Baby Milk for Hospital

[BakewellGin1]

Advised that I need to take milk into hospital...
Which is best in your opinion ?
Also approx how many ?
Thank You

Sorry that was meant to be a . Not a z.

I'm generally very pro-breastfeeding and do believe that it's important and beneficial to babies... but I'm constantly astounded by the women who feel the need to ram breastfeeding rhetoric down everyone's throats and totally agree it gives breastfeeding a bad name. And I'd guarantee it does absolutely nothing to improve breastfeeding rates.

There's a difference between promoting and normalising breastfeeding, where appropriate, and being a dick about how other parents choose to raise their children.

Not read the full thread.

According to our midwife there is a European directive that ALL baby formula must contain the same ingredients, so there's no difference between any of the brands.

Op the brands are all very similar. However I can't recommend the ready made pre sterilized bottles enough. I wish I had been able to use those for my baby in 2013. I had to faff around with sterilizing stuff on the postnatal ward which is not fun when you had a c-section the day before and everything hurts.

Some of the comments on this thread have made me really cross. It's the woman's choice how she wants to feed her baby. We all know that breast milk is best for babies in most circumstances but some women can't, some babies can't, some women find it hard and some women don't want to. They are all valid choices. We should be focusing on making sure that every new mum gets the support to feed her baby how she wants to rather than trying to make other mum's feel guilty because of their choices or circumstances. I hate the way mums are made to feel guilty or inadequate.

Wow. This thread is full of awful posts. The OP was asking about which formula is best, not what you think she should do. To the PP who said less than 2% can breastfeed- I was in that statistic. Could produce colostrum but not proper milk. How do you know if the OP won't be in the same position?

I have already felt nervous about being "formula shamed" when feeding my baby (due July) and threads like this only add to it.

I breastfed my first and it was bloody hard work. I've no doubt having to be awake all night every night to feed him contributed to me feeling very down about motherhood.

This time I've had to have a double mastectomy so won't be able to BF. I'm devastated about it despite the experience I had.
You don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Leave people to get on with feeding their babies however they can.

Hi OP. Even if you do have a horrible time you can still breastfeed. I had a rough time with DD2, massive PPH, don’t remember a lot about it but because I wanted to breastfeed my DH was very supportive in making sure that that happened straight away and when I got my wits about about me in HDU I still managed to do it, just needed some extra help (had canulas in both hands and was rigged up to monitors etc, so baby had to be brought to me and I needed pillows positioned to hold her in place etc). You just have to make it really clear to staff that you want help and make sure you get it.

That said I did supplement with formula with DD2 (she had a bottle at night because I had a lively 2yo as well so it made bed time easier) and we used the Aldi stuff because it was half the price of other brands and it all has to adhere to certain standards so why wouldn’t you. For hospital I took in the premade bottles both times of Aptamil, but only because it was the easiest available formula in the form I wanted.

Ambs81 The charity I work for support mothers literally on the breadline - they often can't afford nappies, yet we are having to provide them with formula because they have been conditioned to think this is what babies need, and at the first sign of trouble in establishing feeding they are giving babies formula- and dont have the confidence, knowledge or support to persevere. This is so sad. There needs to be so much more education and support. Even when hospitals have the UNICEF status they’re pretty unhelpful to baffled new mothers and I never had any help from my midwives or health visitors. In the middle of the night it was just me looking for support online and moaning to my DH.

@LadyKalila

I agree with you 100% on the goat milk formula I mentioned it earlier
It saved my son from being hungry for sure

But they don't make instant do they you have to prepare it yourself, did you bring a tin to hospital or how did you do it x

I have already felt nervous about being "formula shamed" when feeding my baby (due July) and threads like this only add to it.

Promoting breast feeding is not formula shaming. People should be free to promote the benefits of breast feeding without being accused of formula shaming. Promoting breast feeding is not an attack on individuals who formula feed their babies especially when they, unfortunately, are in the 2% that have had no choice.

Aptamil, sma, cow and gate and hipp all do new born starter sets. Aptamil is the most expensive (must be for the marketing budget!). Just because formula has stuff added it doesn't mean it's all necessary or does anything useful. By law there are key ingredients needed in all first infant formula so it's what suits you, your baby and your budget

wombatsears 100% agree about the difference, but the tone of the posts that most pp are angry about haven’t been made in the interests of educating the OP or anyone else about BF.

It certainly comes from both sides doesn’t it and it doesn’t do either any favours!

Promoting breast feeding is not formula shaming

The posts on this thread are absolutley formula shaming.

We also used aptamil. It worked really well for all of us.

I'm due in August. So still a long time away yet but have given feeding a thought. I'm of the opinion that the best thing for baby is that they are fed. Breast, fab. Formula, also great. I'll be feeding my baby the best way for both of us and if that's formula I'll be happy. If it's breast I'll be happy. I'll only not be happy if my baby isn't feeding at all. There's no need to be so forceful on breast feeding.

@nothisispatrick Jolly good. That doesn’t contradict anything I’ve said. The key word is ‘struggling’. Clearly the midwives felt that it was in your and your baby’s best interests to be supplied with some formula, and I’m pleased to hear it. I’ve heard too many anecdotal accounts from struggling women who asked for formula and were refused it.

It’s quite different to routinely supplying formula to women who make the (valid) choice to FF from birth. If a Baby Friendly hospital were to do this they would lose their accreditation.

It depends on your hospital as to how easily they give out formula. Some will refuse to give you it unless you have tried bf.

Op if you want to breastfeed I would ring the hospital and explain you want to but after a bad birth last time you need a back up for peace of mind. They may tell you what they stock then you can research and see if you are happy with what your newborn would be provided in the instance you couldn’t breastfeed. So you won’t need to take anything in.

This is what I have done as I found having formula in my house with dc1 made it easier for me to quit breastfeeding and I so regretted it.
But I know that I need a back up this time also so I have literally one pre made bottle of cow and gate in the house and I know my local hospital will give cow and gate if I am unable to feed.

Also I am admittedly no expert but my understanding is that there are no superior formula milks it’s just about finding the one that suits your baby. For example Aptamil is cleverly marketed as the closest to breastmilk but it is no better than cow and gate. My ds was terrible on aptamil only got on with cow and gate.
Not sure about the benefits for baby of using a organic formula like hipp though.
Good luck whatever you choose I hope it works out for you

'People should be free to promote the benefits of breast feeding without being accused of formula shaming. Promoting breast feeding is not an attack on individuals who formula feed their babies '

There was no 'promoting' in some of the previous posts intact rather the opposite. That hardcore posting is actually as a few of us have said would 'put us off'

There is some amazing BF advice on MN but It certainly doesn't come from the likes of the prev posting on this thread.

Which incidentally....didn't even Mention BF in the Op

People should also be able to promote the benefits of formula feeding. Too much criticism on this site when you comment that you formula fed from day one.

We his post is the perfect example of why people get fed up of militant breast feeders. I don’t think these people realise they put people off instead f encourage them to breastfeed.

OP I took premade sterilised mini bottles in eoth me. I got them in Boots.

^^ as someone who formula fed from early on, although not day one, I didn’t think there were benefits as such to formula feeding.
A viable alternative yes.
But I didn’t think there were any specific benefits To mother or baby by formula feeding.

Do hospitals not provide the little bottles anymore? When I had DC (7 and 3) is they supplied the little bottles for you. But maybe that has changed..

I think you can actually buy the little pre made formula bottles. I have seen them. I used SMA but would probably use Aptamil if I was to have another.

And stop with the breast is best folks. Most mothers know that breast is best but it’s not best for every mother to do so. I have to very happy and extremely healthy children who were bottle fed.

But I didn’t think there were any specific benefits To mother or baby by formula feeding

The biggest benefit I've found is the level at which my husband can get involved. My baby is 6 weeks old, he feeds every 3 hours throughout the night and there's been nights where I've had 8 hours undisturbed sleep because my husband has done all the night feeds. When I was discharged from the hospital after being there for a week and being so sleep deprived that I was hallucinating, my husband being able to do the night feeds immediately was a life saver.

But I didn’t think there were any specific benefits To mother or baby by formula feeding.
Well for one, it means that both parents can share feeding (yes, I know you can express but many many women find that very difficult.) I'd say that's a really fantastic
benefit for mothers. Also contains vitamins that aren't present in bm. It's beneficial to babies with reflux. It allows women to have more freedom. I would say that the ideal would be mixed feeding and it's what I would advise anyone to do.