(Part 3) 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!

We offered it cold from the fridge, or room temp. Made night feedings a bit easier.

Things that worked for us (2 kids, both formula-fed after 3 months each due to PPD):

mix a batch of formula for overnight, if you're using powdered. Protein shake mixer cups work wonderfully for that.

Don't warm bottles past room temp - makes it easier if you are out and can't warm a bottle.

Powdered and liquid ready-to-feed formula apparently do not taste the same to baby. My son will not drink RTF formula, only powdered.

for on-the-go with powdered formula, you can use small containers for formula like this one.

Coupons - most manufacturers have some sort of coupon program. Enfamil and Similac bith regularly send out $5 off coupons.

watch for deals - Babies R Us and Target often have good ones.

Dr Brown's wipes - if you are out and about, use 'em to clean a bottle instead of carrying 87 bajillion bottles or trying to do dishes.

Get the least complicated and most readily available bottles your baby will accept. Least complicated means fewer parts to wash, readily available means replaceable if one is lost/broken/whatever.


Good luck, mama!

Sometimes babies don't do well with a particular regular formula, but do fine with another regular formula. We tried a few different ones before asking a friend who had four babies for help. She confidently told us GoodStart would work. I had avoided it until then because I hate Nestle and their formula but she was right; he tolerated it really well and his eczema improved. We also used a lot of Aveeno baby eczema lotion.

It wasn’t immediate from what I remember. I think it took like 24-48 hours. We used these and they worked really well. Now we’re using the mommy bliss probiotic cause they’re cheaper but they work pretty good too.

I'd stay with the same formula and buy a shitton of bandanna bibs. My son spits up like... fucking insane amounts. Even still at 6 months. So much. It's crazy. But I cut down on his outfit changes by making sure he always has one of these on. I have about 30 or so and we cycle through them every week. It's so much easier to swap out a soggy bib than it is a full outfit.

As far as the husband and I... not a whole lot we can do to save ourselves other than make sure we cover with a large cloth before picking up our son. I like the Gerber cloth diaper rags for burp cloths best. They're super absorbent, won't break the bank, and I can bleach them. Again, we go through about 20 of these a week. And he spends 10 hours a day, 5 days a week in daycare where they use their own!

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.

Hi! We started my baby on althera when he was 6 months old and saw the same problem with spitting up a lot. He is milk allergic though, so we didn't have a lot of options on formula. We started adding one ounce of oatmeal for every six of formula. The oatmeal we use is meant for babies, so it's fortified as well for certain vitamins and minerals and we know it has less heavy metals than adult oatmeal. We use the milk free version of this stuff. I'm on mobile so I'm not sure what this link is going to look like!

So we just take an ounce of water, add a scoop of this powder, heat it in the microwave for 20 seconds ( it dissolves and swells) and then add six more ounces of water and six scoops of formula.

We noticed a huge difference and he pretty much stopped spitting up almost immediately!

https://www.amazon.com/Semper-Havre-Valling-Cereal-Drink/dp/B00MWX6KIE

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)

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.

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

We've got a Mam Dispenser, which we fill with 1 bottle dose per compartment and bring thermos with water. We then mix when needed.


We use both a hot-water thermos and a coldwater thermos (and a termometer so we dont mix at above 104°F), but in your case a cold water thermos would suffice I guess.