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

The benefit to formula feeding for me was with my third. I had a third c section and it was very complicated and I was poorly afterwards and in intense pain plus I was exhausted after days of contractions and time in the postnatal ward. Formula meant I was able to rest and my husband could feed our baby in the night. It also meant when I developed an infection in my wound and was quite unwell I was able to leave my baby with his grandparents while I went to a&e on a Saturday night.

With my second child formula enabled him to gain weight after consistently losing weight while I was breastfeeding.

it's what I would advise anyone to do.
Obviously I mean if they were wanting and planning to bf but I believe that it is a better option than ebf.

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

Two parents plus anyone else able to feed her. Well rested mother as father can do night feeds. Mother with good mental health. Can be fed anywhere without needing to find a seat. Just a few off top of my head

You just hear about the health benefits of breastfeeding for mums and babies. That’s all I ever heard these are the benefits but when the going gets tough there’s very little support to help you continue to breastfeed and obtain any of these benefits.

I do think the formula companies coin in on this so that for many it is the default rather than an alternative. and for this I blame their multi million pound marketing versus crap nhs support for women wanting To breastfeed.
I agree it’s pointless trying to convince someone who wants to ff from day one. It is their right to choose and I fully support that.

But if women had better post natal care I.e private rooms on wards, weren’t discharged from hospital after a few hours sometimes without their pain being managed and good breast feeding follow up, more people may find they could persevere with it and women wouldn’t have to panic about needing back up formula milk.
I think I would have persevered longer with proper professional support after dc1 and not having older relatives in my ear telling me that formula milk was just as good.

HiPP Organic. They do starter pack in Boots with ready made milk inside the bottle and teats. Brilliant milk IME. My son suffered extremely bad colic and wind with C&G, SMA and Aptamil. HiPP worked best and it is organic and gentle on their tummies:
https://www.boots.com/hipp-starter-pack-6-200ml-teats-10231080?cmmmc=bmmmGoogle+Boots+PLAsAs--(GB:Whoop!)+Boots+Shopping+-+Category+-+Baby+-+Medium+Margin+-+Mobile---(GB:Whoop!)+Hipp&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzuyti9j3wIV65PtCh0lIghEEAQYASABEgJqSPDD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

FFS OP asked about what formula is best and all you keep banging on about is breastfeeding. It's her choice how she wants to feed her baby!

Wow there are some judgemental b*tches on this thread. I couldn't breastfeed my son, as I simply didn't produce any colostrum, and the lactation consultant at the hospital made me feel like I've failed. OP I fed my son Aptimil as he didn't get on with C&G either.

Two parents plus anyone else able to feed her. This can be done with expressed breast milk.

Well rested mother as father can do night feeds. As above.

Mother with good mental health. What evidence is there to say that breastfeeding mothers have poorer mental health?

Can be fed anywhere without needing to find a seat. I manage to breastfeed anywhere I like just fine even standing up plus without the faff of bottles etc.

@wombatsears I have never been able to express effectively. Plus mum would still need to be up in the night to express milk in the early days.

I am currently BF dc 3, my only BF baby and I have never felt better. Older 2 DC were FF and while they are extremely happy and healthy I really feel that BF has been a far more enjoyable experience. I suffered from puerperal psychosis after DC1 and I honestly believe that the constant washing bottles, sterilizing, stressing about germs etc contributed to my illness and subsequent admission to a mental health facility.
In my experience cow and gate was the best formula for my children, hope all goes well OP! But please consider BF, the pros far outweigh the cons!

No ones bothered to think there could be a reason why OP wants to bottle feed.

I breastfed my DS for a year and am currently pregnant with my second but last year I made the decision to have an elective bilateral mastectomy because of having the breast cancer gene so I won't be able to breastfeed my second child. I've still been given grief that "breast is best"! Haha. My response is usually "me being alive for my child is best".
Still amazes me that people still give me grief even though I physically cannot breastfeed!

FGS the breastfeeding mafia need to pipe down.

OP has made a choice which is hers to make.

What is best for baby ?
A fed baby. A relaxed happy mum.

wombatsears

1. Pumping is a pain in the arse. I did it for two months and could barely get a bottle a day from pumping. It was hugely time consuming and had to put dd in her bouncer and just hope she’d be happy for long enough. I’d rather have been cuddling her tbh.

1. As above

1. My own experience plus some others on his thread

1. Many people would find that difficult. Did you just stop in the middle of the street or supermarket aisle to feed? What about in the car while travelling?

I formula fed DS2 from birth purely because I didn’t want to. It was basically a lifestyle choice, I had a list of about 10 reasons. One being that having anyone sucking on my nipple makes me want to faint/puke. I’m sure that will enrage many but they can rage all they want 😄 I eventually FFd DS1 too after he became a failure to thrive (plummeted from 75th to 2nd centile) thanks to the ‘breast is best’ ‘try harder’ brigade. Chose not to put myself/baby/husband through that again!

Many people would find that difficult. Did you just stop in the middle of the street or supermarket aisle to feed?

Yes quite literally walked around Aldi feeding DD the other day.

What about in the car while travelling?

Pulled over and stopped.

Great, sounds super practical for everyone 👍

Surely everyone should do what is best for their baby and family. There isn’t a right or wrong. I decided to formula feed following discussions with DH - it’s a decision which worked well for us and our babies. It was the best decision and I have no regrets.

How helpful do people actually think the pro-breastfeeding ‘advice’ they’ve put on this thread is? I think ReggieKrayDoYouKnowMyName is the only poster that has managed to give helpful, solid advice to the OP regarding breastfeeding after a traumatic birth if they want to try. The rest are just bleating “breast is best” and saying “well I managed it so you should too”... how is that actually giving practical advice?!?

Compare that to the helpful and comforting advice regarding formula feeding and mixed feeding.

No wonder so many women struggling with breastfeeding turn to formula if this is the “advice” they get when they seek out help...

Great, sounds super practical for everyone 👍

Meh. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

A fed baby is best. Weather it's breast or formula.

So now we’re going round in circles. That doesn’t work for everyone, which is the whole point! I have lower back and hip issues from pregnancy and that’s not hugely uncommon. I could no more walk around Aldi breastfeeding than I could walk around Aldi doing cartwheels. But I can pop a bottle in her mouth while she’s in her pram or car seat. This is what works for us and the judgment on this thread does not change that.

BakewellGin1 I’m sorry your thread turned into a breast v formula debate. Last time the hospital provided formula under the advice of the consultant so they should provide if there is a medical need (I trust that the consultant with many years of medical training provided the right advice in our circumstances but I’m sure someone will be along in a minute to say it was unnecessary and that everyone can breastfeed etc)

Like you, I want to be prepared in case I can’t feed well again with my next baby so will be getting some of the ready prepared aptamil bottles with teets. It just provides the confidence that I won’t need to stay in postnatal hell if things don’t work again with feeding.

wombatsears
Stop being so superior. You are extremely fortunate in that all of this is possible for you. I sometimes managed to feed walking around but it was very hit and miss. DS was an enormous and very wriggly baby, I had a EMCS and wearing him in the sling irritated my scar. Basically I found myself stuck in the house all of the time and it was soul destroying. What do you gain from telling everyone how much better you are than them? Your experience is your experience, nothing more.

What do you gain from telling everyone how much better you are than them?

Literally have never said this. I was simply arguing that the so called benefits of formula feeding can apply to breastfeeding too. Didn’t say they apply to everyone and I certainly didn’t say I was better than them for it.

Funny how when you talk about breast feeding you're 'bleating' purely for mentioning it!