Newborn Formula

[Kyoyo]

Hi there,

I am due our first baby in February, I’m looking for recommendations on newborn formula.

With newborn formula, the formulas are very tightly regulated so there isn’t a huge amount of difference between them.

1. you only need to give first infant milk for the first 12 months - there is no need for follow on milk

2. start with a regular formula, rather than a hungry baby milk

3. Kendamil doesn’t have palm oil in - no idea what the benefit to that is as I haven’t looked into it, but worth mentioning.

4. it might be best getting whatever formula is available in your local corner/all night shop so you can always get hold of some if you run out unexpectedly

I’m 19 weeks with baby 2, and if this one has any formula I’ll be getting cow and gate, purely because it’s in all shops near me and I like the packaging best - the “breastfeeding substitute” message is much friendlier than on other packaging, and doesn’t make me want to punch someone like the other cartons do! (Bfing gave me ptsd and severe PNA with my first, so it’s a very sore point and I don’t need the milk I give poking sore spots!)

I use Aldi Mamia and my baby is thriving.
If you watch the documentary on dispatches (channel 4) you'll find they are all made the same and the follow milk is just a gimmick!
I think there are only a few that do vary and that's the comfort milk and others that a for reflux, as they are thicker. Don't buy them!!!!
I did and my baby ended up so constipated he had to go to hospital. We just let him sick up instead and he's much happier, though we wash his clothes a lot!!
He's putting on weight so the sicking up is not a concern 🥰

I used Aldi Mamia. It is significantly cheaper than the main brands and is just as good. I nearly choked when I ordered an Aptimil from a major supermarket during lockdown at the price for a smaller pot!!!!

The only downside is obv you can only get it from Aldi so you have to be organised

It's all largely the same - very tightly regulated. We used Cow &Gate as it was easy to find in the supermarket and you could get the ready made bottles which were great for going out. Would highly recommend a perfect prep machine.

Honestly just use whichever they sell at you usual store. They are all much the same.

If u go for mamia and every need emergency other aptimil is pretty identical. My baby has had to be in hospital which only stock the main brands and had to be their pre prepared (couldn't make up powder) and when I said Mamia their response was "oh that's Aptimil". My baby never cared about switching onto
Or off it

The palm oil thing is about how unethical practices are used to grow and harvest the palm oil. Loss of habitat, large corps coming in and taking land from indigenous people, deforestation and climate change caused by fires, to name a few...

I watched the dispatches documentary on channel 4 about formula and it was quite crazy the difference in price! Start with cheaper!

Absolutely not virtually all the same
Yes the U.K. formula industry is tightly regulated but the stage 1 formulas are very different
For example :
Some contain fish oil and some don’t (as far as I’m aware they all do except Kendamil and sma wysoy- wysoy says from birth but health professionals actually don’t advise it before 6 months)
Aptamil pro futura contains egg lipid in the powder version so worth noting if a history of egg allergy or baby has confirmed egg allergy and doesn’t contain egg in the ready made version .
Some have slightly different whey to casein ratio I think all are 60/40 except sma first milk which is 70/30 again a small difference but could make a difference to sensitive babies
Some formulas are palm oil free too

There are a lot of differences

Cow & Gate for us. My cousin and friend both used Aptamil and strangely both children have a slight allergy to eggs... strange.

We used Cow and Gate powder and Aptimil ready made.

I think there are a couple of differences between powder and ready made, well there must be as ds rejected all other powders and hated Cow and Gate ready made.

Like pps have said channel 4 dispatches is massively informative watch.

We used the Aldi one last time, planning to use it again this time, it worked fine for us snd us a lot cheaper xx

My 11 day old is on Aldi mamia and doing great on it. My DD1 was on Aptamil from birth and did have some issues with constipation in the first few weeks but it settled. As PPs have said, formula is basically all the same as it is insanely regulated, so it doesnt really matter what one you go for. The main differences between them is packaging and marketing. We shop in aldi, and tbh babies go through so much formula I didnt see the point in paying more than I needed to. If you want more info on formula i know channel 4 did a show on it a few years ago with some interesting facts (and I dont remember it making me feel like rubbish for FF like pretty much every other show on feeding a baby does).

@physicskate ahh thank you - yes I totally agree on the unethical practices of it! I wasn’t sure if there were any benefits to baby for not having palm oil 😊 I’ve not really looked into it too much, my first was on prescription formula and hoping to pump this time (although it’s probably a good idea for me to read up on formula as we will probably need it at some point)

@MrsG30 pumping is HARD. And it never gets as much out as baby would. I gave up with pumping quickly. Baby wouldn't really take bottles from my husband (which was the reason I pumped. Just felt like such a waste sterilising everything, spending ages doing it then giving her the bottle myself!!

@physicskate thankfully I pumped with my DS for a few weeks so know how hard it is, I only gave up because his dietician gave us absolutely atrocious advice saying the mix of breast milk and formula was what was making him sick (it wasn’t, he had cmpa which she missed completely 😡)

Best check what you find stocked mostly daughter used kemdamil but we struggled to get it widely in the end it was a nightmare