What formula does your baby use....

tandraig

at nearly a year old when you plan to go back to work - isnt normal doorstep milk acceptable? when my kids were babies over twenty years ago - it was either formula milk or doorstep. you have the option now of dried milk formulated for older babies. either try those - or go onto doorstep milk. they will either like it or they wont! but by this time they are weaned onto solids - so you can give them the calcium etc by introducing cheese or yoghurts etc.

xxvickixx

After 1 year they shouldn't need formula as long as they get a balanced diet. Regular full fat cows/goats/whatever should be fine. I would also suggest a doidy cup as they have a similar lapping action with the toungue to breastfeeding. I got mine on amazon but they sell them in a lot of places. How is your baby getting on with water from a cup? Is it just milk that they are being fussy about. Like other people have said - as long as they will drink water - you can guve them other dairy food such as cheese, youghurt etc instead of milk as a drink.

Is it an option to express milk while at work. You are allowed time, storage facilities and a private place to express as well as time to do this. I appreciate that it does take a lot of effort but it could be something worth investigating. I know some Mums do find that expressing while at work helps them with the transition from being at home with the baby all the time to being at work as it gives them time out to still be "doing" something for the baby, (this is just feedback from Mums I know and not what I think you *should* do),

Hope returning to work goes well and you are able to find a solution that works for you xx

Floxxie

I would avoid formula milk if you can - extra expense, not sterilised and unnecessary for a baby after 1 (no matter what the TV adverts may suggest).

You can store expressed milk and can express at work (as mentioned above).

I understood that breastfed babies did better with doidy cups rather than bottles?

Happynewmum

Thanks guys for the replies.My son isnt too bad with a beaker cup. He drinks water from it-not loads but some. Spends most of the time chewing it.I have expressed milk in the past but doesnt seem as easy now. Probably because I dont make as much as I did back then but maybe thats just my imagination.

xxvickixx

If you wanted to express - don't let what you can get out now put you off, expressing is something that takes practice for some mums. If you can express when your baby is near, or even when feeding from one side try expressing from the other. This way your homones and let down are already in milk producing and pumping mode!
The more you express and BF the more you will make for the next day. Lots of mums say that they can get more from expressing first thing in the morning, but expressing in the evening is a good way of ensuing a good supply, as milk production hormone levels are higher then.
You may well not be making as much milk now as you once did as your baby is now getting food and drink from other sources, but that's not to say you couldn't increase this amount if you wanted to.

If you are unsure about expressing versus formula or cows milk, there are a lot of informative articles, advice and ideas on Kellymom website, or you can speak to a breastfeeding counsellor (NCT, LLL, NHS) they all have helplines and are fab.

If you want to talk expressing PM me (don't want to go on too much on your thread!) I have done a lot!

Ruby_Moon

Happynewmum wrote: »

How crazy is it that babies are so picky already!

Thanks for the replies.Interesting to hear others and their experiences.Alreafy figured out with my little man to buy the cartons.As much as its annoying-I couldnt help but laugh when Itried giving him the milk and he gave me a major death stare and shoved his beaker out of the way.Looks like I'm going to have fun with this one...........
On another baby feeding question-for all you breastfeeding woman-when did you stop...I feel like I'll be breastfeeding him til hes 15!

I found with breatfeeding mine and my daughters have with their babies that the problems were mostly due to the bottles, not the milk. They quite liked the milk but trying to get them to take a manmade teat was the hard part.
Also, we used cow and gate as they appear to be a more ethical company but not the cartons as we didn't like the preservatives in them.
Stopping breastfeeding is when you want to stop.

tandraig

to answer your question about when other mums stopped breastfeeding hun,
with 1st child at about six weeks switched to bottle and SMA on docs advice as I was losing weight drastically.
with 2nd child breastfeeding was a breeze and he was nearly three and i was pregnant with NO3 when he finally gave it up - I too had visions of having to pop up to comprehensive school during breaks to give a quick feed!
with No 3 I managed it for 6months and again had to stop as I was losing too much weight! would have carried on another couple of months though if i had known he was intolerant to cows milk!
I think its up to you and baby hun, my mum informed me i weaned myself off the boob at about six months and insisted on a cup.

PurpleJay

I always found I didn't get a lot expressing. About 4oz took 3/4 hour.

My son seemed to go a bit blotchy with cows milk at a year so we used goats milk on cereal and formula for milk drinks (when not bf/ebm) for a few months and gradually introduced cows milk - he always seemed ok with it in cooking. He is fine with it now and was from about 18m.

third_time_lucky

Aptamil is meant to be the closest to breastmilk, but it doesn't suit every baby. Cow & Gate and SMA are made by the same people in the same factory, but I guess there must be some difference else why bother with two names??

I was told by HV, MW and hospital that they're all virtually identical, so it's just trial and error really - just bear in mind availability and cost, C&G is the cheapest I've found in my area. You could try a carton of ready made - but they work out expensive in the long run and it doesn't have quite the same taste/texture as powder.

sinhob

Hi there,

When are you thinking about introducing the formula feeds? I ask because after your baby is a year old you can feed ordinary full cream cows milk and skip the whole formula thing completely.

If you're finding breastfeeding difficult, is there any chance you could express instead and take a break from time to time rather than quitting breastfeeding completely? I've breastfed all three of my children and it was only after my second baby that I found out from my hv that follow-on formula is just a money-making scam by formula companies who try to make up for the fact they've lost out on the early formula sales when mothers breastfeed.

In my day to day work I try to make mothers aware of the continued benefits to both themselves and their babies by continuing to breastfeed if possible for baby's first year. It's also important to note that by law women who are breastfeeding are protected in the workplace. This means the return to work does not necessarily have to mean the end of breastfeeding...

Breastfeeding is so much better than formula and I found out to my first baby's disadvantage that as soon as formula was introduced into her diet she suffered terribly with constipation, something she'd never had when being fully breastfed.

I'm not going to recommend any brands because I think you need to do a lot of research before deciding on any particular route but the fact that you can and have breastfed for so long shows that you're already educated about the benefits of breastfeeding and I wish you well whatever the outcome.

Hugs,

Sinead x