Help needed - Vegetarian/vegan baby formula

[K2012]

Hi ladies

I’m vegetarian and only found Kendamil baby formula to be vegetarian all other brands I’ve seen contains fish oil which I don’t really want to give my baby and want to avoid giving soya as well as you shouldn’t give it before a baby is 6 months old??

Community midwife said today in case I can’t breastfeed straight after birth I need to buy baby formula starter packs (ready made milk in sterile bottles) and bring that to the hospital. I can’t find Kendamil starter packs anywhere online (will go town tomorrow to see if they got any) so wanted some advice on what vegans/vegetarians have done in terms of baby formula?

Thank you in advance 🙌🏻

Have you checked the Kendamil website? You can order direct from them

I'm mostly vegan and I just didn't use formula. But had I needed to, I'd have used an organic one and not worried about whether or not it was vegan because I think the nutrition is more important than the ethics in this case.

I didn't know Kendamil was vegetarian, I thought all UK formulas contained fish oils, so there definitely isn't another option if you really want to avoid them.

But hang on - you don't need to listen to this advice from the midwife! If you're planning to BF then don't take formula to the hospital, that's very poor advice.

Wysoy is from birth but they don’t do ready made - we had no issues at all with it and the gp and hv said it was fine (we used it due to cmpa as our son wouldn’t drink the cmpa formulas)

ive seen the Kendamil packs in Tesco and they also do 200ml bottles but they keep for 24 hours in fridge once open

Hi @Hallibob unfortunately it’s not on stock on their website.

Hi @PartyGoose I am planning to breastfeed but want to prepare myself if it doesn’t work/if I don’t produce milk etc. I’m having an elective c-section and midwife said it can take 2-3 days before I start producing milk that’s why she told me to buy these bottles in case I need them.

Your midwife has given you shit advice.
Generally speaking, it’s takes 2-3 days for your milk to come in regardless of how your baby is born. That’s why you produce colostrum to bridge the gap. Contrary to popular belief, this is enough for your baby. He/she will feed little and very often in the first few days, in an effort to encourage your milk to come in (my middle child was an every 45 mins kinda guy for the first couple of days!). The more baby is at the breast, the more encouragement your body is getting to open up the milk factory properly. Supplementing with formula at this stage can hinder the process as your baby with a very full belly will spend less time at the breast.
I have nothing against formula, I’ve used it at various stages with my first 2 DCs, but your midwife should know all of the above.

You don't need to buy for mail just incase if your planning on breast feeding

If breast feeding doesn't work with buy it then. Amazon have most stuff on prime

Formula not for Mail!!

It's normal for it to take 3 days for your milk to come in c-section or not.
Have you thought of trying antenatal expressing of colostrum so you have that as a backup?

Hospitals will usually have formula if you ask and it's needed- is the issue it wouldn't be vegetarian? But I agree with the posters if you want to breastfeed it's not good advice to bring formula - the midwife should advise you on what to do to increase chances of breastfeeding success.

I wouldn't to begin with. Feed feed feed to bring your milk in, formula will slow the process down.

Don't take formula. The time you're in the hospital you're milk won't have come in anyway unless you are in longer than 3 days. If you bave formula you will probably use it then its harder to stop

Milk doesn't come in for a few days anyway.
If kendamil doesn't have the starter packs in stock then your only option other than that is another brand if you take any in.

I never took milk in and was in for 5 days with my dd. Ended up formula feeding pretty soon after that at home though.

Holle goat's milk formula is vegetarian but I'm pretty sure they don't do starter packs.

As already mentioned though, I wouldn't worry about taking in formula to the hospital. I had a very low milk supply from birth and my son didn't have formula until day 5. But if you are worried, maybe just take a few bottles of non-vegetarian formula and just hope you don't have to use it!

Don't hospitals have kettles for parents to use any more? They didn't always make the premade bottles for commercial sale so what did people do then?

If you need formula due to difficulties breastfeeding the hospital will supply it.

Have you thought about expressing colostrum as a backup instead of looking at formula?

I would also suss out your local good services of breastfeeding support if breastfeeding is very important to you. The early support you get can be a bit of a lottery with some excellent, some mediocre and some actively harmful.

As everyone has said don’t take formula, even if slow to come in little babies don’t need much milk.

If you really want reassurance get a tub of kendamil for home just in case (powder.). We use kendamil and its amazing. Also, although not vegetarian, I was told Hipp Organic Ready to Feed can be used with Kendamil powder and this hasn’t caused an TV issues for my 4 month old.

Thanks for all the replies it’s much appreciated 🙌🏻

@BertieBotts Midwife said they don’t have kettles in the hospital anymore and midwives can’t sterilize your bottles for you that’s why I need to bring in these starter packs.
Yes I have thought of expressing colostrum, midwife said I can start from next week when I’m 37 weeks. Sorry for the daft question but if I express colostrum do you store it in a syringe and put in freezer and bring with you to hospital or what exactly do you do?

I have just called the breastfeeding team at the hospital as I want support they didn’t answer so will call them again later.

@ChickinMarango I got 2 Kendamil powder at home in case I need it

@K2012 this is made from soya milk, so should be vegetarian/vegan: www.boots.com/sma-wysoy-soya-infant-formula-800g-from-birth-10265946?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc--LIAs--Baby-_-UK_Smart_Shopping_LIAs_Baby&gclid=Cj0KCQjwma6TBhDIARIsAOKuANzt35Zk6Ivv_qCr8b_IAdGq2P3AemHTt4cmiKj_gxyhZg7GyH99HJcaAiwEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Apologies, I hadn't seen your no soya preference in the original post. It might be an idea to use a vegan omega 3 supplement if you want to avoid giving baby fish oil, as the omega 3 found in fish oil promotes good brain development

Here is some info on purely-vegan formulas: www.chooseveganism.org/vegan-baby-formula/

Thank you @Bettel 👍🏻🙌🏻

WSOY

That is the worst advice!
You do not need a back up. You have grown this baby and you will be able to feed it.

You can ask your midwife team for colostrum syringes if you really need a back up but you probably won’t need them.

good luck!

A paediatric consultant told me off for feeding my one month old Wysoy as they don't recommend it until they are six months apparently.

You might have noticed already but you'll get loads of conflicting advice from the "professionals" 😬If you're planning to breastfeed then forget about the formula for now and you can revisit it later if needed.

Soya milk is not recommended under 6 months old