Formula Vs. Breastfeeding

I chose to bottle feed both of my kids, and it was great. I never had any problems... never heard of formula causing constipation (you hear all kinds of horror myths from anti-formula groups who swear anyone who doesn't breast feed is a demon)! Anyway, the brands are all fine... but you'll need to figure out what type of formula the baby needs (regular, soy, increased iron, etc). It is possible that the ones high in iron would cause constipation b/c of the IRON, not the formula itself. I really found that the wal-mart brand was just as good as Carnation Good Start, Enfamil, etc. We mixed brands sometimes-- enfamil makes these to go packets that we loved!! It was the perfect amount for a bottle.
We kept gallons of purified store-bought water. You just follow the instructions for what amount of formula to mix with what amount of water. We never heated the bottles or anything like that.
The cost is about $15-20 per can, and you need at least 1 can a week... from what I remember.
Bottle feeding allowed my husband to do all of the night feedings as I was recovering from childbirth. My kids never got sick or anything... neighbors did breast and both kids were constantly sick and plenty of allergies, but we never had any problems. I don't believe for one second that breast feeding has much to do with a baby's health... nutrition is nutrition, and at least with formula, you are certain about that nutrition, as with breast milk, it is a gamble.
Good luck.

BREAST IS BEST! Trust me, when that baby is born you'll want what is BEST for him which is you and your milk especially your colastrum which he/she will NOT get in formula and is essential for building a strong immune system in your little one. SAVE YOUR MONEY and breastfeed. I'm still nursing my 11 mnth old and it's been great. I haven't had to buy one ounce of formula, worry about bottles when we go somewhere, sterilizing bottles, buying formula, etc!
With formula you also have to worry about which kind to use for your baby....if your baby will be allergic to this kind or that kind and it takes time to really figure out what works for your child.

I think it's GREAT that hospitals have caring lactation nurses that want to see a mother at least try to do what we all know is wonderful for our child. They are not there to make your decision for you but only to encourage and help you with breastfeeding because it's so important for your baby to get a healthy start in life.
Start your little one's life out the healthiest you can for him/her.
Your baby will be less sick from a stronger immune system and have fewer to no allergies at all!
Yes formula will supply your child with vitamins and help them grow but it's NOTHING compared to what your breast milk has to give to your child.
It's also been proven recently to help in treating certain cancers!! You can't get much better than that! : )
Good luck with everything and congratulations on your precious new baby! : )

M.- you will know what's right for you once the baby is here. It probably won't hurt to make an attempt at breastfeeding, after all- no one can argue the benefits for both you and your baby.
When I began to give my son formula, I bought Nestle Good Start- which now has an expanded line of formulas. I was fortunate to have a very healthy baby, and he took to this formula well. If you go to www.gerber.com, there are some great resources and articles there to help guide you from a nutritional stand point for your infant. I'm sure there are many great formulas- but this is the one that I have the most experience with. There are coupons on the website as well- and if you sign up online for info on their products, they will send you age-appropriate coupons for the grocery store.
Once my son turned 1 yr old, my doctor told me to stop using formula and begin giving him cow's milk, because the "step 2" formulas are just a marketing ploy to keep you using their product. At that point they should be getting most of their nutrition from mashed up food.
One tip for constipation is to put 1/2 tsp of karo syrup in a bottle w/ 4 oz of water. It is very gentle, and helps the baby get through constipation if that becomes an issue.
Hope this helps a little.

Take care, and good luck!

I breastfed my son for a year. I couldn't have made a better choice! I did supplement with formula when I wasn't with him during his mealtime, though. I used Enfamil Lipil, which he did very well with. I hated pumping, so he had 1 bottle a day at daycare (I worked at the same daycare so I was able to nurse on my breaks). Formula is so expensive, and isn't as good as breastmilk. If you're not sure, try breastfeeding for at least a month until you get the hang of it, and if you decide it really isn't right for you, then try formula. I loved the bonding experience with my son when I nursed him, and I wouldn't have traded that for anything!

Hi M., First off congrats on your new little one. I am wondering why you are considering formula feeding since you breastfed your other child. Since you didn't say, I thought I'd offer the advice to attend a breastfeeding support group-especially if you had problems bf before. There is LeLeche legue, of course & I know of one that meets in S. Arlington at 7pm on Tuesday nights. It is free and led by a professional lactation consultant.

I don't have any objective advice on the formula vs. bf because I honestly feel that a woman should bf her child unless she is unable.(Although my first son did have about 2 bottles of formula a day between 8-11months, but that was 5 years ago so I couldn't tell you the cost now-it is WAY more than bf, but of course you know that! LOL) Thank goodness there is formula for those that need it, but unfortunately it really is inferior. Plus, bf is soooo much more convenient. I have to say, I don't think moms that formula feed (by choice) are bad or anything, I just don't agree with them that it is best or understand why they'd want to make things any more complicated.

Good luck in your decision and with your upcoming delivery.

You have to do what's best for you and not let other's opinoins pressure you into something that doesn't work for your family. That being said - I am all about the breastfeeding. I did both (bottles with my first and nursing with my 2nd) and life was SOOOO much easier nursing. Way less stuff to lug around, less to prepare and clean up at feeding times, etc. I never planned on going so long but it was so easy and went so well I nursed until 14 months (when she started biting). I will never regret it!

Well I nursed all three of mine but stayed too busy with #3 and lost my milk. All but stood on my head (and contacted three doctors for advice) to try to regain it and my body just said no. So we went to formula when #3 was 4 months old.

The cost was staggering. I keep a pretty tight rein on my grocery bill and the only formula he was happy with cost us an extra $120/month. He always was a big eater (tho not a big boy!) and when he was older I was always substituting in juices and things just to try to control the cost. I was literally counting the days when I could put him on cow's milk.

So from a cost point of view,purely a budget point of view and nothing else, nurse that baby! I know if I ever have another I will be much more careful to slow down and take care of my body so I can nurse longer.

VickiS

OK, so I am sure you know "breast is best" and all that so I won't give you that speech :) Instead I'll tell you what I did. I breastfed my daughter exclusively for 7 months, then 7-12 months we went to 1 bottle of formula per day with the rest breastfeeding. At 9 months I started letting her play with a sippy cup and water. At 12 months we weaned to a sippy cup and whole milk. This worked very well for me and she adapted perfectly. During the first few months I did pump so she got used to the bottle. She never had any nipple confusion issues. She didn't get sick at all (aside from a slightly stuffy nose), something I attribute totally to breastfeeding her. I used Similac Advance and regular filtered tap water. I had started her with Enfamil, but she didn't do well with that. Similac seemed better for her, but I am sure it depends on the baby. Formula is supposed to be used as soon as it is mixed. I believe the longest you should keep it refrigerated is 24 hours, and it shouldn't be left out at room temp longer than 1 hour. As for cost, Similac costs $21-24 per tub, which makes 28 8 oz bottles. If you formula feed, be sure to sign up on their website to get coupons... and don't worry when they expire. You can usually still use them - not sure if it is policy or just lazy cashiers, but I used a $5 coupon absolutely every time I purchased formula, and many of those were expired! Finally, don't give your newborn any water unless it is approved by your pedi.

Before my daughter was born, I committed to nursing her for a year or until she weaned herself, knowing the benefits of breastfeeding for mother and child. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful at nursing. Instead, I pumped breast milk for 14 months until my daughter was able to keep down solids. Despite her health issue, I felt assured that my daughter was getting the nutrients she needed and was encouraged by the doctors who told me I had done the best thing for her.

M.,
I encourage you to breastfeed. I really do think it's the best for your little one. I have had three kids, nurse them all, two of them were breastfeed/formula. My last one I breastfed only. I really regret not breastfeeding my older two longer, I went back to work, was in my early 20's and thought it was easier on everyone. Both of my kids that were on formula did have constipation problems, I didn't have that with my last child. Most doctors will tell you not to feed your baby water, especially not at the beginning anyway. My pediatrician with my first two, had my daughter go on a diet with her formula, where it was watered down. My niece was strictly breastfeed for the first year and she was a little over-weight too, but her pediatrician said to give her water in a bottle, my niece is 12 now and loves water, but most cases I've heard the doctor will not have you give your baby water.
Again, really consider breastfeeding for the first 6 months at least.
God bless, and congrats in advance for your precious little one!

If you're this close and still undecided, I'd say start out with nursing or pumping and see how it goes. My girl was on breastmilk until 6 months, and is now 15 months and still on formula. It cost us about $35 a week up until 1 yr and now is usually $23 for 2 weeks (we do 1/2 milk 1/2 formula in mornings & night, daytime she does straight milk).
If worried about the extra time of nursing, just pump & feed. Unless it was an emergency (like forgetting the frozen milk) my girl did not nurse after the first month. I kept up a strict pumping schedule and the milk supply was fine. Once I decided I was done the milk dried up -- no weining required. We just slowly introduced formula into her bottles and never had a problem. I will say that they Enfamil seemed to be finer/thiner and more replicated the consistancy of my milk. We also used more water than reccommended to thin it out (i.e. 2 scoops formula with 5oz water instead of 4), so she got the required amount of milk each day but just had extra water. We also used prune juice in her milk (breast/formula) as needed for constipation, just go with your doc's suggestions.

I breastfed exclusively for 5 months, then supplemented with formula. I eventually weaned him at 7 months, so he was totally on formula (and solids) until he turned one. I am planning on nursing this one (I too am due in about 4 weeks!) for a year, but I am also open to suplementing if need be. I agree with the pp, you don't have to look at it as an either/or type of thing. There are of course a lot of health benefits with nursing, but if you are looking to use formula, this is my advice:

I would definitely talk to your doctor about the forumla questions. So much depends on your baby, since he or she will be the determining factor as to which type will work best, if it will make them constipated, and how much it will cost.

Formula in general though will keep in the fridge for 24 hours after it is mixed. Once the baby drinks from it though, you are told to discard it within an hour. I guess it grows bacteria quicker than breastmilk. I tried both Similac and Enfamil with my son, and he did better with the Enfamil. It has been a while, so I don't remember quite how much we spent on formula, but it was nothing compared with my friends who had to buy prescription forumla due to allergies. I had a friend paying over $400 a month. I don't think we ever paid more than $120. And my son never had constipation issues from formula. You don't want to give any young baby (under 6 mo) water, unless your doctor tells you to.

Lastly, sign up for the coupons and stuff on the various formula websites. They will mail you checks to apply towards the cost, and those will really come in handy. Sign up for all the brands, because even if you don't use them, you may be able to trade them with other moms for the ones you do use. I also was sent several cans of formula for signing up for these.

Breastmilk is SOOOO much better for your baby if you can do it! I understand people's reasons for not doing it because it is tough, but if you can do it and commit to it, it's is so great! I b/f my baby for a year and loved it! It's so much easier than mixing bottles and lugging things around!
Whatever your choice is, I hope that you have the best of luck! Congrats on the new baby!

You have a lot of great responses so I will keep it short and simple. I have heard from all my mom friends that breastfeeding is so much easier and less stressful the second time around. I am really looking forward to that as we are also expecting our second child. I had a difficult time in the beginning nursing our first child, but I was stubborn enough to stick with it :) It ended up being a great experience for us and I wouldnt change a thing (except the hospital nurse giving him a bottle and causing nipple confusion). Now I know that sometimes you have to be more addiment and vocal with your choice. Sorry I dont have any advice or experience to share from the formula world. I hope you find the answers you are looking for. God bless!

I strongly recommend breastfeeding! Kelly K has a lot of good points.....it's FREE, always the right temperature and of course the healthiest and best thing we can ever give our kids. It definitely creates a strong bond with your child. I had a C-section with my 3rd and my baby cried for about 30 minutes after being born and when the nurse gave him to me to start nursing, he immediately calmed down and nursed instantly. I'll never forget that wonderful bonding moment with him.
I'm currently still nursing him and plan on doing so until at least a year if not longer.
It's been so easy and I feel great knowing all of my children were breastfed babies. If you can not nurse for the entire first year, at least try to do so for the first couple of months so your baby can get your colostrum.
Just google breastmilk and read all of the great information about breastmilk. Any baby I know that was bottle fed had major constipation problems. The mothers were always having to add ingredients to the formula to help with constipation and it can be difficult finding the right formula for your baby. Sometimes babies can ONLY use the expensive kind of formula so you don't get to take advantage of any cheap formula and at least with BF, you'll never have to worry about running out of milk for your baby or midnight runs to the grocery store to buy more formula!
And BTW, don't EVER give a baby KARO syrup....any and all syrups contain a bacteria in them that can be very harmful or deadly to a baby. Just call a WIC office or nutritionist and they will tell you the same thing.....it's very dangerous!
So as you can see, I highly recommend you doing whatever it takes to nurse your baby. You'll never get to go back and change your mind if you decide to go with formula. At least you know with BF, you're baby is getting the best possible start in life!

Good luck with your new baby and feel free to message me if you have any questions.

Congratulations on your new baby!!

EDIT: I knew I would get blasted.

First of all...YES it is great that hospitals have lactation consultants and provide valuable information to new moms WHO WANT the information. It is the PUSHING of information that insulted me.

Secondly....How dare someone say I am not caring because I chose to bottle feed vs breast feed. You know who you are.... Yes my daughter is very healthy, more so than some breast fed babies I know. My choice was personal as is YOURS. Everyone is different.

If we were all the same....this forum would really be boring.

Oriningal post.............My daughter is 14 now. I think it is important to do what is right for you. I did not want to breastfeed because it just was not right for me personally. My daughter is a picture of great health.....rarely sick, no illness issues, healthy eater, etc.

I was offended at the hospital when I stated that I preferred to formula feed my baby and the lactation consultants would not leave me alone. I had to get rude to get formula for my baby but we did and I have no regrets. I used Nutrigium (sp) from the can and it was easy. I dont remember what it costs but I do recall getting lots of coupons for it.

Also.....I STILL get mailers often for Toys R Us for $10 off a purchase. I would use those at the time to save a little money.

Best wishes with your choice and new baby.

Let's see, first off congratulations on your upcoming arrival and you have a safe delivery. You said you did breastfed your daughter several years ago but did not say if you had a good or bad experience. It takes a little bit to breastfeed at first but it is worth its weight in gold. There are no bottles to wash and sterilize and mix up and heat up or whatever. The milk is always at the right temperature and available.

As for the breastfeed children that were sickly, it would have to go back to what the mother ate and whether she took good care of herself with rest, liquids, food and vitamins. One of your posters attested to being too busy to rest to make milk and lost it. Emotional trauma can also make a mother loose her milk (a friend's daughter is going through a tough divorce and lost her milk).

Another thing that will have an important factor in breast or bottle is the cost. Do do your homework for a year in formula(s) verses what you eat at each meal. Constipation may be a result of not enough liquid in the digestive tract to break down the milk protein.

I have bottle fed and breatfed. I would prefer the breast as it does make you loose the baby weight faster. It does help flatten the tummy and get your uterus back to pre-pregnancy size and it does bring back your sexuality. You may not be ready for sex for a while but you sure do get some good feelings but that's another story for another day.

Above all do not feel that you are pressured to do one or the other. You could still do both. The other S.

I breastfed my daughter until she was 13 months and it was the best thing in the world and still something that I really miss. I feel that breastfeeding is the best present you can ever give your child. I did also supplement with formula though, mainly when we would be going somewhere where I knew I wouldn't have the opportunity to sit down and breastfeed her. When I did, I used the Target brand formula as it was much less expensive and the exact same thing as Enfamil. I still use the Target brand Next Stage formula in place of milk.
Congatulations on the impending arrival of your little one and just know that whatever decision you make will be the best one for your baby.

I had a c-section and complications happened. I was not allowed to be with my son for 24 hours. In the meantime, they fed him formula. He did take my breastmilk, but very little. I gave him Nestle good start. I liked the liquid cans because they were easy to mix and had very little to no settlement in the bottom because it's liquid and not powder. Easy peasy, cut and dried. Good luck

i used parents choice formula (walmart brand) the brand runs $12 a can which lasts about a week. It will last longer at first but once they start eating 8oz per bottle it lasts about a week. If your baby is picky about the formula. (alot are) the name brands run closer to $23. i just used tap water to make the bottles. I've never had any probems. my kids would spit up more with formula than with breast feeding which was a little inconvient. As a whole i think bottles are more work.

hi
i did both with my first child i b/f and bottle feed is much easy if you have a busy life with my twins i jus b/f for 1 month because i have a low milk supply and noe they are in formula the baby boy is using similac advance and the baby gir similac sensitive because of reflux problem is much better if you breastfeed because they don't get sick much ofter if you can do it nly one month is better than nothing.

you can keep the formula in the refrigerator for 24 hours
i don't have any problems with constipation with my babys and the formula cost about 21.50 at walmart for the big can i think it last about a week in a half or two .

Do what makes you happy. Your baby will be fine. Buy the store brand. It has the same ingredients as the more expensive. Make the bottles as you go. Use warm water to make each bottle. Tap water is fine as long as you live in an area with good water quality. I never had a baby constipated by formula, but for gas, I used Mylicon or the store brand equivalent in every bottle. The cost depends on your child. A large can of powder formula from Walmart would probably last a newborn a couple of weeks and it costs around $10. Congratulations!

I am all about the breastfeeding! I breastfed for 5 months and then supplemented due to low milk supply after going back to work I am not sure about the difference in health but I will say that the bond you have during breastfeeding is amazing. It takes a little time getting it down, but once you do it great. Just stick with it. You can also take Fenugreek to up your milk production if needed. You just buy it at GNC and it is all herbal. Once we switched to formula we just used the store brand, it is exactly like Enfamil, but my son didn't have any sensitivities, I will say the difference between a breastfed diaper and formula diaper is insane! Formula diapers are like goo and explosive! Breastfed diapers are usually pretty easy to clean and not has gooey.
If you can breast feed I would just for the bond, I can't wait to do it with our next child!