Formula feeding - what do I need?

I've just been told that I have no other options than to formula feed from birth.

So, what will I need to buy before birth? How many bottles/ teats? Best type of formula for newborns? How much formula to buy?

If anyone can suggest any brands to look at first I'd be grateful. I need to get everything by the weekend preferably.

Thanks

Thanks , I've found the thread and am reading it now.

It was the lactation consultant at the hospital, so not allowed to mention brands etc. I know vaguely what I'll need but was wanting advice on what amounts of everything to get and what works best because OB ladies tend to have great advice.

As to the whys, I'm pretty angry right now, but have been prescribed medications throughout pregnancy that are ok for pregnancy but contraindicated for breastfeeding. Noone looked into it further so just assumed that if it's ok in pregnancy it would be ok in breastfeeding, and now they've realised (yes, they just realised today, after telling me the importance of breastfeeding for the last few months) it's apparently too late to mess with everything to rearrange it just around breastfeeding.

shadowfeet wrote: Thanks , I've found the thread and am reading it now.

awesome!


that does suck!

I'd hold off on stocking up on any one formula until you see what suits your wee one. We use Nurture but mix it up but it's only for top up feeds. From what I've heard from those who fully formula feed, it can be a case of trial and error to see what works for the individual baby.

We LOVE our plug in avent sterilister (just dump it all in with water and flick the switch) and also have an avent bottle warmer so you just pop in the bottle, whether it is at room or fridge temp, and how many mls and it heats it for you. Not a neccessity, but DH found it awesome when he did feeds and also great for baby sitters/relateives who might not be so sure about heating bottles. It won't let it overheat.

I think with bottles it can also be a case of seeing which works with the wee one. Perhaps see what sort the hospital use if you'll be using those first. We use Avent and haven't had any trouble.

Not sure on how many bottles, we have about four of the right size and that works well for supplimentary feeding but perhaps you might need more for fully formula feeding.

Sorry for the novel - hope this is of some help.

shadowfeet - I just remembered I have a microwave steriliser I got given that I've never used, you're welcome to it if you want it, just PM me your address.

Hiya Dawn,

Sucks about the bf

We use Karicare and have done since they were in hospital. Not the Gold one, just the normal one. We haven't had any problems with constipation or anything.

We use Milton tablets for sterilising - 2 tablets with 4L of water. We just wash the bottles with normal dishwashing liquid, rinse well and stick them in the container. We also use Tommee Tippee bottles (not the Closer 2 Nature ones, just normal narrow neck), but for the smaller bottles we used Evenflo as Neonatal recommended the old fashioned teats instead of the newer anti-colic ones. Which teats were best were trial and error though, as even though they were all "0-3 months" they all had different flows on them. Pur teats were really fast!! Evenflo are really slow and were great until we had to start Gaviscon and then the hole kept blocking.

We have 6 bottles all up, and just wash them and chuck them in the Milton after each feed (or 3rd feed if we're being lazy .

I would also recommend getting a formula dispenser - about $6 from Baby Factory. It is a container with 3 compartments that you measure out your formula into - it's a godsend for leaving the house and being prepared with bottles. We have 3 of them (so 4 feeds for us). It came in really handy when the girls were with their grandparents for the whole day when I had exams, and will this weekend when they stay overnight at my Mums.

If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to help as much as I can

Oh and we buy the tins now - $18 a tin for Karicare, and we use almost 2 a week. Nurture is about $14 a tin from memory, and S26 is about the same as Karicare. You can get sachets (about $1 each) which make up 200ml at a time (pour however much you need into a separate bottle and keep the rest in the fridge for the next feed) which might be handy until you figure out which formula you want to use.

Thanks weegee, that would be awesome  Just made me cry again cos you're so nice! The breastmates website is an unusual but helpful resource.

Mybeautiful3 - They looked it up in their book, one of the authors was Hale and I can't remember the other. it's classified as an L5 (the worst, contraindicated) for breastfeeding safety medication rating but only a category C for pregnancy. So pissed that they mucked around for so long about it and not consulting me about what the consequences of it would be . In doing a general google of the med the side effects are jaundice and difficulty breathing for the baby amongst others.

Thanks Hannahbil and Bec. I think we might get 1 tin of formula in a type that's generally mentioned, and maybe some sachets in other brands?

A friends offered her small bottles   so we won't have as much to get urgently.

Call plunket line - i found them very helpful.

We use Nuture gold - started on s26 gold, but changed as i didn't like the oily residue it left in teats and bottles even after washing.

We use a tin a week for 200ml bottles, so i imagine for a newborn a tin would last 2 weeks or so?

Get lots of bottles and teats - with a newborn the last thing you want to be doing is washing them 2-3 times a day. At night we would sterilise 6 bottles and fill them with boiled water, put the teats and caps on and leave thm on the bench - that way we always had plenty ready to go and we just needed to add the formela and shake.

To heat we just used boiled the jug and popped the bottle in with hot water to warm thru, somepeople use the microwave, we didn't only because i didn't know how long etc.

I know the medication is the issue, but could you express for a few weeks and disgard the milk until your meds are changed - would be a pain in the butt, but if you really wanted to to give breast milk this could be an option? You would probably need to continue expressing and give via a bottle though. I did this for 4 months because my wee man has a weird thing in his mouth that meant he couldn't latch properly.



Edited by RubyG

A thing people don't think about much but I have recently learnt about is the position in which you bottle feed your baby. With a bf baby you switch sides half way through but with bottle babies this doesn't tend to get done and can mean that one eye gets more work out than the other so just remember when you feed to make sure you give you baby a chance to feedsnuggled close but also facing both way.

Hey Dawn, that really sucks hun :(

We use S26, it was always the best one for Caden and Isabella has formula top ups with it.

As for heating, we use the microwave, it takes to long sitting it in water when you have a screaming baby. I heat the water up first test it then add the powder and shake it up works well.. no hot spots

We use a cheap microwave steam sterilizer and its fantastic!