for storing other bits and pieces after wards.
I think they're all the same, otherwise wouldn't one massively outsell the rest? SMA is apparently renowned for causing constipation, but I don't know first-hand.

Bumping this old thread as I'm starting to prepare my hospital bag/kitchen cupboards for arrival of first DC in the new year. I'm planning to try bf and really want to give it my all, but also want some milk on standby in case we don't take to it and we need to feed the poor little mite on something.

C&G seems to be the cheapest in my local supermarkets. Does it really make no odds which brand to use?

Your baby will let you know which is the best for them. My ds either sicked or had constipation on both A and C&G but was fine with SMA. Where as friends babies were the opposite.
Personally I'd start with whichever is the easiest to get if you run out!

I used C&G. I think it's made by the same company as Aptamil, Nutricia.

SMA is made by nestle so depends if you have any moral objections to them.

DC1 was combined fed for a short while then was on C&G. He was absolutely fine on it, despite having reflux and put on weight beautifully.

Formula for the first 6 months of life (level 1)is really heavily regulated and they are essentially all the same - just pick one which is easy to get hold of, preferably one that's at your local shop for when you inevitably run out at 10.30pm.

For convenience, I would pick a brand that also does a starter pack of the little premixed bottles and sterilised teats - makes life loads easier in the middle of the night in the early days...

I am expecting DC2 at the moment and will be packing a starter box in my hospital bag... I'm going to give BFing a bash again this time but if DC2 is anything like DC1, she'll be ravenous pretty much from birth and not satisfied by colostrum until my milk comes in!

Good luck with everything.

Aldi own brand is around £7 a tub. Like others have said, the standards are so strict in infant formula they are all pretty much the same. Go for cheapest.

Aldi own brand is around £7 a tub. Like others have said, the standards are so strict in infant formula they are all pretty much the same. Go for cheapest.

SMA smells and made DS constipated. C&G smells like breast milk and suited him better. I would avoid SMA.

They're all basically the same. Cow and Gate and Aptimil are made by the same company, Aptimil is priced higher seemingly to make it appear better quality, it's not. Regs are so strict it really doesn't make any difference, but some people find certain ones make their baby more windy

I'd go with C&G to start with and see how you go from there.

They are much of a much, I chose c&g for ds as it was cheaper and will be again for baby no 2. That 1.50 a tin soon adds up when multiplied over 52! You will go through roughly a tin a week.
And it tastes quite nice, I used to squirt it into my mouth to check the temp was ok! Lol.
Never tried anything other than the stage 1, ds was on it til he was one, didn't bother swapping to the follow on milk.

Do zombies drink formula?

Wow, ancient thread.

Still, same info applies