Your chosen formula?

[kerrie24]

My sister is pregnant and plans to ff,we were looking at milk the other day and she has no clue which to buy.
Some people start on one and move to another,some have problems with colic or constipation and blame the milk,I dont have a clue.
10 years ago when I ff my son I used sma gold,so thats all I know.

I just wondered if you could state which milk you use and if youve ever tried others or had problems,so I can try to gauge which is a popular choice.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Mindy_mini]

We used aptimil as i didn't want to FF but had to give top ups due to problems with bf/weight loss etc. The bf consultant said it was closest to breast milk.

Bf didn't work for us so switched to FF comPletely at about 6wks. Dd has been fine on aptimil - no colic/reflux/constipation etc but I don't think the milk itself is ever responsible for these it's how the baby handles the milk iyswim.

 

[SabrinaKat]

We use Aptimal; in NICU, he started on Aptimal and tried SMA (which is thicker?), but he was refusing to feed -- turns out he needed the larger teat; once that was done (size 2, not newborn), he became (and is) a little piggo and came home the next day!

I would suggest that your sister not buy too much of anything as LO sometimes have a mind of their own-- my LO only likes NUK wide bottles and the Tommy Tippee set bought beforehand was never used (to my husband's 'annoyance')...

best wishes

 

[Lauren25]

When my LO was on formula we used cow and gate! I like you had no clue the only thing I knew was that I had heard a few bad stories about SMA so didn't want to use that so for me it was between cow and gate and aptimal I literally just asked OH to pick a name and he said cow and gate. LO got on great with it so when we have more in the future I will stick to cow and gate

 

[kerrie24]

We use Aptimal; in NICU, he started on Aptimal and tried SMA (which is thicker?), but he was refusing to feed -- turns out he needed the larger teat; once that was done (size 2, not newborn), he became (and is) a little piggo and came home the next day!

I would suggest that your sister not buy too much of anything as LO sometimes have a mind of their own-- my LO only likes NUK wide bottles and the Tommy Tippee set bought beforehand was never used (to my husband's 'annoyance')...

best wishes

Oh I didnt think about the actual bottles .My sister wanted to get the closer to nature ones,but come to think of it my son used to like the NUK teats too so we had to change his boots bottles to NUK teats,after I melted my expensive bottles in the steriliser!
Thanks for your input

 

[dizz]

Choice was kind of made for us really - neo-natal needed to give her formula to feed her (with my consent) and the hospital had two brands - C+G and SMA... at the time I was in such a daze (and delluded I'd still be able to breastfeed long term) that I said I'd leave the choice up to their judgement - and coming home we've stuck to the same for consistency's sake.

 

[SabrinaKat]

Yea, I forgot about putting water in the steriliser and a few bottles melted (and my OH yelling at me!) -- now I am VERY careful!

LOL!

 

[missy55]

My older daughter had real problems with colic when she was born and she was on SMA. After a couple of weeks we switched to cow and gate comfort and she improved loads. Having said that the timing could have been coincidence but we have steered clear of SMA this time. We were told cow and gate and aptamil are the closest to breastmilk xx

 

[jess77]

I use cow and gate from birth and no problems. My health visitor told me a strange fact (she is also the bf councillor) that cow and gate and aptimal are EXACTLY the same formula! made by the same company, they market it very cleverly to aim at the colicy/hungry baby market. Unless you buy the comfort milk or hungry baby there isnt any difference in stage 1 cow and gate and stage 1 aptimal (except for the price!)

 

[Sarah27]

I started out with Aptamil, then have switched to their comfort milk due to my LO suffering really badly with colic. Dr prescribed baby gavs which then made her constipated! More screaming. The comfort milk seems to have helped a lot but hasn't eliminated all her colicky issues and symptoms.

My LC never had these probs he was also on aptamil but the hungry baby milk! x

As for bottles I use Avent but I really can reccommend the dr brown bottles.

 

[SabrinaKat]

interesting - went on-line and C&G is 1 euro cheaper than Aptimal!

 

[jess77]

interesting - went on-line and C&G is 1 euro cheaper than Aptimal!

yep exactly!. its around a pound dearer in the uk too!. I was glad for this tip in the early days as why waste money if baby will drink it with no problems. I was also told about the handy UHT cartons that keep for 24 hours in fridge even opened which are goddamn useful!. (SMA do a very large carton that lasts for 48 hours!). But being a first time parent all the advice i was given about feeding was out of date ie pre making up feeds for the day etc etc .
Now were on hungry milk cow and gate, which is still the cheapest hungry milk around!.

 

[lcgoodac]

my little man was bf for 8 weeks then we switched to sma gold and have had no problems with it

 

[Jin]

My baby was originally on SMA but was really constipated with it. I phoned my HV who advised I switched to Aptimil instead, as in her words "SMA causes constipation in many babies where as you rarely get babies suffering with constipation while using aptamil".

 

[Laucu]

I used Cow & Gate for both kids, never had any problems!

 

[fidgets mammy]

good thread!!

i used sma with my son and had no problems what so ever.

but this time im planning on cow n gate purely because it is a pound cheaper and easier to get hold of. im having twins so the £1 difference will make a big difference over a week or month.

if they dont take to it ill try sma gold again.

 

[leeree]

Aptimil here! Their clever closer to breast milk advertising is perfect for reeling in guilt ridden bf failures like myself! (tongue firmly in cheek!)

Actually I remember in the early days EVERYTIME that damn advert "breast milk is best for your baby and nothing compares...but when it's time to move on..." used tomake me cry cry cry! I really should have gone with cow and gate...

 

[katstar]

I use cow and gate from birth and no problems. My health visitor told me a strange fact (she is also the bf councillor) that cow and gate and aptimal are EXACTLY the same formula! made by the same company, they market it very cleverly to aim at the colicy/hungry baby market. Unless you buy the comfort milk or hungry baby there isnt any difference in stage 1 cow and gate and stage 1 aptimal (except for the price!)

this is actually true.

when i fed my son we used aptimal and then heard cow and gate was the same so we looked into it and looked at the ingredients and they were the same. we switched to cow and gate and saved £1.51 per box. thats a massive price difference.

 

[skunkpixie]

DD2 has Cow and Gate. Never had any problems, she has been great on it. She now has the C&G follow-on milk and she had no problems with the transition from stage one xxx

 

[dragonhawk]

I use cow and gate from birth and no problems. My health visitor told me a strange fact (she is also the bf councillor) that cow and gate and aptimal are EXACTLY the same formula! made by the same company, they market it very cleverly to aim at the colicy/hungry baby market. Unless you buy the comfort milk or hungry baby there isnt any difference in stage 1 cow and gate and stage 1 aptimal (except for the price!)

Hmm... that doesn't sound right to me. they may be the same ingredients but they don't taste the same. have you tasted them? c&g definitely tastes different to aptimal.

we really didn't get on with aptimal, changed to c&g and now ds drinks like a little piggy.