Formula Feeding

[Lou98]

I'm currently 31 weeks pregnant with my first baby and have been weighing up BF or FF. I am still undecided but for my own personal reasons I think it will most likely be FF. However, I'm really confused about it all and was wondering if anybody could help with answering some questions for me?

1. How do you know how much formula to give your baby and will I know when they're hungry/showing signs?

1. Is it best to stick to one brand of formula? So for example, if I give them aptamil but one day they don't have any in the shops, could I give them a different brand? Or would that upset their tummy?

1. What is your preferred brand of formula? And roughly, how much do you spend per week?

1. How many bottles roughly do you need for FF? And what bottles do you prefer?

1. If FF straight away after birth, does your milk still come in and if so how long does it take to "dry up" ?

Sorry for so many questions but I'm just so confused with it all! Any help would be much appreciated!

@Druidlookingidiot I've considered both and I know that when it all goes straightforward, BF would be better both financially and convenience wise but I think for our family FF is definitely going to be the best way.

I appreciate the reply though and is definitely still something I'm weighing up

Just remember that formula is expensive and once you quit breastfeeding you can't go back - why not try breastfeeding, watch YouTube tutorials and get in touch with local breastfeeding groups, they are starting back in person next month (I provide the venue here) and they often can offer a mentor. Even hiring a private lactation consultant or midwife for support in the early days is cheaper than formula feeding for a month let alone a year!

@Horizons83 the link has worked, thank you! That's a really good idea, saves having to have it all separate. Do you think one pack is enough for taking to the hospital or should I take a couple just in case?

I didn't realise they were the same company! The ones I've picked up are aptamil just because they were the ones I seen in our local shop but seems like there isn't really much difference between all the brands so will probably just stick with them/C&G then as long as baby gets on with it.

Ah can it? I'll definitely be sure to gradually change over then if going between the two!

@Lou98 just keep standing your ground :)

We used Hipp Organic powder and found it great! We used to make up three bottles at a time, then cool then quickly in a bowl of water with ice packs and refrigerate. Also, we used to give bottles at room temperature, saved faffing about with warming bottles when out and about. My husband would do a feed at 10pm and then bring the next bottle upstairs in a bottle bag for me to use on the overnight feed.

@minniemoocher I haven't heard of any BF classes near me but will look in to this. I'm in Scotland in the middle of nowhere haha but will see what I can find.

To be honest the cost of FF isn't an issue and doesn't put me off, if I decide to FF I won't be BF or won't be going back to BF so I'm not overly concerned about not being able to go back.

As I've said I'm still weighing up my options but for our family FF seems like the best way to go

@Gooseysgirl thank you! I wasn't sure whether it was okay to make them up in advance or not but a lot of people on this thread have said similar so definitely think we'll give that a go then, seems a lot easier!

@minniemoocher I understand that its in your interests to promote breastfeeding but telling op there's midwives less than the £30 formula cost us in the first month don't exist. There's also no cost you can put on someone's mental and physical health.

I’m not sure how many of those packs to get. Remember that even if the baby only drinks 1/4 of a bottle the whole thing needs to be thrown away. But it gets you started for the first few feeds. I ended up staying in 5 days following the birth so it definitely wouldn’t have been enough!

Yes it makes life much easier! I followed the guidelines for nurseries at the time - it's a few years ago now! We found we got into a routine after a few weeks... DH would wash, sterilise, make three new bottles in the evening. Then I would do the next three in the morning while baby napped. Once the bottles are made correctly it is absolutely ok to do this! I used Dr Browns bottles because DD had bad wind, DS had silent reflux. They were a faff to clean but otherwise loved them! Just seen on Insta today that Kate Ferdinand chose to bottle feed and she's recommending MAM bottles - it's an ad, but might be worth a follow to hear about her experiences.

I pumped breast milk for a few weeks at the beginning of the bottles - that might be worth considering too. BF wasn't for us, both of mine had terrible latches and my mental health was really suffering so FF was the way to go for us.

@Horizons83 I'll maybe start with just getting the one or even two then and if we need more my DP can nip out and buy some extra, thank you!

I found combination feeding best. I arrived at the hospital for a scheduled section with a supply of the aptamil starter bottles. I then fed for 10 minutes off the breast and a bottle when needed as I waited for the milk to come in.
By day 3 I had established a good supply and just did a bottle of formula in the early evening if I went up to bed first to get some uninterrupted sleep!

I carried on with this routine till about 6 months then gradually dropped the feeding at about 9 months ready for my return to work. Never found feeding an issue this way as they would always take a bottle and the transition to stopping was easy.

Everyone's experiences with be different and some take to bf very easy and prefer it. Others once they have a bottle find it easier and others go between bottle and breast. You won't know until you try. I've done breast and bottle feeding with my first and just bf with 2nd. With my first I just bf for 5months then FF when back at work. I stuck with one brand and if I wanted to swap I try a couple of the ready made brands. My baby did fine with that. The tin on the back is a good starting point how much the will drink for age but you will get to know your baby. The ready made were great for going out, but expensive to do regularly. At home I used to boil water and cool it to the right temperature the put the rest in a flask so I would have sterilised water at the right temp for next time I wanted to make up a bottle. But if you do try bf and it goes well for long term, in my experience, it's much easier as it's ready made and you don't have to bother with bottles, I was quite a shy feeder so I mostly fed in private but I had a nursing apron if I had to feed in public. I never found it a problem and nobody ever seemed to noticed me, which gave me confidence. All the best with what ever you choose, your baby with be just fine no matter how they are fed.

@Gooseysgirl thank you!
The MAM bottles looked good from the self sterilising point of view for if we're at other peoples houses (when allowed) so will go have a nosey and have a look at them!

Did you find that pumping affected your milk drying up or did it not really make a difference?

@Dangermouse80 thank you, I'm definitely going to pick up a pack of the starter bottles!

@Homehaircuts thank you, I never even thought about keeping the water in a flask at the right temperature, that's a great idea, will definitely give that a go!

Hi OP,

My DD, 10 months has been exclusively ff from birth. To answer your questions in your OP:

1. There are feeding guides on the side of the boxes of formula which will give you an indication of how much to feed your LO depending on their age. When they are newborn, you’ll know when they’re hungry as they tend to turn their heads/ root and smack their lips when looking to be fed. I don’t believe you can over feed a baby so feed them as much as they want.

1. Generally, your HV will tell you to stick to the one brand of formula and if you are looking to change, introduce the new formula slowly over a few days.

1. I like Cow and Gate comfort. My DD had some issues with constipation when she had Aptamel at first and she’s been getting on well with the C&G since she was 5 weeks or so. I have used about a tin a week since she was born so about 10 pounds per week spend.

1. I had 8 bottles when DD was a small baby and this was a good amount. They drink so many a day when they are small and it meant I wasn’t constantly washing and sterilising them as I had a good few. Now she’s 10 months and only has 3 bottles a day I have 6. They were the Tommee Tippee ones. I used the Tommee Tippee steraliser and found it grand.

1. Milk came in after about 4 days for me. Wore tight bras all the time and they dried up after about 3 weeks.

A few other tips/ things I did:

• I have a Tommee Tippee perfect prep machine for making bottles. I actually have two, one upstairs and one downstairs. The upstairs one is great for making bottles in the middle of the night for night feeds. I couldn’t live without mine.

• There are different sizes of teat for the bottles. So the Tommee Tippee ones have slow, medium and fast flow teat options. Usually you start with slow flow for newborn until about three months. Then medium from 3- about 6 months, then fast flow from 6-12 months. You’ll know when it’s time to move up a teat when your lo is taking ages to finish a bottle.

• I stopped sterilising the bottles when DD was 6 months old. Some people carry on up to a year, others never sterilise. Totally up to you.

• look up baby growth spurts. They go through loads in the first year, the first one is at 6 days old or something. My DD was starving when going through these and I didn’t realise until afterwards as I wasn’t aware of them at the time.

Hope some of that is useful to you. Don’t let anyone pressure you to bf if you don’t want to, do what’s right for your family. Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy and congratulations

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but Tommee Tippee perfect prep machine is a god send for making bottles. No need for boiling kettles or cooling bottles. Has been the best thing of everything we've ever bought for our baby.

Mam bottles have been the only ones we've tried and love them because you don't need a steriliser just hot water, soap and a microwave.

We initially started on SMA formula but quickly switched to cow&gate anti-reflux as our baby was super sick with reflux but if no special needs that way any formula brand will do, you might want to change after hospital once you're a bit settled but give each at least 2 weeks before changing as it can upset their stomachs and it'll take a bit to get used to.

No need to stick to one brand - that comes from marketing .

First Steps Nutrition Trust is an independent public health nutrition charity, with no commercial influence. Their evidence-based publications are useful -

Simple guide to infant milks

their statement on potential risks of perfect prep machine

Other stuff you might find useful:

video on paced bottlefeeding

Any of the breastfeeding helplines would be happy to chat to you about feeding decisions, without pressure.

NHS Guide to Bottle Feeding leaflet

Blossom Antenatal has free online bottlefeeding class.

@Lou98 the frustrating thing was that I had no problems with supply! But I just got fed up with the endless pumping and I was devastated that BF hadn't worked, especially the second time... so FF was the best way forward forward us.

Regarding sterilisers, if you make up a days worth of bottles, you just wash them, and bing them in the steriliser (obviously turn it on), and then just leave it shut until you make up all the bottles. If shut, it stays sterile for 24hrs. So basically we used the steriliser as a empty bottle store. My tommee tippee one took 8 minutes, but obviously you just press go, and get on with your life and they are there when needed.

Mam ones you sterilise individually in the microwave. That's brilliant if you are Combi feeding or just giving a bottle or two a day, but it's a lot more faff than just automatically sterilising the whole set in one go.

@HungryHippo20

My baby girl is 4 weeks old. I had visions of breastfeeding her, it didn't cross my mind that I wouldn't be able to.....which I wasn't 😣my milk never came in and baby was just distressed/not satisfied despite lots of trying. So we pretty quickly moved to formula and she was so content/settled. We chose cow and gate, I use perfect prep machine and it's a GODSEND I honestly can't imagine not having one! I spent lots of time worrying about this before I had the baby and the truth is you'll just instinctively know/do what's best and right when the time comes ☺️good luck x

I feel like I wrote your post and then forgot.

I really really struggled with not being able to breastfeed, I still get upset now 8 months later. I didn't think I was that committed to the idea but there we are.

My milk never came in at all, never produced a drip and she never really latched and there was shite all support available so we ended up with formula.

We chose cow and gate as that's what they gave us in the hospital as we stayed in for a week.

She's absolutely thrived, no comic, reflux or anything like that. We used the premade bottles with the sterilised teats in hospital and for a while after, especially at night. Then we got a prep machine.

We use the tommee tippee bottles, started with maam but she didn't like those. We had two of the little 150 ml bottles and 4 of the 210 ml ones. I later got a but freaked out about plastics so bought some glass bottles and we only have 3, but by then she was reliably going about 3 hours between feeds so 3 was enough as we had time to wash and sterilise.

I love our perfect prep. I don't know anyone who has bottle fed who hadn't used one and that includes 2 GPs and a microbiologist I was speaking to about this very thing today actually. Officially they're not recommended though, all I can say is read what the NHS say/ what they're basing it on and decide for yourself. I'm happy with using ours but I use cool boiled water to fill it and clean it more regularly than they say.

You'll know when baby is hungry you start to read their cues. Read up a bit about paced feeding and feeding responsively.

I've had zero judgement about formula feeding in the real world (though we've been in lockdown for the majority of her life so far so that helps) but quite a bit online so brace yourself for that if you spend much time online.

I used a perfect prep. If you have one use it

I don't understand the negative? Other than cost. But you already have one.

I used aptamil. Just pick one and stick with it

You can also buy aptamil ready made bottles for when you're out and until you get your confidence making them up

I'm due to have baby number 4 any day now. I'm going straight for formula feeding this time. Mostly for convenience as I have the older 3, Dsd and my nephew to sort out top. Breastfeeding is so time consuming and only I can do it. No other reason.

If you're using Perfect Prep, feed immediately.

If you're making in advance e.g. for night feeds or out and about, use boiling water and flash cool.

If you end up with formula that needs room temp water to make up and you're going out and about, take bottles of cool boiled water + a formula portion pot and make up fresh but with the cold water.

It's about giving bacteria time to multiply (if there is any present which is rare).

If there were bacteria present in the formula you want to either consume immediately so they stay at a level low enough not to cause an issue OR use hot enough water so that they are blasted.

NHS advice is to do both, which is a bit belt and braces - you don't need to do both, but you should make sure you're doing at least one.

Once baby's saliva has contacted the formula in the bottle discard after 1 hour.
Once you've taken it out of the fridge or warmed it or just made it up but not cooled it, discard after 2 hours.
If taking pre-made cooled formula in a cool pack out and about, you can keep it for 4 hours.
Made up formula in the fridge lasts 24 hours.

Get a whiteboard pen so you can write the time on the bottle - helps a LOT!