Formula question

[okciv]

Eve's been fed on EBM since she had NEC......
My milk supply has been pretty low this whole 9 weeks and I've only managed this long as I filled up the freezer when they stoped her feeds.
My freezer stock is running out and I need to think about formula now...... what do I use?

I'm pretty scared as Eve got late onset NEC and (rightly or wrongly) I kinda blame the pre aptimal that she was on at the time.
My HV hinted that I should go for 1st stage aptimal.
I have no preference but any ideas if certain brands are better for premmies???

Also when she is on formula do I need to go for faster teats or anything?

 

[okciv]

no-one moved to formula near babies due date then?

 

[25weeker]

I am afraid I can't answer on formula as I am still breastfeeding but there is def some mums on her who ff from their lo's left hospital. They maybe haven't been on bnb. I do have a couple of ready made cartons of aptimal first stage in my cupboard as a precaution as this is supposed to be the closest to breastmilk.

From the beginning Holly has never got on with the newborn teats as they were just too much work to get anything out and she was exhausted trying so we used the next stage up and after that she has followed the age guides on the teats. I think with both it will be a bit of trying and see how she gets on.

I know babies who were on bm only and still got NEC in hospital so I don't believe formula causes it and i think when they reach term its much less risk. If you are concerned give your neonatal a ring and they can advise/reassure you.

 

[AP]

I did move around due date and honestly, go for whatever brand you wish hun. Aptimal is similar to pre aptimal, the preemie formula used in nicu, but honestly and basic stage one brand is fine.

Preaptimal wouldnt have been the cause of the NEC though i tooootally understand why you'd think of that! Xxx

Teats- use a first size and see how long it takes for LO to finish a bottle. If it takes forever, move up a size

Preemies tend to like cheap type bottles and standard teats. Our LO did like NUK but we've tried every brand and it was the only one she was happy with.

 

[toothfairyx]

I was terrified about Jamie getting NEC and although he had one scare with suspected NEC and starting treatment his cultures came back negative. He only had ebm in hospital so it isn't just formula that causes it although the risk is higher. I was also concerned about milk supply and having to start to supplement with formula when I brought him home. I asked his consultant when the risk of NEC decreased and he said around 2 weeks after their due date and I was much happier using formula after this time, so can understand how you feel.
We used vari-flow teats for his bottles initially, although as he now has some thickened formula I need to use fast flow teats.

 

[bob2331]

Harry was on breast milk from birth till he was 13 weeks old, for personel reasons, i had to give up, i was worried about putting him on formula but the doctors were not worried about changing him, he couldnt even take to fortifier but we slowly introduced the formula over a 3 week preiod and apart from the odd bit of constipation, we didnt have any worries and it did help him put on weight x

 

[katy1310]

Sorry hun, not been on here very much the last few days but meant to reply the other day!!

I breastfed Sophie to start with but when she first came home we were combination feeding and using Aptimil. We used the Tommee Tippee size 1 teats and got on ok with them. She did get very constipated when she was first home - I don't know if it was anything to do with the milk, but we switched to SMA and she was fine after that and never had any problems since switching. She went onto fully formula when she was 5 months actual.

We moved up to level 2 teats when she was 3 months corrected and level 3 when she was almost 6 months corrected.

 

[TwoBumps]

My two were on EBM until about 3 weeks and then they went on to pre-aptimal. Once their weight reached a certain level (I think about 4 1/2lbs) we switched to aptamil stage 1.

Ben used TT level 2 teats initially and Joshua level 3 as they struggled to use level 1. Once they're sucking reflexing were stronger (at about 9 weeks) we switched to level 1 and then worked our way back up through the levels!!!

The boys went on to Aptamil hungry milk at about 12 weeks as they couldn't take the volume they needed to get them through the night on stage 1 milk and the hungry milk filled them up that little bit more! x

 

[roxie78]

I've been using Aptilmil this time round and Poppy has been getting on fine with it. She doesn't get on with silicone teats though so I've had to get some latex ones and the ones she used in the hospital.

 

[twins6410]

when we was in NICU i was exspressing and i couldnt keep up with my babies, so my outreach nurse gave me a course of domperidone (dunno if its spelt wright) tables and this increased my milk flow for around 3 weeks, the side effects of these tables is producing more milk
hope this helps x

 

[Laura2919]

I dont know about formula because the twins were on Nutriprem2 until they moved onto cows milk but my girls always had size 2 medium flow teats. I was told preemies have to work too hard to get it out of a size one so we shouldnt use them and I never did.

 

[Marleysgirl]

Might be worth asking whether your HV can organise a prescription for NutriPrem2 formula milk, as then you'd get it free (on prescription) rather than having to pay for Aptamil.

Also, as someone else mentioned, if you want to try and keep your baby on EBM then you can get prescribed large doses of Domperidone (Motillium tablets) that increases your milk production - I took it for about four months.