Ummm I am clueless, a few questions

[lau86]

Ok so I breastfeed at the moment but I am really getting fed up of it. I breastfed my first too so I have no idea about formula.
I assume all formulas are the same pretty much?
How much do I give?
How do you do your night feeds? Do you have to go downstairs to make a bottle and take baby with you or do you leave them upstairs? My son would cry if he had to wait for the milk to heat etc!
Thanks

 

[lau86]

Anyone... I know it's probably stupid as it's all normal for you but I really am not sure on this one and would appreciate the help!x

 

[pollydolly]

Leo is nearly 12 weeks (tomorrow) & has 7oz 4 times a day, he sleeps through so I don't know about night feeds but I used to make them up for the night keep in the fridge then fill a jug with boiling water and put it in there for 2 minutes and it'd be warm enough for him.
Loads of people I know swear by the 'perfect prep' machine though xx

 

[lam_76]

Ok so I breastfeed at the moment but I am really getting fed up of it. I breastfed my first too so I have no idea about formula.
I assume all formulas are the same pretty much?
How much do I give?
How do you do your night feeds? Do you have to go downstairs to make a bottle and take baby with you or do you leave them upstairs? My son would cry if he had to wait for the milk to heat etc!
Thanks

As far as I know, all formulas are pretty much the same however Aptimal is the most expensive! The amount will depend on your baby, my lo is 15 weeks and takes 6 x 5oz a day but I know other babies take bigger bottles less often. We don't do night feeds anymore but when i did i took lo down with me, my hv said it was ok at the previous feed to make up a bottle with boiling water then rapidly cool it then keep it in the back of the fridge so I did this then put it in some boiling water for a couple of minutes to warm it.

 

[liz1985]

All formula is the same nutrition wise but some agree better with some children than others. Dd is 16 weeks and drinks 6 oz every 3 hours between 8am and 8pm. She sttn. For the first few bottles id use the reccomended amount on the tin for how much to feed, then you'll soon get an idea if it's too much or too little for your lo. Night feeds can be a big pain. I pre made a bottle in the fridge and warmed it up but lots of people dont like to do it that way as its not recomended. Otherwise you'd have to make it fresh which would involve a bit of waiting around for lo. If you wanted to spend the money you could buy the perfect prep machine which makes the bottle at perfect temp in 2mins. Ive never used it but supposed to be fab. Only other option is to buy ready made formula, no waiting around but depending how many night feeds it could be expensive.

 

[chicky160]

At 4 months my ds was taking about 5/6 oz every 3 hrs day and night. I used to boil a kettle and add powder to 2oz boiling water then top up with cooled boiled water from the fridge to make 6 oz. it seemed to take forever and he will not wait if he's hungry so I bought a perfect prep which makes a body temp bottle in under 2 mins. Lifesaver. As for milk I tried all sorts which didn't agree, and settled on aptimil stage 1. It suits him perfectly, all the others gave him terrible gripey tummy and rashes. But until you try different brands you won't know. Like pp said they're all pretty much the same nutrition wise, it's the little individual ingredients that make the difference.

 

[aimee-lou]

All formulas are the same nutriotionally. Some are 'lighter' than others and have slightly different make-ups that agree with some children more. All 3 of mine have been on SMA... a lot of people don't like it as it's heavier, but mine have all been fine, and BIG eaters! lol

Apetite depends on the child as does regularity. 6oz is a standard feed for my now 8mo and he has taken that since being 2m. However my now 4.5yo would take 8-9oz at a time at 4m! My 8mo wakes up 2-3 times a night still, but usually only takes 4oz at a time. I confess I do it completely 'wrong' according to the guidelines so I'd never recommend following my method. I sterilise my bottles, then make them up with hot water. I then place 1 in a jug of cold water to cool quickly, and the other 2-3 get cooled in the sink then put in the fridge. I leave the one in the jug on the side ready for when I need it at about 9pm (he goes to bed at 7ish). He generally only wakes every 2-3 hours but lately it's more as he's learning to crawl and is babbling.

When I go up to bed, I take 1 full bottle up with me and put it on the side at room temperature. He will wake for that one around 1am but will sometimes 'snack' from 11pm-1am. Once he's asleep after that feed I'll go and get another out of the fridge and put it on the side. He'll then sleep til 5am when I give him another feed when he takes a full 6oz and will sleep for another couple of hours.

I've done the room temp milk since birth to stop me having to worry about heating the milk up in the middle of the night. I have done it with all 3 of mine and it's what works for us. I have such big eaters that it never sits out for long! lol

I've always pre-made feeds too. Having to make them up each time is a such a hassle. Sometimes I'll make each individual feed up but I'll make it immediately they finish a bottle, so there's always at least 1 there ready. I keep them in the fridge and either sit them in hot water or zap them in the micro for 30 seconds to bring them back up to room temp. Always shake the milk and check the temp if you microwave it....it's easyt to over/under heat and either it'll be too hot or it'll still be freezing lol.

 

[salamander91]

It may take a while to find a formula that agrees with lo. Flynn couldn't handle sma. We eventually settled on cow and gate comfort.

Flynn is 15 weeks and drinks 5oz bottles 5 a day. I think he would drink 6oz most of the time but it causes his reflux to flare up.

I leave lo in our room and OH comforts him if needs be but he usually settles with his dummy. We make his formula with hot and cold boiled water like pp said. We used to make them up and store them in the fridge but comfort milk settles so we make them fresh.

 

[Smiler82]

Re night feeds I used to have a thermos for hot water and a thermos for boiled then cooled water. I then mixed them half and half and the temperature would be about right! I can't remember what age we started making bottles in advance...possibly around 20-24 weeks I think. I know it is not what the side of the formula box says and it's not what NHS advises but I felt DS was big enough and strong enough by the time we switched to making them in advance and he has never once been ill. So all we do now at night is warm a pre-made bottle in the microwave, stir to dispel hot spots and hey presto, it's ready

The side of the formula box will tell you how many scoops, how much water and how many times per day. Follow that to start with and let your LO guide you as to how often they really want to feed. Mine went through phases of not wanting much sometimes so I didn't force it x

 

[Beanonorder]

I combi fed so I took a flask of boiling water to bed. I'd make up the bottle then breastfeed. By the time I was done the bottle was the perfect temperature. I only had to do one night feed and at three months she started sleeping through. So it may be easier to just make the bottles before hand and warm them up when needed. I know my friend with the same age twins as mine did this.

 

[Perplexed]

This is my routine...

Clean water is ready before and kept at room temp.
Baby wakes up. I switch on my bottle warmer. Go make up a new bottle. Put it in bottle warmer. Pick up LO and distract her by changing her diaper & talking to her. Grab bottle and give it to LO. The bottle is never that warm but she takes them just fine at close to room temp.

The reason I make bottles with cooled water is because this new formula just would dissolve in boiling or hot water like the old one did. And the old one made her constipated.

As for amount of formula, when we were trying to combi feed at the beginning I was making up bottles of 120ml (around 4oz as my bottle says), but combi feeding for us failed really badly and now we only ff. That's when 120ml wasn't enough and she takes 180ml (6oz give or take?) every 2-3 hrs.

Some tell me to try and give her an even bigger bottle so that she would go longer between feeds but she almost always leaves a small drop at the bottom of her bottle so I don't think she would take more each feed.

 

[lau86]

Thanks everyone... Seems he worked out what I was trying to do and has started refusing the bottles so we are stuck with it for now....