(Part 2) Top products from r/FormulaFeeders

I too made the decision to use formula for my physical and mental wellbeing and I have had no regrets.

• Ask your pediatrician what formula they recommend and see if they have samples. We were able to get 6 cans, which lasted us the entire first month. It was nice to not have to worry about buying it and now we use Amazon and have a subscription. We use Gerber Gentle and have had no issues.
  
  
• The Dr. Brown's Pitcher is awesome. We make up the full days worth in the morning and it's so fast to fill up bottles. You really could use any pitcher but the way this one stirs, it helps reduce bubbles, which lead to gas. It makes it easy to pour out an extra half ounce or ounce when she's still hungry, instead of having to guesstimate on the powder serving.
  
  
• Which leads me to the next thing, a food scale. Not technically necessary, but it makes the measurement of powder more exact. The containers say to use "one scoop" but that can vary in amount depending on how compacted the powder is when you scoop it. We just use a food scale and tare it out to 0, then stop when we get to -9 (the amount for a 2oz serving of Gerber). It makes it easy when mixing up the pitcher, after a few calculations. We are mixing 24 ounces now so we just scoop until the scale says -116. Easy peasy!
  
  
• We empty out the pitcher at night for the nighttime bottles, and keep them in the fridge. LO takes cold bottles like a champ so we just walk down the hall and grab one. Alternatively, you could make them up with water and take the formula can to your room and mix them as needed. We use bottled nursery water but if you have a decent water supply, with clean water, you can use tap. Boiling is also an option but I find that tedious so I'd rather spend a few bucks on bottled water.
  
  
• As for bottles, we use Munchkin Latch and Philips Avent. I think I prefer the Avent but my husband prefers the Latch.
  
  
• We also have the Boon Lawn, Twig, and Oxo bottle brush. I highly recommend all of them! The twig is great for hanging pacifiers or the little blue vents on the latch bottles.
  
  I hope that helps! I nursed for 5 days, pumped for 1, and then called it quits. It was absolutely the best decision for me and my family but I did get some flak for it. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about your choice!

I don't push guidelines so I have don't have any advice for that but you're definitely not getting the most for your money. Amazon subscribe and save has enfamil ready to feed 32oz bottles for $7.50 per bottle if you buy 6. Target sells a single bottle for $9 so you're already paying $1.50 too much. Amazon subscribe and save will save you tons of money. You can also get your powdered formula through them which would save you money as well. They have similar savings for every brand. Target is very overpriced unless you get a good sale! I would suggest instead of pushing safety guidelines, find the best deals first so you don't worry as much about using every drop. Check the manufacturer website for buying in bulk also. Sometimes they have great deals.

ETA: Also sign up for rewards with the manufacturer. I joined enfamil families and they send me two $5 off retail checks monthly. You didn't state which brand you use but most brands have some kind of rewards program.

We went through the same thing. Our son was SUPER particular about the shape of the nipple and wouldn’t take anything that wasn’t very similar to the Doc Browns. We found that the Enfamil Disposable Nipples are similar to the Doctor Brown’s. They screw onto a standard sized bottle, and worked well with these Medela Bottles .

Eventually we got tired of buying the disposables and got these Evenflo Classic. Baby immediately took them and we’ve been using these for 3 months now. Super cheap and WAY easier to clean! Hope this helps!

Just FYI, if you have the right bottles and formula containers, mixing powdered formula while out and about is not that bad.

We use these Playtex bottles when we're out an about. I use them because a) they don't leak with the lid on b) they are wide necked so adding formula is much easier and c) the disposable lining makes clean up when we actually travel a lot easier.

And we use this formula dispenser. I can't recommend these enough. They are fantastic.

I just make sure that I have premeasured water in the bottles before heading out and premeasured formula in the dispensers. And then I just dump formula into the bottle, screw the nipple and lid back on shake and feed. Before we settled on this set up, I found preparing formula complicated too, but as long as you have a widemouthed bottle that doesn't leak (this is the key) and a good formula dispenser it really isn't that bad.

My daycare marks the date with masking tape themselves. Bonus! And I bought stickers for the bottles that have thus far held up 6 weeks perfectly. Target has a store brand: Baby Bottle Labels, Self-laminating - Great for Daycare https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0048SOBGO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Bh6oybJJRQQ2K

I've purchased and used some of the strategies in Rowena Bennett's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Babys-Bottle-feeding-Aversion-Solutions/dp/1976164419

I also found this article helpful: https://www.reflux.org.au/articles/feeding_tips/feed-refusers-strategies-and-options/

FWIW our pediatrician gave us the go ahead to do more solids and just give bottles when baby gets really thirsty, aiming for at least 16 oz. a day and making sure he has 4 wet diapers. She is very happy with his continued weight gain and is not currently worried which is why she was ok with doing more solids as we see fit (he was below 10th percentile at some point and is now steadily in the upper 20s). Our son will cycle through periods of doing great then doing terribly and I have an inkling it has to do with the efficacy of our meds (we are on Omeprazole) as we reach the end of the bottle and the start of a new one.

Does your feeding therapist have any recommendations on what to do? It feels brutal to cycle through a few great weeks and then go right back to how he was before his allergies and reflux were addressed, so I feel your pain.

I agree with what has been said so far. A soft cooler is the best way I've found to keep formula cold. That's what we use for daycare and if we go to someone's house. We have heavy duty ice packs that will stay cold all day in the cooler so I don't worry about putting any leftover (note: not drank from at all) bottles back in our fridge at home for overnight use. We also have a small two bottle bag we got from the hospital and it works the same way only for a little less time.

ETA: We use something very similar to this with an ice pack like this.

It's worth noting that to mix formula you measure the water first. If you want to make it super easy pre measure water and get one of these and pre fill with the correct amount of formula (https://www.amazon.com/OXO-No-Spill-Formula-Dispenser-Swivel/dp/B005XTKHF6/ref=sr_1_8_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1466179034&sr=8-8&keywords=formula+container)

We do powder formula, so I make as many bottles of prefilled water as I think he may need and then use a little plastic container that you can measure formula into kinda like this and then mix as needed :)

Something like this? Similac infant nipples & rings, Standard Flow, Ready To Use, Case of 25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003V9PXE0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_V5uPBbHT41PXK

Mixie Bottles! Even easier than the baby brezza if your baby doesn't care about warm milk. I load one up before bed (or several of them back when she used to wake multiple times a night), and put it on my night stand. When she wakes up all I have to do is pop the button and shake and her bottle is ready. I don't even have to get out of bed or think about anything. I also use them when we are out of the house. No dumping formula into the bottle out in public, worrying about keeping an already mixed bottle cold and/or heating it up somehow or paying for expensive ready to feed.

Also for at home I love the Dr. Browns Formula pitcher.

Traveled about 36 hours to India and for the plane I got the Enfamil powder pouches. I think each one made an 8 ounce bottle. They were perfect.

Enfamil PREMIUM Non-GMO Infant Formula, Powder, 17.4 Gram Single Serve Packets, Pack of 16 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TN6ZN6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_hR56AbR29090Z

https://www.amazon.com/Gerber-First-Essential-Plastic-Assorted/dp/B00140BE3W?crid=275ZPARYII16X&keywords=gerber+first+essentials+bottles&qid=1537564823&sprefix=gerber+first+&sr=8-2&ref=mp_s_a_1_2

Your baby may not like these (because they definitely seem to have a sixth sense about these things), but they are a similar shape and size to the disposable bottle nipples and they're cheap so it might be worth a try.

The prices on Amazon change all the time.....And they go from extreme lows to highs, and then back to lows. So it's fairly common.

Here is a page from camelcamelcamel that shows the past year what the prices have been.

It looks like back in July it hiked up to this price also, and then dropped again. So I assume it will drop again fairly soon. It could be because so many people are purchasing the item (given the current situation of various states and the displaced people) it could be because their algorithm has noticed the increase in purchase and hiked it up (demand) and as that lowers the price will go down as well, etc....

Amazon is notorious for having different price changes--sometimes even multiple changes in one day-- so it's just fairly normal :S

I bought this guy: Philips AVENT 3-in-1 Electric Steam Sterilizer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057ECYS0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_GOu6BbVTANBMP

Gerber makes a nipple that’s the same shape, but it’s reusable and not too pricy. We used them too when we were doing the disposable bottles since 8 bottles only come with one nipple. The rings we reused. Here’s a link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00155WJRG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1537581662&sr=8-1&keywords=gerber+simple+nipple&dpPl=1&dpID=41SoCbpSO7L&ref=plSrch