Best Type of Baby Formula

Lemlin

Our baby is due next month so we're trying to decide what type of formula and would like to hear what people think. My OH isn't going to breastfeed.

I understand there are three main types:

SMA
Cow and Gate
Aptamil

We've heard Aptamil is the lightest and is for kids who were initially breast fed so we weren't planning to use it.

We were going to use SMA Gold but my OH's sister used it with her child and felt her child had alot of wind on it. Therefore we were thinking of using Cow and Gate Comfort.

Just wondering what different types do people use or what did they think on the different brands?

Moonbeam

Holles St used Aptimil so I did:)
I combined breastfeeding and formula for the first few months though.

Nevyn

Honestly you can make all the plans you want it comes down to what is best for your baby and you won't know until they arrive and you start feeding them. I know of a few new parents who had to try 2 or 3 differen types until they found one that suited thier baby.

January

I was one of those parents who had to change formula before finding the right one for my daughter.

I was initially breastfeeding, lasted 3 days before I realised my baby wasn't going to latch on... so changed her to SMA Gold, found that it was too heavy for her and then put her on Aptamil first.

Honestly... don't make plans... go into hospital and have the baby, see what the hospital are offering and try your baby on that first. If it doesn't work, then change it.

There's no point in stocking up on one type of formula in advance because Murphy's Law will say that your baby won't take to it and you'll have to offload it somewhere and buy the other one

Lemlin

adrieanne__x wrote: »

I was one of those parents who had to change formula before finding the right one for my daughter.

I was initially breastfeeding, lasted 3 days before I realised my baby wasn't going to latch on... so changed her to SMA Gold, found that it was too heavy for her and then put her on Aptamil first.

Honestly... don't make plans... go into hospital and have the baby, see what the hospital are offering and try your baby on that first. If it doesn't work, then change it.

There's no point in stocking up on one type of formula in advance because Murphy's Law will say that your baby won't take to it and you'll have to offload it somewhere and buy the other one

We don't plan to stock up but just want to be as best prepared as we can. the hospital told us at ante natal that they have all the major brands to allow us to choose which one we want.

foxy06

The hospital stock Aptimel, sma and cow and gate afaik. I used aptimel on the first and he was fine on it but it wasn't as readily available in the shops at that time (7 years ago) The second was on sma and was fine for a few weeks but we had to change to food for hungrier babies after that.

Adrienne I was the same as you. Tried for days to get baby to latch on but it wasn't happening. Going to give it a try for a day or so again this time but if he doesn't latch on I won't be too hard on myself. Found it very distressing in the past.

January

Lemlin wrote: »

We don't plan to stock up but just want to be as best prepared as we can. the hospital told us at ante natal that they have all the major brands to allow us to choose which one we want.

Fair play to you Wish I had of been as informed. I just took what was handed to me in the hospital!

Cookie Jar

Same here adrienne... Hospital just handed me sma gold!

DD loved it, changed to the sma red at about 9 months but she hated it, switched back to gold until she drank full fat milk:D

Like everyone else said, its up to your baby what he/she will like.

eimsRV

Hi Lemlin,


My dd was initially breastfed & on cow&gate nutriprem as she was a low birthweight, and we then moved her to Cow&Gate comfort as she was quite windy, I thought it was ok until we tried aptimal and havent looked back. On c&g she wouldnt have regular bowel movements and they werent a natural colour! Sorry for TMI!
She is now 7 months and still on aptimal and loves it.
As the others have said it does depend on the baby, and what works for one doesnt suit another.

Best of luck with the baby!

Eims

galwaygirleen

On our first baby 4 yrs ago we went with aptamil had no problems at all moved up as she got hungrier. Going to go with Aptamil this time round did a few comparissions between all the main brands but at the end of the day what might suit one baby wont suit another so trial and error.

Lil nephew started on SMA in UK cos thats what the hospital reccommended.

Lemlin

So there's no real difference and it depends on the baby seems to be what I'm getting from this?

Cookie Jar

Yeah you cant really say a certain one is going to be better for your baby when you dont know what they like!

Case of trial and error.

Dfens

For my two after exclusive breastfeeding stopped at 4 and 7 months respectively, it was SMA all the way - have used Gold, White and Follow-on (Red cap) with no problems - both were good feeders & loved their bottles Also SMA is made in Ireland (Limerick as far as I know), not sure about the others though.

gowayouttadat

My LO is on Aptimal and having no problems with it so far.
I was just about to say that I took what the hospital gave me too but I just had a flashback that I actually told them I wanted Aptimal because my mom said she used it on all of us and never had a problem It's amazing how much of the day you give birth you actually forget afterwards!

Birdie086

Cookie Jar wrote: »

Yeah you cant really say a certain one is going to be better for your baby when you dont know what they like!

Case of trial and error.

thats exactly right, one of my work collegues had to resort to feeding her son boiled cows milk as he couldnt keep any formulae down, and he thrived after that. Every baby is different.

lindak

Moonbeam wrote: »

Holles St used Aptimil so I did:)
I combined breastfeeding and formula for the first few months though.

Hi I intend on doing this , and dont know anyone who has breastfeed and formula was wondering how you found it. And when did you introduce the formula ??

Hellrazer

Heres my experience with formulae.

We started both of our 2 youngest on Aptimil.After a few weeks we found that they were having trouble digesting--wind,farting,more than usual regurgitating.

The we tried Sma--same thing.Then Cow and gate--same again.

After much research we tried both of them on Soy milk.

Both their problems literally disappeared over night.

In my opinion the Soy milk was the best for our 2.Seems like whats good for 1 child isnt always the best for another.

Darthhoob

i used SMA for my eldest, he was perfectly fine with it, slept well, gained weight well, perfect.
so i thought i'd use it for my second baby....who, although gained weight well, it wasn't very good for him. gave him more wind, was quite gloopy, and he could nly manage small bottles very often. i changed to cow and gate and although he stil prefers to eat little and often (with food moreso than milk now as he is 14 months old now) he managed more in one go and settled better...and his wind improved!

all babies are different so you may not know till baby is here and you tried a brand or two...or 3 or 4 lmao!

Darthhoob

foxy06 wrote: »

The hospital stock Aptimel, sma and cow and gate afaik. I used aptimel on the first and he was fine on it but it wasn't as readily available in the shops at that time (7 years ago) The second was on sma and was fine for a few weeks but we had to change to food for hungrier babies after that.

Adrienne I was the same as you. Tried for days to get baby to latch on but it wasn't happening. Going to give it a try for a day or so again this time but if he doesn't latch on I won't be too hard on myself. Found it very distressing in the past.

same here, i tried breastfeeding my eldest and he couldn't latch on (despite help from midwives etc) and it was more than distressing so gave up. the main thing i found distressing were the midwives making me try again and again and again more so than i wanted, or he wanted. they put too much pressure on womn to breast feed. i know it's best for baby (although i've yet to meet a satisfied breastfed baby tbh)...but needs to be best for mother as well.