Formula feeding from birth

[laurac1988]

Hi ladies,

First and foremost, no judgement please. This is something my wife and i have talked long and hard about and researched until blue in the face. We've decided that we will be exclusively formula feeding from birth.

I wondered if anyone had any recommendations of bottles, formula brands and such. And, anyone in the UK, exactly how many times are we going to need to explain our decision to healthcare professionals?

It's the right decision for our family, I just need to make sure it works out form s despite the pressure to breastfeed.

Would love to hear from anyone else who has formula fed from birth

 

[Witchrose]

I'll delurk for this one as I also chose to formula feed from the very start. I chose the MAM bottles as they are designed to be able to be sterialized in the microwave. (we use Bebivita formula)

Once a day, I wash the bottles normally as I would any dishes. Then sterialize them in the microwave. While they are in the microwave, I boil some water. Once both the bottles and the water are cooled down, I make up the bottles with the formula and put them into the refrigerator.

When it's nearing the time for a feed, my husband or I just take out one of the bottles and warm it on the stove for a few moments. Then sit down on the sofa with our son and feed.

I find it incredibly easy. I know some people hate the thought of cleaning and making up bottles, but that doesn't bother me in the least. Mixing the formula and water doesn't take much time at all. And the bottles just give me a few more things to wash. I have dishes to do anyway.

The feed itself is quick and easy and painless- allowing me more time to do other things with my son/my husband/others/myself. I've been able to keep my life in balance which is very important to me.

I can't comment about the UK, but I live elsewhere in Europe and haven't met with any real negativity about my decision. Only some surprise here and there. If you get any, I would just advise that you try to remain calm and simply tell them you are doing what is right for you and your family. That may not always be easy, but once you walk away you go on with your life. They go on with theirs. Really, ultimately, other people's opinions don't matter because we are the ones living our lives.

There's not a second I've regretted my decision. It works for me. For us. I'm happy. My baby is happy. My husband is happy. My baby's doctor is happy at how well he is doing. That is ALL that matters.

As a side note, at one point we tried the hypoallergenic form of the formula as we were told how much better it was. It actually gave our baby loose bowels. Once we put him back on the regular, he was fine again. Just thought I'd mention that as to show the more expensive sorts aren't always better for every baby.

 

[Witchrose]

I should add that the only time I had a problem waswhile in the hospital. My baby kept crying a lot, and I kept going to the midwives telling them I thought he was still hungry. They would only give me a little bit more each time and the general attitude was that I just needed to hug/soothe him more. That I shouldn't try to hush him with food.


When I got home and looked up the amount they'd been giving him, it turned out it was way less than what he needed. They were going by his age, not taking into account that at almost ten pounds he was not your average newborn.

I'm not able to post a link since I'm under ten posts, but if you Google you'll come up with several sites that explain how to figure how much formula at different weights.

 

[laurac1988]

Thankyou hun. Really helpful to hear your experiences and know I'm not alone here.

 

[Witchrose]

You're very welcome. Glad to have helped. I do think there's probably a lot more of us than it may seem. Only that we're a lot quieter as there isn't as much to discuss compared to issues that may come up with breast feeding.

Good luck and best wishes!

 

[Hit Girl]

Thank you both for this. Reading this has been incredibly informative/useful for me.

I can honestly say that FF would be an absolute walk in the park compared to the full-time pumping I got myself into last time. Not being able to hold your baby when they're crying because you've got a pump strapped to your chest really sucks (no pun intended).

I'm not in the UK (I'm in Aus) but we're using Medela bottles like we did last time and if we need to, we'll be using A2 formula (not sure if you have that there).

Wishing you all the very best! You're going to be amazing mummies. x

 

[RaspberryMini]

Right - I am in the UK and formula fed my son from birth.

I also read your journal from time to time and I'm really pleased to see you getting your rainbow baby, as I know how tough it is (I had 2 miscarriages before my son).

For bottles we have always preferred Dr Browns, we started Leo with Tommee Tippee but he got terrible wind and spit up and the Dr Browns cleared that right away. Yes, they are more fiddly than a normal bottle but given the choice of that or a baby with trapped wind, I'll take the fiddly cleaning any day! When we started FF our daughter we just used Dr Browns from the start and she's been fine.

Milk. We've always preferred Aptamil or Hipp Organic. My personal preference is Hipp Organic. Leo started on SMA which caused him to have constipation, Aptamil fixed it initially but we eventually moved to Hipp Organic when he was over 6 months. With our daughter we have always used Hipp Organic which she has been great on. I find Aptamil smells a bit fishy!

As far as the medical professionals go I have never met any resistance, they won't offer you direct advice regarding formula feeding but no-one has ever "preached" to me about it. You might need to check with your hospital whether they provide formula while you are in hospital or you need to take your own.

Hope that helps - any other questions I'd be happy to help

 

[Rainbow82]

Hi, we intended to FF from birth but were made to feel so awful in the hospital, they kept sending people to talk to us about feeding our child. They called it feeding responsibly. You will unfortunately have to justify your decision at every stage. The midwives at the hospital went so far as to just put my son on the breast while we were still in the recovery room from an emergency c-section. We ended up breast feeding in the hospital and moved to bottles the second we got home. My advice is smile, nod and let it all go through you. There are lots of reasons to breast feed but not one midwife we saw acknowledged that there are also some positives to bottle feeding.

FF was absolutely the right choice for us and our family, it did offer an extra chance of bonding for both mums and that was important to us. Also it was important we were both involved from the start etc.

We have found dr browns bottles to be the absolute best but MAM bottles are a close second. We got two free when we joined boots parenting club and I think another three fir free when we went to a baby show. The mam bottles are useful if you are eating out in places that have a microwave for baby food as they can be quickly sterilised. Perfect if you also keep one of the ready made milks in the changing bag. MAM and dr brown teats also fit both bottles, our son only took MAM teats for ages so it was really useful to be able to use them on dr brown bottles as he was impossible to wind and they really did keep the air he took in to a minimum.

Formula really is personal choice, we found aptamil caused constipation for our son but he loves cow and gate. I like the sound of the HIPP organic milk but it's quite a lot more expensive and it's not in every supermarket here and often out of stock so I wouldn't want to risk putting him on it. I don't think any brand is better than the others it's just finding what's best for your baby.

Tommee tippee perfect prep machine is also a lifesaver you may want to look into, we didn't know if it would be worth the £60 we paid but it is, press a button and bottle is done. No faffing about waiting for boiled water to cool etc.

I hope you have a better experience with midwives etc than us, we also struggled with getting them to acknowledge both of us as mums so it may be we were just unlucky in our area/hospital. We do have friends who had a much better experience in different areas where midwives were less pushy about their choice to feed.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

 

[laurac1988]

Thanks for the replies ladies.
I'm not looking forward to having to justify it. Last time I checked this was a choice, right?
Anyway, will take what you've all said on board.

Rainbow, midwives are a bit of a mare. The antenatal clinic is hard when it's just like "mum and dad" on EVERYTHING. i'm taking some posters to my midwife at my next appointment

 

[Blu10]

I FF DS from birth last time, hes now 4 thriving and has never needed antibiotics. I am not a huge believer in breast feeding cuts eczema, asthma bla bla bla risks and think either BF or FF is a choice. So long as your baby is fed and cared for what does it matter? Anyway we used cow & gate formula with tommee tipee bottles and steriliser last time and had no major issues at all. He was a little windy but we used infacol for a fee weeks which was good.
Dont feel bullies or inferior about your choice - a happy mama will help to grow a happy baby x

 

[MindUtopia]

I didn't FF from birth (combi fed from 6 weeks when I had recurrent mastitis and then full-time from 10 weeks), but actually my experience was the opposite. All I wanted to do was breastfeed, to see a breastfeeding counselor, to ask a question about breastfeeding, and the midwives, HV's, doctors, etc. just kept throwing formula at me and telling me I was harming my baby by not giving her formula. There are lots of mums out there who have faced a lot of negativity for breastfeeding from health professionals, even when they are supposed to be supportive of breastfeeding. So it very much goes both ways and it just depends on who you see and your individual situation. I think try not to take it too personally. They feel like they are educating you about what they should be educating you about (and realistically, from a health standpoint, breastmilk is a more ideal food, but that doesn't mean that breastfeeding is the best choice for every family). But their job isn't to help you with what's socially or emotionally or financially better for you. They're health professionals and they see what they're doing through the lens of providing the best health care, and that just happens to involve promoting breastfeeding. You can just say, "thanks, but we're comfortable with our choice, now let's more on to something we actually have questions about..."

As for what bottles or formula will work best, it's really trial and error and down to what your individual baby finds suits them best. I would say start with bottles that you like some feature of and formula that is affordable and easily available wherever you normally shop for food. We used Tommee Tippee bottles, just because I liked the look of them, and they worked fine and were easy to clean. I liked the electric steriliser too. And I used Cow and Gate. It's basically the same as Aptamil (made by the same company with the same ingredients), but not as expensive. We started off using SMA (which is what the midwives pretty much forced down my daughter's throat, so I didn't have much choice), but that caused constipation. We tried Hipp Organic, but that caused horrible reflux, projectile vomiting, and screaming in pain after every feed. Cow and Gate was great though and it worked well for us. I would just pick what you see in your usual store and give it a try. If it doesn't work for your LO, try something else.

 

[staceymxxx]

I ff from birth, tommee tippee bottles and aptamil then changed to aptamil reflux.. i had a section and a 10lb hungry baby so i let them ff it was by far best decision for us x

 

[Lemonade]

I didn't formula feed from birth (BF exclusively for a few weeks, then combi fed) but I think whatever works for you is the best decision! And yes, you will probably get grief from health professionals. I am still angry 9 months on about how guilty they made me feel about offering the odd bottle, using a dummy etc. Anyway, I just wanted to add that we started out with Tommee Tippee bottles but my LO didn't really get on with them, so switched to MAM and never looked back.

We used Aptamil for the first 7.5 months, and then I realised that Cow and Gate is essentially the same but cheaper, so we switched to that. I have friends who swear by Hipp Organic but have never tried it.

 

[redneckhippy]

I guess it depends where you live. Where I am the hospital gives you samples of formula and I had to fight for my right to breastfeed my son. I think the nurses prefer to be able to just give the baby a bottle than having to bring him to me every few hours to nurse. And then I had to argue not to give him a pacifier (which they still did against my will). Out of all the babies in the nursery when I was there I believe I was the ONLY one breastfeeding (one other was getting expressed bm). So ultimately whatever your choice you just have to fight for what you know is right for your family because once you have a baby everyone has an opinion. Think of it as the first chance to advocate for your child and your family.

Oh and when we use bottles we love Avent glass bottles. They heat so much faster and you can just stick them in the wash.

 

[lucy1]

I had my little girl on Monday and have FF from the start. Not one single professional has questioned my decision and they have given me advice about it. In the hospital they were great too, providing a steriliser and storing your milk, reassuring you, offering assistance! The most anyone has ever asked is 'are you planning on breast or bottle?' And then nothing after that. No 'are you sure' etc. I was nervous about being made to feel bad and I really needn't have!

We've been using Dr brown bottles and hipp organic milk which so far has been working well although I know it's early days!

Although my milk has come in today and it's a bit of a guilt trip for me as I've found that she's rooting twice as much when I hold her, I guess I'm letting off some pretty strong aromas!

 

[mommie2be]

I tried to breastfeed my son when he was born but ended up switching to formula a couple weeks later since I was basically going crazy pumping all the time and not getting anywhere. Once I switched to formula I was much happier so then I could enjoy my little guy even more.
I plan to FF from the start this time and I'm also a bit anxious about the medical professionals and their opinions and having to defend my choice, but I know I won't give in no matter what because this time I know what's best for our family.
I think it doesn't matter how you feed her as long as she is fed !