Formula in the UK

[Sliiim]

I have 10 weeks left until my little boy is due and I’m wanting to combi feed (hopefully breast feeding goes smoothly)

I have bought 1 tub of first infant milk and some of the ready to use bottles for hospital.

I’m now worried about starting my baby on Kendamil if there is a shortage😖 I don’t know whether to stick with it and hope stock comes along or use a completely different brand?!!

What is the best formula brand under Kendamil? I need help.

When my formula fed kid was a baby, Aptamil was the fashionable choice but I used Cow & Gate as that was the one available ready made at 10pm in an emergency supermarket dash. He liked it and so we stuck with it. Whichever you choose, even if you have to change brands or change types, your baby will be fine. Good luck!

We had to formula top up and chose kendamil. I absolutely do not agree that it smells good, formula is vile imo, not a judgement, I genuinely can’t imagine trying it 😂😂 but we bought the ready made ones and I love them. They did the job and baby put the weight on he needed, so is now EBF but I will always go to Kendamil.

I had my first baby 4 years ago and at the time there was a documentary about baby formula on channel 4 Dispatches. Kendamil came across really well and were the only company to let the programme in and see the factory and how they made the milk etc. The only problem was, Kendamil wasn't very readily available then and had limited options. Like another poster said Aptamil was the 'trendy milk' to have then and apparently that was because they got all their advertising into the hospitals. Cow and Gate was made in the same factory as Aptamil. I decided to go with Cow and Gate in the end as it was a bit cheaper and I thought it was probably the same as Aptamil if it was made in the same factory. Although I do think they are all very much the same with all the strict regulations etc. I also used Cow and Gate with my second and never had any problems with it.

First Steps Nutrition website has the best info you'll find on infant formula. Independent and evidence based.

Like others have said there really isn’t too much difference to the nutritional value, mostly the sources of the ingredients.
We used kendamil because it was palm oil free, vegetarian (no fish) and a British company. I like to support British industry where I can.

I prefer hipp organic 🤷🏻‍♀️
But use kendamil and hipp organic pretty interchangeable

We're happy with kendamil also as it's suitable for veggies, palm oil free etc. it does seem less 'chemical' from my limited understanding and baby takes well to it. I have heard though it's too rich for some babies so you'll have to see how you go? We've not experience any supply issues (usually buy the organic version from the supermarket) so I'm not sure if we've just been lucky or it's fine here in the south east but they do have a subscription service. Well that's for the first infant milk. I know their comfort version was harder to get hold of.

My son is combi fed and we use kendamil. I had no idea it was trendy 🤣 I didn't do much research. I just browse the formula aisle and chose it because it was a British company. Do they have problems with shortages??? We swapped to the goat milk version and I noticed it doesn't smell as strong.

I exclusively BF my DS 6 years ago for 5 months but then had to literally drop everything and run off to a family emergency. I had no milk in the freezer so baby’s dad went and bought some Aldi formula and it turned out he preferred that to my breast milk. Don’t know whether to be pleased or offended 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

It did well for us and he had it for many months after.

We combi fed pumped milk and formula for our two, born in lockdown. We had to use a combination of SMA Pro and Aptamil.as initially that was the only things available, but discovered that the Aldi brand Mania is also made by Aptamil.and is pretty.uch identical for 1/3 less price. So we have used mainly Mania since then as there were less supply issues.

Unfortunately I think you are demonstrating why formula shouldn't be advertised. TikTok etc gets round our strict advertising rules and companies pray upon parents who just want what's best for their babies, who is being paid to say what you need to ask. Unless one of the medically prescribed specific formulas they really are all ok.

Get breastfeeding established then you can make decisions based on your dc's needs not marketing speak - if it's just occasional, ready made individual cartons are great, less hassle too. My dc really weren't keen on bottles so didn't really have formula until they could use a cup

Not really a fan of how you worded the first part of your message. I’m a soon to be first time mum asking for advice and help. Sorry if you think I’m ’demonstrating why it shouldn’t be advertised’, all of this is still very new to me and I’m learning day by day. Thanks for your advice tho. Yes I know to establish breast feeding first but I am someone who likes to plan ahead :)

I read somewhere c&g is the friendly / baby marketing, Aptamil is the scientific / clinical marketing and Kendamil is the instagram / aesthetic marketing.

I went with Aptamil and we have no problems. Not tried the others tho.