Anyone else formula feeding? Advice needed

[MSMB]

For various reasons I have made the decision to not breast feed and use formula straight away. Any advice/ tips?

For the first few weeks, buy the readymade stuff, either cartons or the big litre-ish bottles if you can find it (though cartons may be more practical than the bottle for the amount a newborn drinks).

Get the Perfect Prep machine! It looks well worth the money - remembering to have the kettle boiled or bottles made up in advance can be a bit of a pain, even when you get into a routine with it all

Practise using the steriliser before the baby is here, so it's one less thing to worry about in those first few sleep depived days.

I breast fed then when it got to much, I had that mastitis it was awful, I then used formula. I don't know what made me chose sma I just bought the ready made stuff then later got the powder that you make up.

I would probably research now which one to use, I never had time. Get a electric steamer I found my microwaveable one just awful.

I remember the doctor saying to me what is best for mum is best for baby.
She was so right. Good on you for making your decision I am going to breast feed again but only till it gets too much.

Good luck.

Get a perfect prep machine! Amazon recently had them on offer and they are worth every penny. Advice is to make each bottle up fresh so having the machine makes it so easy.

We started on a prescription formula made by cow and gate so stuck with them when DS was big enough for the normal milk. No issues whatsoever and happily it's the cheapest!

Steam steriliser is great, does 6 bottles at a time in a few minutes.

All formula is basically the same, so don't be fooled into buying a more expensive one that's claiming to be better than the others. The contents are very tightly regulated, so there's no real scope for one to be much different from any others.

Another one saying you should get perfect prep!

One thing that didn't cross my mind either, make sure the bottles fit in your steriliser ok (I had tt bottles and an Avent steriliser!) and if you have a microwave steriliser check it fits in the microwave.

I also think you should get the ready made stuff for the first few weeks, so much easier especially when out and about.

As PPs have said the newborn formulas are all pretty much the same by law, so go for whatever brand you can get easily that's in your local shop.
You might want to get one of a few bottle brands and see what your baby can take. DS couldn't get the hang of Tommee Tippee at first (kind of a straight teat) but could use NUK (a more shaped teat). But he had feeding issues in general so not sure if this is typical.
Even if you're not breastfeeding your milk will probably still come in and so you might need soft bras (or sports bras) and a few pads

MAM bottles were so convenient for us; sterilise in the microwave so no need for a steriliser. Tommy tippee were good too.

Cow and Gate formula worked best for us, they're all much of a muchness and C&G and Aptamil are exactly the same just marketed differently so don't be fooled by it.

Cabbage leaves are amazing for sore boobs. The woman opposite me in hospital didn't plan to breastfeed and was given a lot of pressure by the midwives, but stick to your guns.

Check the hospital policy on formula. Some expect you to bring it in yourself but when I couldn't bf, the hospital supplied all formula.

Save money on the perfect prep machine n just buy a flask.

I used to
sterilise bottles

boil kettle

Add half amount of boiling water to sterilised bottles (ie , 4oz of powder =2oz water in the bottle) add teats/lids then leave to cool.

Fill flask, top up bottles with this when needed and add powder. Enough hot water to desolve the powder but the cool water provides the coolness for it to be ready to drink.

Hope that made sense

Perfect prep and mam bottles. No steriliser needed.
We found hipp organic to be really good milk. X

And I used and would use again hipp organic. Only problem is it is not as popular as c&g or sma so you won't find it in the corner shop but will in Asda tesco etc.

We used a flask with dd1 before the perfect prep was out but the perfect prep is just so much easier.

I use a flask when out and about but love the machine.

You can get small ready made bottles to take into hospital, boots sell them. You can also buy pre sterilised bottles and small cartons of formula, great to keep in changing bag for emergencies.

We made up bottles by filling all the bottles with boiling water first thing and then adding the powder when needed. Apparently this is naughty as the powder isn't sterile, but we served it immediately, didn't warm it and chucked it immediately and had no issues at all. This time I'm thinking of perfect prep after I try breast feeding. I'm going to do a week of mixed feeding, I have supply issues so won't be able to support baby fully but want to do colostrum and as long as I can. Ignore anyone who tries to make you feel guilty, your choice and formula is excellent nutrition after BM.

Only add formula to water over 70C, so fresh boiled then left for no longer than 30 mins. Use cartons for out and about. Some formula brands have screw tops on the 200ml cartons. Go for one of those brands, then you wont have to throw away half carton.

I found the steam steriliser a pain, and just used a cold water steriliser. See what you like the look of.

If you decide to make up bottles in batches then definitely sterilise the bottles. Make them up as normal, then cool quickly in a sink full of water (put a timer on so you don't forget about them) and put in the back of the fridge where it's the coolest. A lot of people don't choose to do this, but it's a personal choice. I wouldn't make up more than 2 or 3 at a time though

The really important part of making up bottles is to add the powder to boiling water (water above 70 degrees iirc). This is why the perfect prep machine is popular. It sterilises the powder but provides a formula of a drinkable temperature. You can do this yourself but it's more of a faff.

The risk is very small but the consequences not insignificant.

There are many ways to make formula prep and feeding simpler and to work around you without missing out the step of sterilising the powder.

If you're not combination feeding then I would recommend going straight onto a level 2 flow teat.

These are good for the first couple of days:

Ready to feed bottles