Product Spotlight Series: Formula/Food Stuff

kagesstarshroom · November 2019

The Product Spotlight Series continues! Remember, the community is welcome to comment on threads like these throughout your time here, not just when it's their week in the spotlight. Big thanks to everyone who participates!

For this week, we're talking formula/food stuff. Consider the questions below and/or just riff.

Are you planning to formula feed or supplement? Pump and dump?
What brands of formula are you leaning towards? What have you used before liked/disliked/why?
What kinds of bottles/nipples are best?

Up next week: We're back to our regularly scheduled spotlight series with... Toys!
To view the upcoming PSS schedule/find easy links to past PSS posts, visit the March 2020 PSS Spreadsheet!

mrsvp614 · November 2019

The best advice I can give FTMs on this, is that every mom/baby is different!

I planned to EBF the first time, but my milk never came in, due to my blood pressure issues. DS was also growth restricted, and required extra calorie formula for the first year of his life, so we stuck with the Similac Neosure, since he started off with that in the NICU and had no issues.
Some of my friends had to experiment with several types of formula to find the best one that would agree with their LO, so keep in mind, the first one you try may not work out.

I lucked out with DS on bottles, since he never really rejected a certain brand. We ended up using the Dr Brown's Natural Flow for a while, when his reflux was an issue. They were good for pace bottle feeding, but kind of annoying to clean with the extra pieces.
A few months later, we used Tommee Tippee, since we had them at home, and we pretty much used those until he was done with bottles.

This time around, I'm hoping my boobs cooperate and make more milk, as I would like to BF or at least pump more and keep formula cost at a minimum. I also hope this baby likes the bottles we already have, but I'm keeping an open mind!

orbmaker · November 2019

I mostly BF DD1, but we supplemented occasionally with formula after I went back to work, since I chose not to build up a “stash” and risk oversupply issues (I just fed on demand from birth and pumped at the usual feeding times to cover her for the next shift I’d be working, but we occasionally lost a few bottles to forgetfulness/lack of refrigeration). The only one we ended up trying was the plum organics formula, which I bought cos it said it was formulated to resemble breast milk, and the kid drank it no problem, so 🤷🏻‍♀️.

https://www.amazon.com/Plum-Organics-Organic-Formula-Packaging/dp/B01FRPJSA0

ETA: as far as pumping and dumping goes, I never did it. In the early weeks, it’s best to be more careful, but generally speaking if you have a drink as you’re BF or right after, you’re totally fine by the time you need to nurse again, and as the feeds space out more, you have a little more wiggle room.

kantobean · November 2019

Not sure if solids are discussed on this thread, but I highly recommend baby led weaning for solids. We did zero purées with DD and it was easy and fun.

momoftoddlers · November 2019

My breastfed baby did well with Medela bottles bc they’re designed to mimic the breast and not cause nipple confusion. My formula fed baby had reflux and ended up needing the Dr Browns bottles. They’re annoying to clean because of the insert but really do help with tummy issues. She also needed Enfamil Gentle formula. My suggestion is to not buy too many bottles or too much formula up front in case you need to switch. Our pediatrician was helpful in determining when to switch to the gentle formula.

kantobean · November 2019

Oh also unless you are black out drunk there’s no need to pump and dump. The amount of alcohol transferred is like 1/1000 of your blood alcohol content. So even if you exceed the legal limit for driving, that’d be like .00008%. Really nothing.

if you do feel the need to pump and dump for some reason (medication, etc) save the milk for milk baths! So good for baby skin!

kantobean · November 2019

Last thing! Kellymom.com is an amazing resource for breastfeeding questions. It’s where I learned that pumping and dumping is pointless.

varimama · November 2019

@kantobean is there a book on baby led weaning or something to tell me what is safe?

We kind of did half Purées and half baby led weaning bc I was just overly nervous and couldn’t find consistent guidelines on what is safe. We started with purées and he hated them so once he was doing well with his pinching the dr suggested trying some actual solids to see if that was better. Food was and still is a big struggle for us so I don’t have a lot of advice.

keeksie84 · November 2019

I thought I was going to exclusively breast feed DD, but when I went back to work, I couldn't /didn't pump enough to keep her fed. I thought I would have felt bad about it, but it was such a relief for me to supplement with formula. We used Holle organic cows milk formula from Germany because most American brands are sweetened with corn syrup.

I second what @kantobean said about Kelly Mom being an excellent research based resource. I also didn't pump and dump because of this.

We did a mix of baby led weaning and homemade purees. It worked well for us and I plan to do it again. I didn't find any hard and fast rules, but I knew from the start that gagging doesn't equal choking. I watched her carefully, was mindful about the size, shape and texture of the food we offered and wasn't too worried about it. My husband was less chill about it, but got on board, lol.

Madamemerle · November 2019

I exclusively bf with my son, but I honestly found it so so hard. This time I plan to be easier on myself and I will supplement with formula if I have the same kind of issues (pain from Reynauds, 1.5 hr nusing sessions, so many latch issues).

I switched my son to formula at 10 months, and we used Kirkland brand which I loved - it was much much better value than others and according to my research no different to name brand formulas. My son had no digestive issues and so we didn't need anything special.

If supplementing for a newborn or very young infant though, I might choose something different... I will likely get some liquid formula if I do end up wanting to supplement.

I pumped some early on, and more extensively once I was back teaching, and ended up trying a variety of bottles. The thing that worked best for us was the Kinde bag/bottle system, however I don't love the environmental footprint so I'm looking at other options. Looking to try Mam bottles if anyone has feedback on those?

keeksie84 · November 2019

@Madamemerle I'm also interested in a greener alternative to single use bags! I haven't done any research yet.

kantobean · November 2019

@varimama I read a book called “Baby LED Weaning.” There are also so e really great BLW groups on Facebook.

orbmaker · November 2019

@Madamemerle @keeksie84 I wouldn’t say it’s the most convenient option of all time, since you can’t pump right into them (that I know of!), but what I did was pump into the plastic bottles that came with my spectra pump and then dump those into glass ball jars (like the wide mouth 8 oz jam size), which I stored in the freezer. I didn’t like how the plastic bottles aged/washed and I dont put plastic in the dishwasher (or use it much at all), so that was not ideal and I might look into adapters for a stainless or glass bottle option (which is what I used for actually feeding baby). I’ll probably also get the screw on plastic lids for the ball jars this time so I don’t have to worry about rust or whatever.

mrsc918 · November 2019

@keeksie84 I’ve heard great things about Holle from Germany from a few people now. Where do you actually order that?

kantobean · November 2019

This is the book I read.

Madamemerle · November 2019

orbmaker said:

@Madamemerle @keeksie84 I wouldn’t say it’s the most convenient option of all time, since you can’t pump right into them (that I know of!), but what I did was pump into the plastic bottles that came with my spectra pump and then dump those into glass ball jars (like the wide mouth 8 oz jam size), which I stored in the freezer. I didn’t like how the plastic bottles aged/washed and I dont put plastic in the dishwasher (or use it much at all), so that was not ideal and I might look into adapters for a stainless or glass bottle option (which is what I used for actually feeding baby). I’ll probably also get the screw on plastic lids for the ball jars this time so I don’t have to worry about rust or whatever.

@orbmaker I don't know why I never thought of something like that! I have loads of the small jars for storing homemade baby food - I can totally do that easily, especially while I'm not working. Thank you!

keeksie84 · November 2019

@orbmaker, I was thinking about mason jars. Do you have an issue with storage space in your freezer? I love the idea of plastic lids because I hate dealing with with double ring kind. What glass bottles do you use? We've been using Avent.

@mrsc918 I've ordered it online before. There is a "company" that is local to me that imports it and resells it. I've been able to work out a deal with them to pick it up as opposed to paying for shipping. I just looked and it seems like it's harder to find right now because it's not approved by the FDA to be sold in America. My best friend is from Germany and travels there often so I have her bring it home for me.

orbmaker · November 2019

@keeksie84 I never “stashed” a lot of milk, so didn’t have more than a max of 8 or so jars in the freezer at a time. It definitely took up a lot of real estate, but it was doable. I do recommend that you get the small wide mouth jars, so it’s easier to get frozen milk out (tho typically I just let them thaw in the fridge, sometimes you need to gently help it along). The 8 oz jam jar size was perfect for holding on ~4-6 oz “serving.”

miss.sally · November 2019

I EBF DS, and I tried quite a few different types of bottles and he wouldn’t take any. It wasn’t a huge deal to me since I really hated pumping and I carried him everywhere I went/had no problems nursing in public. I guess I never realized how fortunate I was that I had an easy time breastfeeding. I would like to pump and have at least a small stash this time/try some of the closer to nature bottles that have come out in recent years just to have the option if H wants to do a feed or if I want to go to the gym or something.

stac4056 · November 2019

@mrsvp614 so true on everyone being different, my favorite piece of advice from a second time mom when I had my first is babies are OFP "Own F**king Program", their personal feeding and sleeping schedules/styles, time stretches are hard to nail down.
With DD1 we supplemented with Similac for Supplementation and we were lucky enough to have a friend (the wise donor of 'OFP' mantra) give us a ton of her over supply stash to use for daycare bottles as I didn't pump enough. We just nursed when together. She used the Medela bottles from my pump, she was breast and bottle from birth though from NICU, so no nipple confusion or bottle refusal, very easy. When she went into solids, I had every intention of home making purees of course, but didn't, of course. I started those fruit/veggie pouches as I felt they were healthier than whatever I was eating, and she was hooked on those until around age two. That was pricy and she is now a horrible eater, everything is 'gross' just from looks, not sure if this is related.
DS was with me from birth so we had a great breastfeeding experience, he did not have a pacifier or bottle for many weeks. We tried a bottle a little while before sending him to daycare, around 8 weeks, he went at 10 weeks. He never took to a bottle until 7 months. This was difficult for our caretaker, and stressful for all of us. We went through a lot of bottle brands, against my ped's advice who said his mind is made up and he will only take a bottle when he decides to and gave me story of one woman he knew who had this problem had to quit her job... thanks guy. I didn't quit my job, my daycare teacher was amazing in working with us through it, and we landed on the 6mo+ flow Comotomo with multiple holes in the nipple because she could kind of squirt it into his mouth like a baby bird instead of him sucking, OFP man...However he has been our easier one with solids, we just fed him whatever was a safe consistency on the table from the green light rounds: vegetables first, and then meats, anything I could mash went on his tray and he's a great eater to this day!!
My *plan* for this one with solids is to buy the Nuk Mash and Serve bowl for like five bucks and feed her whatever we're having. Hoping for another great breastfeeding experience, but not holding my breath for zero issues!!
@kantobean I also love kellymom and did not pump and dump
@keeksie84 This is crazy that you mention formula from Germany, JUST last week I had a friend talking about her friend who has her mother bring formula from Germany because it's better than the American stuff. I only halfway believed her, but now to hear it again is slightly disheartening, get it together America!!

mrsvp614 · November 2019

I read the same book that @kantobean recommended, and joined some FB groups and we had amazing success with Baby Led Weaning! I hope to go that route again, instead of spending money/time on purees.

treetop19 · November 2019

I EBF DD and DS for the most part, but as I've said in another thread before, I gave each of them a bottle of formula at one point or another right after we got home from the hospital due to them getting frantic with hunger and refusing to latch (and not having anything pumped yet to give them.) I used Enfamil formula for those couple bottles. I also used formula to mix it with oatmeal or rice cereal along with breast milk when I started feeding them solids (though I've since read an article that rice cereal is a bad idea for infants due to arsenic content?? who knew.. the pediatricians have always recommended it to me as a 'first solid.') The bottles I used were Avent.

I worked full time when both of my kids were infants - DD refused to ever take a bottle, so I ended up having to come home each day at noon to nurse her (thankfully I had a flexible job at the time.) She would also nurse constantly throughout the evening/night when I was home. She did end up getting started on purees early because of this (at 5 months) - I needed something to keep her full for longer during the day while I was away at work, so I'd feed her a puree after she nursed. Unfortunately, I think this eating pattern contributed to her eating habits now - she tends to gobble up a lot of food quickly and she doesn't seem to realize when she is over-full, and she can skip meals without much thought. I ended up weaning DD at 18 months since I had to have surgery and my meds would pass through the milk.

With DS, I didn't have a flexible job so I couldn't come home to nurse him, and he pretty much tortured DH who was home with him.... he eventually took bottles after putting up a fight, because he got hungry enough. I pumped at work 3 times a day and I was able to keep up with what he needed during the day. Before I went back to work after maternity leave, I made sure to have a little bit of a stash of pumped milk built up. For milk storage, I used the plastic bags - eventually going to the Parents Choice bags, they are the same as the more expensive brands as far as I'm concerned and worked just as well for me. DS was never a fan of solids and pretty much EBF up until he was 1, then he slowly ventured into table foods. He ate a few purees and cereals here and there from 6 months to 12 months, but was just never really super interested. DS continued to nurse until 2 and a half.

This time around I work from home, so I'll be lucky enough to nurse on demand and not worry about pumping/bottles. So excited.

I never was a part of the pump and dump club, it's just not something I worried about. Whenever I did drink it was after the LO was in bed, and was sleeping mostly through the night.

I'd definitely recommend to any FTM, as others have said, don't buy too much of any one type of bottle or formula. It's great to have something on hand so you're ready, but best to wait until you know what you'll really use before you get more than 1 of something.

keeksie84 · November 2019

@stac4056 "Get it together America" is definitely the motto of (at least) the last few years.

Product Spotlight Series: Formula/Food Stuff

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