Formula feeding

[VEGAS2016]

Hoping for some advice. I am pregnant with DC 3. I EBF my 2 DC with lots of problems (tongue tie, dairy allergy, poor weight gain, lack of support) the whole thing really had an affect on my MH.

Im glad I did it but this time I have decided to bottle feed. Im just wondering how much new born (as in few days/week old babies) babies have formula wise & how often? Obviously this is all new to me!

Any recommendations for the best formula? Im hoping the dairy allergy doesnt rear its ugly head with this baby!

There is a great documentary on all 4 about formula and some of the marketing around it. Really recommend a watch. Main take away is that all formula is nutritionally the same so there isn't a 'best'. These questions usually end up with everyone recommending the brand they used though.

I'd suggest starting with the cheapest and moving up from there. The cost of formula feeding might come as a shock if you breastfed before.

In the early days you can get some pre made little bottles with sterile teats that can be easier during cluster feeds etc. Mostly they will only take a couple of oz at a time.

I have a son with CMPA and I combi fed him with the special formula. Would you consider combi feeding? You still need to establish your supply in the early days (though likely as this is your third baby and you EBF twice before this will be quite quick) but one supply is there you could swap out a couple of feeds. Will also help at night as you can breastfeed and save yourself a ton of hassle.

Thank you for the reply. I hadnt considered formula feeding. Does the baby get nipple confusion?

@VEGAS2016

Thank you for the reply. I hadnt considered formula feeding. Does the baby get nipple confusion?

Depends on the baby and how you do it. My son went between breast and bottle with zero issue. My daughter flatly refused all bottles 🤷🏼‍♀️

But for my son we started EBF and would do an oz or so of formula every day. He would violently throw this back up and was still not putting on weight. Eventually they believed me on the sick and we got the prescription formula.

By 16 weeks when we had the formal diagnosis I swapped out the 10am and 3 pm feeds for a bottle. It meant I had the ease of breastfeeding and night still.

I will day for full honestly I didn't like combi feeding and much preferred EBF, but I'm a bit lazy as a parent and EBF was a lot less hassle. However combi feeding is less hassle than full time formula feeding especially if you have a CMPA baby

For FF I found the ready made bottles really helpful in the early days as you could just use what you needed and store for a certain length of time. Longer term, a perfect prep machine is a godsend (though someone will be along to tell me my child was drinking mould or something in a minute) as is any sort of microwave or electric steriliser as it only takes minutes.

Formula is tightly regulated so we just picked up what was easyiest to find in our local shop (Cow & Gate or Aptamil) though we very luckily didn't have any issues.

I believe the first few days my son had only 1 oz of formula every hour or hour and a half. After that he was having 3oz bottles I would say every 2-3 hours till he was 1 month old.

I combi fed and used Aptamil ready to drink (so easy to keep a bottle or two in your changing bag) there’s also a recommendation on the bottle of how much they should have. Agree with the other poster who said BF was so much easier at night.

My dc that were ff were still demand fed, so it's quite variable re amounts. I used to make an ounce then do more if needed in the early days. When they start regularly finishing a bottle & still seem hungry just up the amount buy an oz.

All formulas are the same really, buy whichever is available in your closest 24hr shop (or the shop with the longest opening hours of your v rural).

Agree that its expensive! The costs do add up, ours was roughly £35 a month but some are cheaper than others and just as good really, aldi and lidl do their own brand formula that is fine and its much cheaper than say, Aptamil. With our baby we found that he didn't get on well with 'thin' milk, for example hipp organic is very runny.. we used sma in the end with seemed thicker and bubblier somehow and that seemed to settle in his stomach better. They're all different and it might be a case of try one and see how you go.

For night feeds we had a little container that had 3 sections, we put the amount of powder needed for one bottle in each of the sections and then we kept the boiled water in the sterilised bottles ready to go. This is how we did it and it worked for us, others might tell you different.

I’ve been combi feeding due to and no issues with nipples confusion. I’ve feed 3 bottles on 24 hours and the rest breast feeds. It’s working out much better as she sleeps for a decent stretch at night after a bottle feed. And I can leave her for a little with OH without worrying she’ll starve.
With ds I had to top him up but I dropped the bottles feeds quite quickly.
I use the mam bottles as she gets wind.

Another vote for combi I BF and baby has 1-2 bottles per day (1 overnight so i can get a stretch of sleep and one in the afternoon so I can do nursery run/shopping etc) no nipple confusion/supply issues here And have done this since day 1. Baby goes well between Mam bottles/Mam dummies and boob. Make it easy for yourself and use ready made initially or the tommee tippee perfect prep machine. The Mam bottles also can be stacked and sterilise in the microwave so no need for any extra equipment.

Another one for combi feeding!
My DS is coming up to 6 weeks he’s mainly bf but has been having formula/expressed when we go out or when I’ve needed a break. He’s taken a bottle since he was a week old and has had no nipple confusion at all. Happily changed from breast to bottles. We use Mam bottles. I have huge boobs that make bf in public more awkward and not a nice experience.