Need bottle & Formula Advice

**Rainbowbrite** · 01-12-2005 13:33

Hi ladies,

Once again your expert help & guidance is required. I need to find both bottles & formula to start MJ on. I dont want to, i have to do it for reasons i'd rather not discuss just yet.

So as this is all new to me, where do i start, what do i do etc. How do i do it, do i just give her a bottle of formula instead of the breast? What if she wont take it?

This is a vey difficult time for & something i didnt want to do yet but have no choice. PLEASE dont put me down, this has to be done. I'm looking for support with starting MJ on formula here, not people telling me how i should just keep on breastfeeding.

Thanks
RB

**drewid** · 01-12-2005 13:38

RB you'll find nothing BUT support for you here. We all know you and love you!

First of all, don't go cold turkey (unless you have to of course). If you have the time, I would start by just subsituting one feed for a few days, and then gradually adding another etc etc until she is fully weaned.

You might need to experiment with bottles if she hasn't taken one before. All babies are different. I would recommend starting with the cheap ones first!

Same goes with formula. I think the cheapest is Heinz, so start there and see how she likes it.

You might find she doesn't like it at first, being a breast baby. But perserverance, and consistency is the key I think! Some people suggest maybe having your partner do it for a while, so she learns that the breast is no longer available for feeding. But on the otherhand, she might feel safer and more at ease trying something new with you.

Unfortunately, theres no easy way - just experiment a bit until you find the best way for you and MJ.

Best of luck! Hope everything is OK with you, feel free to send a PM if you need a chat OK?

Take care!

**MariaO** · 01-12-2005 13:42

Hi Rainbowbrite,

You can buy stickpacks of formula, I know that S26 do them (rather than a whole tin) and a starter bottle kit or even just one to start. Some people prefer pigeon, some advent.

Depending on the age of your baby (up to six months) you will need to sterilize the bottles/teats.
Place Utensils in a large saucepan. Cover with Water. Bring to boil and boil for 5 mins. Empty kettle and refill with tap water and boil and allow to cool. Measure the amount of cooled boiled water into bottle. Add formula from stickpack (or measure with scoop as per instructions if you have bought a tin).
Seal the bottle with cap and shake to mix.

It is a good idea for someone else to feed the baby formula initially as if baba smells your breastmilk if my increase chances of refusal.

I may have gone into silly detail here so just ignore me if it is not what you wanted.

**MariaO** · 01-12-2005 13:43

By the way, when babies are going from breastmilk to formula there are often a few false starts and periods of adjustment so don't get too downhearted if it is a little troublesome at first.

Oh and if you live in a clean water supply area, clean water and refrigeration you do not need to worry about the sterilizing after baba is six months old (accord Robin Barker's Babylove)

**poshBecks** · 01-12-2005 13:44

Hi RB,

I had to put ds on bottle before I wanted to aswell... so I know how you feel!!

I had pretty much no milk supply so ds was starving...he took to the bottle well!!

If you have a good milk supply you will probably have to gradually replace feeds with bottle so that you dont become engorged. So, maybe start off with 1 bottle. Then the next day 2 & the next 3 etc.

I used Heinz Gold formula with ds ( it's not too expensive) & the I just bought cheap bottles, but bought much better quality teats to go in them. I think PUR was the teat brand?! You'll need about 6-8 bottles. The best sort of steriliser i found was one that youy pop in the microwave...a lot less fiddling around!!

It doesn't make you a bad mum!! I had to learn that

I hope this helps... Good luck with it all!! It'll all work out fine

**stormanet** · 01-12-2005 13:50

Hiya Whatever you do, don't feel bad about it!! I never managed to BF my little man... I expressed for 12 weeks and he has been on formula ever since so I feel like my own mini expert *lol*

Formula my paediatrician and doctors all recommend Karicare Gold (yes it has to be gold) as it is the closest to mimicking breast milk. It is also kinder on baby's gut so constipation etc that you worry about are not as likely as with some of the other formula.

My little man also suffered from baby eczema so I had him on the karicare sensicare with the orangey lid for about 2 months for all his feeds except the last one of the day/night... I kept with the regular karicare Gold for that final feed as the sensikare has the proteins already partially broken down or something so doesn't last as long in bub's system.

As far as bottles go, I tried Avent, but found they leaked horribly so I now use pigeon. The pigeon range of teats are also designed to do special stuff so that they don't have any effect on baby's orthadontic development.

The pigeon steriliser is also the one we use as you can fit all sorts of stuff into it and it holds heaps

If you have any other q's about bottle feeding etc then I'm happy to help if I can

Oh yeah, my little man is 7 and a half months now... has been on formula since 12 weeks... he is the happiest, healthiest bub around

(apart from his snotty nose he came down with yesterday!!)

Bottles are also easier because other people can help with the feeds!!

REmember there are some good points to bottles

k

**Rainbowbrite** · 01-12-2005 13:51

Thanks so much for the quick advice.

I'm thinking of just giving her a lunch bottle for now, that way DH can do it on weekends. Not wanting to totally wean her, just comp feed (i think thats what its called). I dont have supply problems at all, basically was told that I need to have ME time. I've not left MJ for longer than 20minutes since her birth. As i said, its not my choice, its on medical advice.

Thanks again
RB

**lil monkey** · 01-12-2005 13:55

Hi RB,

I was at a stage like you where I wanted to keep bf but was having too many problems and Tayla wasn't putting on weight so how I started was:

1. Expressed breastmilk into a bottle first and then tested the waters to see how she would take a bottle which she did.

2. substituted one feed a day but made it up with 50% bm and 50% formula.

3. gradually substituted another feed per day and less BM and more formula

4. Substituted one feed with full formula

etc.

I found that after a month, Tayla didn't want any BM and just had formula.

We tried the s26 but it severely constipated her and she had reflux so we put her on the Nan HA gold which is meant to be milder on their tummies and she is still on it now!

As for bottles, I use all avent with their microwave steraliser which is great and so handy. Yes they do leak occasionally but it all depends on how you pull the teats through the rings and attach to the bottle - very sensitive things!

Just read your latest post. "ME" time is very important - I didn't want to do it but was so exhausted after 4 months i had to. Have you thought about trying to express with a hand pump? This way you get your time but MJ is still having BM!!

**Chickadee** · 01-12-2005 14:10

RB - Me time is a very important for a mum. I'm glad to hear you'll be getting some.

I was clueless when it came to picking out a brand of formula and didn't understand all the codes on the different tins, what the differences were between soy versus goat versus cow, etc. You may already have looked all that up but feel free to ask. I used SMA for DD from around 3 months - it was cheapest

. It's a slightly older formulation, and some have told me a "heavier" one used for bubs that don't seem to be satisfied with the other. After she'd been on it 3 months I was warned she might be prone to constipation because of it, but she never was. As others have said, you might just have to experiment a little to find the formula that suits your daughter best. If you have space, some people recommend storing the formula tin in the fridge, but any cool dry place is ok too.

Some things that haven't been mentioned yet -
- your daughters poos will change. Definitely will be smellier and may be different in consistency and frequency. So learn to how to hold your breath at diaper change time and don't panic.
- Whoever gives the bottle, you basically feed the same as bf, ie to refusal. She will stop sucking when she is full and if you try to encourage her to have a few more ml it is more than likely that the entire bottle will be thrown back up into your lap. Don't get overly concerned at counting ml.
- If you have a dishwasher, just pop all the bottle stuff in there and no need to sterilise separately.
- Teach your DH (or whoever) how to clean and make up bottles. He can do that in the evening & put it in the fridge ready for you to use the next day. Don't let it be more work for you (because it IS more work than bf!). Our routine when DD was needing sterilised water was to put the kettle on as soon as we got home from work, that way it was boiled and cool enough to make up bottles by the time we were done dinner at 8 or 9pm.

Good luck.

**WeThree** · 01-12-2005 14:54

Originally Posted by MarthaM

Some things that haven't been mentioned yet -
- your daughters poos will change. Definitely will be smellier and may be different in consistency and frequency. So learn to how to hold your breath at diaper change time and don't panic.
.

lol i had to put tilly on the bot about 8-12 wks ago for a variety of reasons (although being nearly 1 i should have just waited a bit and put her straight on normal milk!) anyway, the first time she did one of those poos, i panicked! i rang the midwifes at the hospital and described it to them, it was like concrete, and the smell!! lol anyway they had a bit of a chuckle at me but let me know that it was all ok! getting some time to yourself, even an hr or so is really important, so dont feel bad or feel you have to explain yourself to anyone, MJ will continue to thrive just as before, after a bit of a shaky start,Tilly absolutely loves her bottles now!