r/FormulaFeeders

Hello! FTM here transitioning from RTF to powder. We’re trialing Kendamil whole milk. We’re starting with one bottle a day. The instructions state to boil the water & let it cool for no more than 30 minutes or 70 degrees. How do you all logistically do this for the day? How do you prepare and/or warm it in the middle of the night? Pitcher method? One at a time?

Please give me the step by step as I’m a bit lost 😅 the RTF world has been easy for me.

Our pediatrician said that at 12 months we are just supposed to stop formula. I told her that he’s not slowing down in his consumption at all and she said I could start weaning him around 11 months. Right now he takes six bottles at 6 ounces each. She has never expressed concern about this and has just said that babies take different amounts and has just given us the bare minimum he needs. I’m concerned that it’s going to be an abrupt change for him. He is on solids, but is still not eating large amounts. Maybe a half a piece of toast and some Cheerios in the morning, 1/3 of pasta for lunch, 1/3 cup of chicken and rice for dinner (as an example). There have been days where life gets crazy and we’ve missed a bottle and he’s been fine. In contrast when I’ve reduced a bottle by half he screams. So it seems like the better method will be to drop bottles rather than to reduce amounts? Would appreciate anybody’s lessons learned or tips who has gone through this process.

My Baby is 3 months old, she is no longer falling
deeply asleep on the bottle , instead she is sucking half asleep on the bottle for 1h+, she stops 5 min or 10, start sucking again, Eyes closed, hands, legs moving, this repeats for 1h+. She seems to be content after, although no real sleep? How Can I help her to nap deeply?

Hi all. My baby has been breast fed by some of my milk (low supply) and donor milk from a friend. She gave me hundreds of ounces worth. I let my milk dry up because I was exhausted from pumping with no increase after weeks. He’s currently 6w3d and I want to slowly start adding in formula. He already seems like he gets tummy aches multiple times a day and I feel like everyone has told me that formula will only make it worse. I know grunting is normal for little ones but he often times grunts himself to tears, straightens his legs and arches his back. He has normal stools but not as frequent as I anticipated. We have some similac advance, 360 total care, and enfamil neuro pro. My mom and grandma are around a lot helping with my baby and try to hid their opinion about how they feel that I’ll be doing formula, as they always breastfed, but it’s very obvious that they think I’m making the wrong decision. Even if I decided to keep pumping, I would have had to supplement anyway. I have a lot of guilt and I’m worried that he won’t tolerate it well. Can anyone help ease my anxieties? Did anyone have a baby who seemed to have less belly issues after switching from breast milk to formula?

I just want to rant a little bit. I just feel so stupid for trusting this brand and its owner. I know the recall has been a few weeks ago, but today I felt especially angry bc I literally had to replace everything. Tbh O hope Nara and ByHeart are never allowed to create another tin of formula ever again. It’s just heart breaking bc Nara seemed like the light at the end of a colic tunnel, since my son finally found a formula that was working for him. Anyways, I regret ever switching from Bobbie (he was previously on the Bobbie gentle for his first 3 months of life). I knew I should’ve just tried their organic whole milk to begin with. Now I’m super paranoid about recalls, but I also don’t love all the ingredients in the old school formula brands. Like at this point I’m so upset I was an undersupplier because this isn’t fair. It’s not like I wanted to use formula initially, I had to.

If you wanna know how Bobbie organic’s been going though, pretty much great. Granted my son is past his colic phase, since he’s now 6 months… Also I definitely know Bobbie went all out to use the Nara recall to their advantage, but at least they gave me free cans to try for an alternative. Idk ok, I’m done with my rant/vent.

Hi all, I’m new to formula feeding as I primarily breastfed my last baby. This time around I chose to EFF. My baby is a week old and is on Enfamil Neuropro. I noticed in the last few days, her tummy has been pretty bloated and she seems more fussy. She also seems to struggle to get bowel movements and gas out. It seems like she’s frequently trying to do both but is usually unsuccessful. She had one bowel movement yesterday after I laid her down for a while and did bicycle legs. Today she still hasn’t had one despite doing this.

She is also very slow to finish her bottles or often times does not finish them completely. Not sure if that’s related to her age or if it’s the formula.

I did purchase a can of the Dr Brown’s Good Start Gentle Pro prior to having a baby, just in case she had issues with milk based formulas. My first baby had MSPI so I had to cut out dairy completely since I was breastfeeding. So I had a feeling this baby may be dairy sensitive as well.

Basically, I’m wondering how big of a deal it is to try different formulas for baby, and if I could potentially cause further problems by trying this new formula to see if anything changes. Like I said I am new to this, and I don’t want to cause further problems for my baby. TIA

Hi everyone. I’m 39+5 and trying to prepare as best I can. It’s important to me to bottle feed and my plan is a combo of formula and breast milk. I’m not sure how to pick a formula? In a perfect world I’d like to use Kirkland formula (for obvious reason$ ). But my question is how do I pick which formula to use? Do I just buy one and try it? Do I start with gentle? Anyway how do I do it?

I’m at a loss with my 3 month old.
I was exclusively breast feeding for the first two month then moved to combo feeding and now exclusively formula feeding.

My baby has what I believe is pretty bad reflux. He spits up constantly and in large quantities. I’m talking SOAKING 2/3 outfits after every feed and continues to spit up an hour after feeding regardless of how long I keep him upright, burping, pace feeding, gas drops, etc

I suspected a cow milk allergy due to fussiness after feeding, rash, and reflux. I had him on Similac Alimentum and his spit up basically completely stopped and rash went away a day after starting the HA formula but was constipated for a while.

The pediatrician said they were not at all convinced it was a milk allergy and i decided to try a different for as HA is very expensive.

Iv switched to Kendamil goat and Dr.Browns soothe pro and saw a huge increase in spit up and crying after every bottle but no rash and dark charcoal grey poops on dr browns

Can my baby have a cows milk intolerance with the only symptom being reflux, insane amount of spit up and crying after eating?

Debating switching back to Alimentum or trying yet another formula.

Looking for advice

We recently switched the Nutramigen formula and I’ve noticed a residue on the bottles after washing them. I use the momcozy bottle washer and just descaled it yesterday so I don’t think that’s the issue. Today I tried giving the bottles a quick hand wash before putting them in the bottle washer and that kind of helped. Any suggestions?

My son will be 4 months old in a couple days and we’re struggling to get him to eat 24 ounces in a day. Referring to the daily intake guidance of 24-32 ounces a day for a formula fed baby. He’s already doubled his birth weight, but I think that’s because I’ve low key been forcing him to eat. I’ll sit there and work at it for the full hour sometimes. Almost every feed, he drinks to 2oz on the dot and then doesn’t seem interested in the rest. We rarely ever hit 4+ ounces, and even then it’s because I work at feeding him for an hour. We are working through some feeding issues (tongue + lip tie/oral dysphagia) and I’m not sure how much that’s contributing to the struggle. Anyway the pediatrician the other day told us to stop stressing and just follow his cues but I’m nervous he’s going to start dropping weight or will stop sleeping through the night. I’m curious if anyone else out there had a baby who struggled to meet the minimums or even thrived on less than 24oz a day? I have been waiting to try to get us on a moms on call (MOC) schedule until he met the feeding sizes the MOC “typical days” schedules outlined but maybe this is just what works for him and I can go ahead and start trying to get us on a schedule? I don’t even want a schedule for myself, it’s for him because right now, following cues is leading us to having feeding and sleeping times interfere and he’s getting over tired constantly. I feel so bad for him ☹️ let me know if you’ve had a similar experience and if you healthfully got your baby on a routine for their sake 🙏

*** updating for accuracy - he does have at least 1, maybe 2, 4oz bottles a day, usually at night before bed. He seems to bulk up at night. But during the day we usually hit ~3oz bottles

My little one has been on formula since birth due to complications with blood sugar when born and then me being unable to produce enough. He was initially super gassy and fussy with firm belly after feeds when he was on Similac 360. Pediatrician recommended switch to Enfamil Gentlease. He has been doing great on Gentlease and is now 3.5 months. I have been considering pros and cons of switching formula simply to be on a “better” formula. Friends have been encouraging transition to European formula like Kendamil or Australian formula like Bubs as these brands have not had recalls or safety concerns and apparently better regulation than US. I know all formulas sold meet certain standards, but cannot ignore recently hearing more about the big formula companies not being held accountable for formula concerns. Do I stay on Gentlease forever or trial a transition? Can’t help but think not to fix something that’s not broken as he tolerates it well. Any experiences similar appreciated!

My little boy turned 16 weeks this week and it’s like he changed overnight. He would have 6 feeds in 24 hours, 150-180ml each time. This week I can barely get 90ml down him at each feed until he decides he doesn’t want any anymore. He will cry and push the bottle away, we take breaks etc and sometimes he will take the rest but other times he is completely done. 
I decided to take him to the doctors on Friday and they examined him and physically he was fine no infections/ilness etc. They advised it could be silent reflux or teething.
Other than my collustrum at the beginning we have been on Kendamil since he was born. But the doctors suggested trying him on an anti reflux milk. I’m a bit reluctant to change his milk as don’t want to cause any other problems etc but has anyone ever tried a different milk for this reason? I know there’s Kendamil comfort which isn’t an anti reflux milk as such but has good reviews?

I also want to add he is never sick and I can lie him down straight after a feed, he also sleeps well during the night with no crying etc which I imagine he would do if he had reflux? He doesn’t arch his back or pull his legs up either.

Do you think this is reflux or do you think this could be his age? I’ve read a lot about distraction etc when feeding at this age.
He also wants to put anything else in his mouth at any given opportunity, so when he’s feeding he’d much rather put his hands in his mouth or his bib or muslin etc. So could tjis be teething even though he isn’t showing any actual teeth yet?

I also want to add we use mam bottles and the size 2 teat which he gets on well with. 

One other thing I’ve noticed is he is squeezing a lot to poo and farting so much more sometimes half way through the bottle. I’ve read this could be infant dyschezia?

I’ve also been reading about a bottle aversion and I’m scared it’s this? Has anyone ever had experience of the above and can recommend anything that helped? Or any tips or advice? I’ve been loosing my mind this week and panicking so much about his intake. 

Hello! I have an 11 month old who is formula fed. Our doctor says that by 12 months she will no longer need the bottle. It’s heavily intertwined with her sleep routine, I’m trying to change this but having some kick back from her. I was hoping to get some advice how we wean her from formula? Her bedtime and nap time routine is to feed her the bottle on the rocking chair then put her to bed where she self soothes. She will not self soothe without that full belly bottle feeling. I’m worried about ruining a good thing with her sleep, because it’s taken us a looooooong time to get here.

Basically my headline. Day 10, been triple feeding for a week and babe is getting increasingly fussy. Meeting with lactation tomorrow to plan to go full formula. But I'm wondering if the triple feeding schedule is making him fussier? Since it can take 45 min to 1.5 hrs to feed. Maybe he's eating too much not sleeping enough? Has anyone experienced this? Positive stories about switching to formula and improvements?

I am 29 weeks pregnant right now and considering collecting colostrum later in my pregnancy (with the OK from my doctor!), just because it’s there. Has anyone else ONLY collected colostrum and then not gone on to breastfeed?

We plan on EFF because I had a breast reduction in 2021 and have read about the difficulties of BFAR and that’s just not something I’m willing to deal with mentally, but hand expressing/pumping colostrum in case baby is jaundice or anything like that sounds appealing since I’m already able to hand express small amounts. (I don’t do that regularly, I just tried it out of curiosity after leaking in the shower lol)

Also, any tips for postpartum and milk coming in when you don’t want to BF?

We have been using the Kirkland lactose sensitive for a while now since my baby used to be on the enfamil sensitive brand for his gas. He has been quite constipated since using the purple Kirkland formula and were staring to think it may have to do with the formula rather then just normal baby constipation. We're looking to switch to the Kirkland procare since he doesn't seem to have gas issues like when he was tiny due to being able to pass gas more easily being 6 months old.

Wondering if anyone has had constipation issues with the purple kind and has made the switch to yellow and had any success?

Hi,

I was at a family wedding this weekend(hotel did not provide refrigerator in room) and between travel, sterilising ect I bought Kendamil Ready Made Formula and poured into sterile bottles.

After 2 full days of this I’m back home and my usually chill baby is fussy, passing lots of wind and had not had a poo nappy today.

Would it be the change in the formula? She usually drink kendamil powder

i just need to get this off my chest…. No pun intended 😏
Before we had our girl I always planned to formula feed.

I didn’t want to be stuck with a baby on my boob, I didn’t want to breastfeed in public, I didn’t want to be woken every 2 hrs through the night for a feed, I wanted my husband to do a share of the feeds, my mental health is fragile and with a lack of sleep this is potentially dangerous for me. I had anxiety over not knowing how much milk my girl was getting so giving her a bottle of formula alleviated my worries.

I am not against breast feeding of course not but if it’s not working surely other avenues need to be explored. Formula is not the devil!

So fast forward 10 months and our friends had a baby around the same time as us and mom is vehemently against any formula feeding to the point CPS had to be involved as she refused to let her newborn have formula and not breast milk. Baby needed it asap.
Their baby has Never slept and always seems hungry. The longest stretch of sleep ever was 2 hrs and after that it’s sleep cycle of 20 mins and then screaming for hours this has been the case from newborn to 10months old! I just think the poor kid is starving He looks sickly. He’s not put on weight. She plans to breastfeed him until hes 4 - fine if it works but not fine when the kid is hungry.

My friend is obsessed with her diet to the point she’s restrictive due to worrying about her baby having allergic reactions to everything she consumes. My friend told me it was selfish for mums to choose alcohol over breastfeeding.… as I was sipping on my wine 🤣

her husband is ready to leave. He confided in us that he’s jealous of my husband for being able to feed our daughter and create a bond. His kid just screams if he tries to comfort him.

The whole thing blows my mind. To think formula is that bad and openly say it to a couple who EFF. they even asked how well our girl is sleeping at we said 12hrs through the night…yet they won’t explore options.

Maybe I’m a selfish parent who has put my own needs before my girl but i don’t believe this even if others think this. My girl is thriving i am happy and well rested, my girl beyond content. My husband and I share the workload and my girl looks to both of us for love and comfort.

mamas who ever doubt giving formula know that you are Making an educated decision which is the best decision for you.

Edit: I was showing pics of our babies to my mum and dad who are both doctors and independently of one another they both said that little boy looks so unhealthy and not thriving.