Choosing a brand of formula... help please!

[Tink2312]

Hi Ladies,

Normally I hang about the third tri forum but thought this was clearly the place for posting this question! Was after some advice on what to consider when choosing formula... its all a bit confusing and I'm not really sure what the difference is between the brands as I'm UK based it seems that SMA, Apitmal and C&G are the main 3 brands? Is that right? I'm not really sure if one is better than the others or if they are all really much of a muchness?
I thought I heard or read somewhere something to do with the make up of SMA meaning its not as good as the others and originally I think this is what we were going to opt for but now I just don't know! lol. So any help/advice would be massively appreciated.
I am planning on ff from birth if that makes a difference, I'll be 36 weeks tomorow and this is my first so any helpful pointers would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks

 

[OmarsMum]

Hi hun. We went for aptamil after changing several formulas. It's more expensive than other formulas but it worked perfectly for us xx

 

[Tink2312]

Thank you, did you find any particular issues with the otheer brands? more sick or anything? Thats what I noticed with aptimal its like £1/2 a tub more expensive and been trying to figure out what makes such a difference! lol.
x

 

[OmarsMum]

Thank you, did you find any particular issues with the otheer brands? more sick or anything? Thats what I noticed with aptimal its like £1/2 a tub more expensive and been trying to figure out what makes such a difference! lol.
x

Constipation, gases & sick. it's trial & error at 1st until you could find a suitable one. It took us around 2 months to finally settle with 1 brand xx

 

[summer rain]

In the UK cow and gate is the same as aptamil. I know I mentioned it in third tri but just in case anyone is unaware. Aptamil spend more on promotion/mother and baby club so thats the real reason it costs more here.

 

[merlotgirl]

In the UK cow and gate is the same as aptamil. I know I mentioned it in third tri but just in case anyone is unaware. Aptamil spend more on promotion/mother and baby club so thats the real reason it costs more here.

Having tried both I would these are definitely not the same product- c&g is much heavier and smells horribly savoury and Abby wouldnt touch the stuff but loves the lighter, sweeter smelling Aptamil

 

[SophiasMummy]

my LO is on aptimil and gets on great with it we havent had any problems with it. i was told SMA is quite rich which is why i didnt go for sma plus we spent the first 5 days in the NCU and they only provided aptimil or cow and gate and told me that they prefer to give babys aptimil as the babies seem to get on with it better

 

[honeybun]

My lil girl is on sma and not having or had any problems, my other 2 were also on this and no problems

 

[vaniilla]

lo is on aptamil and doing really well on it

 

[MrsRabbit]

I would go with the cheapest milk based formula and go from there. Usually all milk based, gentle, sensitive, soy, hypoallergenic are the same so I go with the cheapest brand and work our way up. DD went through 5 kinds before we found the right one but she has severe allergies. Most people I know are on the first or second formula they try for the whole year.

 

[llsarahll]

Hiya my little one is on SMA gold and seems to be doin fine with it and he is 10 weeks old xx

 

[Siyren]

we started on aptamil but at 5 months (when they changed the picture on the container and so i assume the ingredients aswell) lyssa point blank refused to drink it. we switched right away to cow and gate and didnt have a problem at all.

 

[NuKe]

we started out on sma, it made poppy sooooo constipated, and this is very common with sma for some reason, so we switched to c&g, then c&g comfort as she had a lot of colic problems and is now on hipp

 

[mommy43]

ive tried most of them with one or the other of my kids sma is quite rich but suited my son fine he was a little porker n i think he needed it to fill him up i tried it with my daughter but it make her sick so i went with c&g i tried c&g with isabel but it does smell funny compared to aptamil n she didnt like it so we switched to aptamil n shes fine on it its really about what suits your lo best rather than one being better than another

 

[bubbles123]

I'd recommend Aptamil too. It's very light and my HV said it's generally used in SCBU etc because it causes less digestive problems than others. Cow and Gate and Aptamil are made by the same company but from what I've read here, they are not the same. Several mums at my baby group have ended up on Aptamil after having problems with others (especially SMA). I have used Aptamil since day one (was given it in hospital due to latch issues ) and have never had any problems with it or had to change formulas - LO has thrived on it X

 

[summer rain]

In the UK cow and gate is the same as aptamil. I know I mentioned it in third tri but just in case anyone is unaware. Aptamil spend more on promotion/mother and baby club so thats the real reason it costs more here.

Having tried both I would these are definitely not the same product- c&g is much heavier and smells horribly savoury and Abby wouldnt touch the stuff but loves the lighter, sweeter smelling Aptamil

Perhaps it is only certain of their range then but definitely the Aptamil comfort and C&G comfort are identical; it even said on one of their websites that the products were the same so not to worry when in Northern Ireland they changed the cow and gate comfort to aptamil comfort. My eldest was made really sick by Aptamil and SMA and the midwives in the hospital said that while Aptamil is fine for most babies; it can make some very sicky. In his case we had no problem with cow and gate ready mixed or HIPP. If its a normal powder you're looking for; the HIPP one is great; very gentle and just smells of milk powder. It is a little harder to mix right but you can't have it all.

To the poster who said all formulas, hypo allergenic, comfort, soy etc are the same; in the UK this is not true and one formula company basically lost their whole UK market after marketing a formula as hypo allergenic to health professionals when it wasn't. In the UK comfort formulas are thickened with denatured corn starch or meal and also most of the protein and lactose has been broken down, so the body no longer recognises it as a milk product. These are great for those with moderate intolerances to dairy but in the case of a true allergy you will need a soya formula (not recommended by most doctors due to sugar content; lack of certain vitamins and possible hormonal implications due to there being natural female hormones in soya) or a prescription only hypoallergenic formula where the protein and lactose in the milk has been completely altered so its no longer recognisable as milk in any way. There are also Lactose free formulas; for certain medical conditions and also temporary lactose intolerance after a stomach upset; but these tend not to be used as much now as switching to a comfort formula in case of the latter problem usually has the same result.

 

[bbyno1]

I started Aliyah on SMA nad had huge problems. She would always arch her back with feeding,cry though out her whole bottle,had bad constipation and wind problems & the colic!
Now she is Aptamil comfort and from day 1 i noticed a difference.She loves it and no problems x

 

[sophxx]

we use hipp orgaic lo is doing brill on it x