Loads of questions - please help!

[NickyKB]

Think I'm going to be moving over here soon as my LO (6.5MO) has started refusing to BF and I've got loads of questions! He's had 1 bottle of formula as a dreamfeed (aptamil 1) for several months.

1) Do I stick with aptamil 1 - he's now over 6 months should I give him the follow on milk? My HV seem really anti this but I don't know why and I never asked as i was BF!

2) How do I make sure that I've got appropriate temperature water? He does like it slightly warm - for his dreamfeed we boil the kettle 1+1/2hr pre feed but this isn't practical for the day?

3) How many bottles will I need?

4) He's currently on a number 3 Avent teat how do I know when he needs a number 4? Or would I use the variable flow rather than going up again?

5) I'm currently washing by hand but I've just seen that mothercare think avent bottles and teats can be dishwashed. Is this correct? Is it safe to so this or better to keep handwashing?

6) I'm hoping to change over gradually if he'll take some BF from me - ladies who've combi fed how do you actually do this - do you pre make formula in advance and always offer it? How much do you make up? Also if you've changed from BF to FF how did you do this? 1 feed at a time which feed first?

7) LO is on solids I had been offering BF before solids - do I do the same with formula? How much do I offer so he's not full of milk before solids??? (sorry this was easy with BF as he was always on and off...)

Thanks ladies, I'm totally clueless!

 

[bumblebeexo]

1) I'd stick with it if that's what he's used too. There is nothing wrong with not using follow-on, follow-on is only there because they're allowed to advertise it/put it on special offers.

2) I'm a bad mummy and pre-make my bottles! So I can't answer that one.

3) Six bottles should be enough.

4) When he needs a size up it might look like he's really having to suck the teat, or he might fall asleep during feeding as it's hard getting it out. You'll know

5) We don't have a dishwasher, but if we did I'd use it. I think it would clean the bottles etc better as the water is hotter and it is washed for longer. If mothercare says it's ok, then it will be.

6) Never breastfed.

7) I'm not at this stage yet!

Sorry I've not been too helpful, tried to answer as much as I could though!

 

[NickyKB]

Thank you bumblebee - when you say pre-make bottles I've never heard of this what does this involve?

 

[mommy0629]

I'd stick with what he's on for now and if you want to switch to the follow up milk do it at around 9 months or so.

I honestly don't know on this, I too make up a days worth of bottles (with room temperature bottled "nursery water") and store them in the fridge then I use a bottle warmer to warm them before feeding.

Depends on how often you want to be washing them lol. I like to have enough bottles for a whole day's worth of feeds so I only have to wash once a day.

If he starts getting sort of mad while he eats lol or is making a lot of noise while eating, stuff like that.

Dishwashing is actually better because the water gets much hotter in there than you could stand it on your hands. I don't have a dishwasher so I soak them in scalding hot water and dish soap for a good hour before I wash them.

Not sure on this, but I'd say substitute one more feed a day with formula for a few days, then another and keep going like that.

Not there yet this time, but with ds I always gave the solids first, then a bottle. If I gave a bottle first he would have definately filled up on formula and not eaten.

Hope that helps

 

[NickyKB]

Thank you - if we do start dishwashing bottles can I use the normal tablets. My OH is concerned about salt being in the machine....

 

[dizz]

I've bunged Avent bottles in the dishwasher on occasion (not often as it's not often on in our house) with normal tablets and it's been fine - they're a bloody faff though since the colic rings always fall through the holes in the tray and irritate my nice neatly stacked dishwasher mojo (my husband chucking stuff in irritates it more though)! I wouldn't regard dishwashers as a substitute for sterilising though (although it's one of those eternal UK v US differences as theirs run much hotter so CAN do it I believe) - but we cold water sterilise anyway so it's just a case of wash up > chuck in the pot o'Milton until needed.

We run with 6 bottles - I tend to wash them first thing in the morning and then on an evening when I'm changing the steriliser fluid over and faffing about the kitchen in general - they just get dismantled, leftovers tipped out and chucked in the sink in the interim.

We swapped to follow-on milk at 6 months - did a trial of it, staggered the change over and swapped completely - I know it's regarded as the juice from Satan's nipples in some areas and as a con to get around the advertising regulations - but she's doing fine on it and since she's doing ok on it and I can get points/discounts - no one's going to give me mummy points for slogging onwards... plus I wanted to move her back off hungry baby milk now we're weaning anyway so a change of type of formula would have been afoot anyway - it's also much less likely to be out of stock in our local Tesco which regularly sells out of stage 1 and 2 milk.

With the water temperature I tend to fill a flask when I boil the kettle - keep that flask water for a few hours - and do a mix of hot flask water and cooled boiled water from a jug in the fridge to get the right temperature (I've posted before explaining it in a longer winded fashion in here) but that's just what works for us.

As for juggling the milk+solids - we're still feeling our own way on that one! Felt like I was constantly feeding her for the first few weeks but now we're starting to jiggle about with feed times to get things more resembling sanity... in your situation I'd focus on getting the bottle-feed timings sorted out first really - but it's the same principle of feed them their milk first and then offer solids... I've tended to do solids about an hour after milk feeds (when that fits into her feed pattern - so she gets a bottle at 6.30 am then she'll have some breakfast - usually baby porridge at the moment about 8ish... next feed at 10.30ish and then "lunch" at about 11.30 - conveniently allowing her nap time to conveniently fall across when I want to eat MY lunch and so on) - but it's a bloody nightmare figuring it out and balancing the two!

 

[NickyKB]

Thanks Dizz thats really helpful. I was still planning to sterilise even if i dishwashed it's more laziness over washing up I'm keen to avoid esp as me and OH tend to think that the inventor of the dishwasher deserves a nobel peace prize the number of arguements over whose turn it is it's saved!

 

[mommy0629]

Thank you - if we do start dishwashing bottles can I use the normal tablets. My OH is concerned about salt being in the machine....

Yes, you can use regular tablets, just give them a rinse afterwards if you're worried but it's not necessary. You can also get a dishwasher basket especially made for small bottle parts and nipples so they don't go bouncing around in there.

 

[dizz]

Thanks Dizz thats really helpful. I was still planning to sterilise even if i dishwashed it's more laziness over washing up I'm keen to avoid esp as me and OH tend to think that the inventor of the dishwasher deserves a nobel peace prize the number of arguements over whose turn it is it's saved!

Oh I remember chucking a world class strop when our dishwasher appeared to have died and screeching at my husband "I CAN DEAL WITH THE BACK-TO-BACK MISCARRIAGES AND X (a very close family friend - more of a father figure to me than my own dad ever was) DYING - BUT IF THE DISHWASHER ISN'T FIXED I'M SIGNING UP FOR BEREAVEMENT COUNSELLING!"

Followed by three hours of me telling him how much I loved him when he managed to get it spluttering back into life again!

 

[NickyKB]

Thanks Dizz pleased to hear I'm not alone in the dishwasher relationship! Made me laugh - I never want to imagine the possibility of ours dying - at least I wouldn't have to twist OH's arm about us needing another one he'd be down the shops quicker than me!