was saving this for the health visitor tomorrow but thinking she's not going to make it in this snow....

i want to start Arwyn on a bedtime bottle but don't know where to start HV has already told me follow on milk is a con. help?

just use normal stage one formula - from our limited experience aptamil made eli constipated (only 4oz a day), as did powdered formula.

we just used hipp organic ready made cartons which worked well for us and elijah liked - i would reckon try her on maybe 4 or 5oz and see cos its theoretically a bit more filling and keep an eye that she is still pooping the ready made cartons are about 65p i think and are 6-7oz but the tins are cheaper if you want to make it yourself.

other than that just pick the box you like the colour of best hahaha she would still definitely be on normal stage one milk though, ignore the other crap especially if she hasn't had it before

cheers! i wasn't sure if she would be one or two. i just can't handle getting up every 2 hours in the night, it's making me not like myself

yeah eli has been taking 2-3 hours to go to bed and up every 2-3 hours too the past few weeks, im half dead. at least you know arwyn will be fine taking a bottle the cartons are easier i thought but i suppose they would be expensive if you used them loads

i think stage 1 is just normal suitable from birth, 2 is usually hungry and 3 is bedtime or follow on (think it contains rice???!! and other vitamins) so if you just want basic milk to replace a feed it would be stage 1 (might be different for different brands though)

i just read some more online, saw stage one did to 12 months, i assumed it would be up to 6 months or something. see, i'm clueless!!
i might just get a couple cartons to see how she is before i buy a tub, and pray she sleeps!!

I think cartons are a good idea if you just use for night time - not sure you'd use a box within the 3/4 weeks its fresh for otherwise?

Personally I think bedtime milk is a con as Izzy had normal milk formula sometimes if we ran out and she slept the same!

Follow on milk is different though to 1st stage infant milk, as its more concentrated - so they should get the same nutrients they need but in less milk, which is why its for once they start weaning - when they take less milk.

it's not just a sleep thing, i want to start the coming off the boob process and the bedtime feed seemed the easiest to pick on and get some kind of bedtime routine. i'm hoping sleep is a by product of it

im not bothering about connecting weaning with stopping bf personally - i hope to carry on until either a) he has too many teeth b) i have to go to work (vomit) or c) he is very big hahaha

Like Mari says hun - just go with the box you like the look of best coz to be honest they are all pretty similar (give her a week or so to get used to the change and if you find she is still uncomfortable or constipated etc then try a different one). Start with stage 1 formula and see how she goes - if you find she is taking a lot (8+oz a feed and wanting more then move on to stage 2 which is bulkier but with the same nutrients).

When babies get to around 6 months their natural iron stores start to reduce so they need to be replaced in their diet. It isn't always easy to get enough iron rich food into a weaning baby so follow on milk (stage 3) is iron fortified for this reason. Stage 1+2 milks don't contain as much iron because baby doesn't need as much and too much can cause constipation but I wouldn't keep baby on early stage milk after 6 months for this reason (ignore your HV she is a numpty ).

From personal experience I found bedtime milk a con and all it did to thomas was make him uncomfortable and sleep worse. If anything I would maybe give a little 'supper' (few spoons of porridge/rice) after bedtime bottle if she needs it.

Like Lisa says - go with the cartons to begin with because you only get 28 days to use a box and you will end up wasting only using one feed a day. Once you have got to 2-3 formula feeds a day it will be cheaper for you to use boxes. Also by using individual cartons you can find one she likes without wasting a whole box if she refuses a particular brand.

Good luck hun - hope she takes to it well and maybe even gives you a bit more sleep.

xx

oh, that reminded me debs - we were recommended to start vitamin drops which also contain iron cos we are carrying on bf and not bothering with formula, if i ever get out of the house to the pharmacy i will tell you what they are called!

i didn't even know there was bedtime milk but cheers, getting ready made would save me the making up bottles questions!!

yeah, sod that just sterilise a bottle a day and chuck some in from the carton if she really likes it you can bother with the more effortful plan later on

pixel wrote:

it's not just a sleep thing, i want to start the coming off the boob process and the bedtime feed seemed the easiest to pick on and get some kind of bedtime routine. i'm hoping sleep is a by product of it

thats how i started weaning off and i'm down to one bf a day now, i used the cartons too at first, ava was a similar age to arwyn and we used stage 1.

You could be even use the pre sterilised disposable bottles too hahahahaha no washing up!
Not good though

hahaha god i wish i had known about those when we used them - we have heaps of bottles now (well, about 9) that i dunno if we will ever use again, boo!

lol i've got plenty of bottles, they don't take much washing.
hopefully she doesn't take too bad to not getting boob

When I went back to work I had to supplement one or two feeds (until I was expressing enough to cover all feeds) with formula, we used the purple cow&gate one?! I think that's stage 2. It smelled less offensive than aptimil & sma (fish oils - bleurgh) and is made by the same ppl as Aptamil anyway... (quite the hush-hush operation that). Bean had maybe one feed of a few ounces for a couple of weeks and, aside from one bout of constipation / blood in nappy he took to it fine. That was it finished with until about 10/11 months when we started the process of weaning off BF and did a mid-morning bottle first, then tried it for bedtime bottle, then mid-afternoon and finally the morning BF was last to go just after he turned one. For that transition we found hipp organic much nicer and better on his tummy - I'm sure it was the purple one we used again - they do pre-made bottles and the powder is in a box like baby porridge; a bit of a faff to spoon out. We tried the bedtime milk (like thin porridge / really thick milk - yet we're "told" not to put anything cereal-like in baby's bottle?!) but it honestly made no difference. See how she goes and if she's getting annoyed it's worth trying a slower or faster teat while she gets used to the milk flow? Milk-wise too she could be fine and happy with anything or it might be worth trying different types. Are you doing any expressed breast milk feeds at all as a stepping stone to formula? Again it can work either way - confuse the hell out of her as to why mummy milk is in a bottle OR help her get used to a different texture of teat while having the familiar milk.

Mari I read about vitamin drops but although we bought some (abidec?) I used them about twice then thought bugger it. I just tried to eat well myself and then when we started weaning you suddenly get worried as there is either a weight loss or a levelling off - but that's because they're having very low-cal food like baby cereals, root veg etc. as well as getting more active. Not that they tell you that beforehand - just put the fear of God into you which I'm pretty sure when BF is made worse by the fact you're constantly second-guessing yourself / what you eat & drink / how long they feed for / how often ..... eeee and I'm going to try it all over again! xx

she takes expressed breast milk from a bottle fine but it's only when we're out and about or when I'm going out. she's still using the size one teat though, she refused her bottle when i changed it to size two which i thought was odd.
i'm going to be pumping like a demon this month so i can do breast milk bottles as well as use milk for her food when i start weaning. i need her off the boob just before she turns 9 months cos that's when i go back to work and i'm going back full time

Ah that's promising then. Just be open to trying differnt formulas / bottles if she gets fussy with it but it may all go swimmingly anyway with the first you try!

I was back full time too (long story) and it was a killer. He was still on at least one night feed too. "Got" two slots in the day to express; 15mins & 30mins. Thank God it was only temporary! Play it by ear though - she might still be happy (and you) with just a morning boobie feed for a while or she might be fine stopping altogether. I remember having 6months in my head but getting there and thinking... 'right.... what now?!' We just stuck with what worked & felt right for us.

The size 2 might have been too fast for her - glugging down instead of her sucking? The variflow teats are weird btw - the shape is totally different?! The TT ones anyway. Didn't like them when he was teeny but ok with them when he was 1ish - at which point a bottle of about 6 ounces took about 1/2 mins to down...

Good luck with it all xx

I mixed feed with Edith from about 3 pm til bed time she has bottles, then any night feeds are boob, but she is the same they only last 2 hours!! but i dont want to start getting up to do night bottles so mixd it is

good luck, we used SMA with Alice and she was fine, but with Edith it made her windy and she cried when trying to pass it so we use comfort milk with her although i have read somewhere that she cant stay on it for too long.

so tonight was night one of formula night feed..... total FAIL!
i didn't expect her to take to it straight away but at this rate i'm going to be wasting a lot
probably didn't help either that i did it, maybe wait and get OH to do it. she took barely an ounce and then she just threw it up. after about 10mins of trying to force it on her i just gave up and boobed her.
this is going to be a looooooooooooooong process!!

lame! i texted you maybe she just wanted boob-comfort rather than food

How's it going Pixel? Sorry if you've mentioned this already, but does she have any formula at all the rest of the time (in food etc.?) Just because it might be an idea to introduce it there or with a daytime bottle rather than at night - they are clever little pickles and know that boobie and bed are a match made in heaven so getting her used to the idea (and seeing if the formula agrees with her tum) might work better at a different time, then try the bedtime bottle in a week or two? And/or you could do a couple of ounces FF then a BF top-up at night - and she may then increase the amount she takes from the bottle and take less from the breast, as a transition. Just a couple of thoughts xx

might be worth a try, i posted just up there about my first shot!
cos i'm feeding on demand the bedtime one is the only one that's around the same time so that's why i picked that feed to swap. she's never had formula before (bar the ounce she had last night) and she's not weaned yet.
i bought SMA and it smells minging, i wouldn't have drank it either

sma is meant to be bad for babies especilly those who have been breast fed. try cow and gate my mw recommended it for me x