Changing teats and formula - confused

[Mary Jo]

I was in Boots today looking at the bottles & teats and formula and I noticed the different kinds of formula for babies of the same age (different kinds of the same brand, I mean).

How do you know if your baby needs the next one up? Adam is breastfed (I reckon he gets 1/4-1/3 breastmilk and the rest formula, it varies day to day) and we top him up with Aptamil number 1, which he seems ok on. How would I know if he needed the number 2, the hungrier baby one?

Also, with the teats. We've used the Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature bottles & teats and they seem ok; I can't actually remember which they are, probably the slow flow ones but I don't know. Again, how do you know when to change? Adam takes 20-25 minutes to drink a 150ml bottle. Is that fast/slow/average?

I mean, I know "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and it's not like I want to change for the sake of it, and I'm not worried about him or his feeding (though he hasn't been weighed in a month, so we'll see) but I'm curious as to how I'd know I needed to.

 

[Hollys_Twinny]

hey hun,

if your Lo is draining his bottles and still hungry, then maybe hungry baby is best...but generally i think youd just know as they dont seem to be satisfied.

with the teat it will have a number on it either 1, 2 or 3

1 is <1month

2 is up to 6 months

3 is 6 months +

x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

you're dead right, if it ain't broke don't fix it. i live by this!

if a teat was too slow, lo would get fed up halfway thru a bottle or just keep falling asleep on the job! or, just refuse outright to drink, like my lo!

you could consider 'hungry' milk if lo is not satisfied on stage 1. i.e wanting to feed more often than every 3 hours in the day, and taking a full feed each time, and is less than 6 months old so too young for solids.

 

[Mary Jo]

Ooh, I didn't know there was a number - I just looked and they are all number 1. Is that the slow one? Should he be on a higher one by now?

 

[Mary Jo]

Ah, ok, mum2b, he is just starting to seem like his bottles are sometimes not enough, if he has not had any boob or EBM for a while, in which case he will drain the bottle and *sometimes* looks for more (only this last week). But he's only been having between 450ml and 600ml/day over 3 or 4 bottle feeds, and for his age the guideline is between 750ml and 900ml. If he's had a fair bit of breastmilk he'll only take 90ml from a 150ml bottle but if it's been a while, he'll have the whole bottle and look for more. Perhaps I need to make up the bottle he usually finishes as a 180ml one and stick to the Aptamil he's on for now.

thanks!

 

[tmr1234]

only go up to the 2nd one if lo is on full bottels every 1 thinks if babys still hungry after what it says on the box they need the 2nd stuff thet dont they need anouther oz if you go to the 2nd to early they will need food to early

 

[honey08]

if ur bf aswell as ff i wudnt change his teat he will get frustrated when bf cos it will go slower !! stick to wot ur on i wud x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I don't think when (if!) you put LO onto stage 2 milk makes any difference to when they'll need weaning. If they're given stage 2 milk when they don't need it, they either won't drink much of it, or have problems digesting it.

My LO has been on stage 2 since about 10 weeks, and she is just over 5 months, sleeping through the night and not eating solids yet.

Thread hijack, but people, please don't think that 'hungry' babies need weaning early...the vast majority really don't.