How do You Choose the Best Baby Formula?

If you plan on feeding your baby formula milk, making a choice as to which brand to use can be a minefield. Manufacturers are not permitted to advertise their products, and in Australia, health professionals are prohibited from giving advice as to which brands are better than others.

Before I go on, I’m going to add this disclaimer: when I say, ‘if you plan on feeding your baby formula’, I’m referring to any situation that may call for this plan. You might be an adoptive mother or foster carer. You may have tried breast feeding and it didn’t work out. Or you may not want to breastfeed. This post is not about women’s reasons for using baby formula. Everybody knows that breast milk is the best possible way to feed an infant, and this is not an anti-breastfeeding post. I write this piece free of any judgement of any parent or carer who finds them self using baby formula.

In the ten years that I’ve been a parent, a lot has changed. I had my first child then, born a month premature. She was fed a combination of baby formula and my milk for the first two weeks; mostly my milk, though. I won’t go into the reasons why today, but breastfeeding ended up not working out for us, and so after two weeks, we switched her to formula. I was able to talk to health professionals about formula brands, and what the differences were. Some gave opinions on which were better than others or more suited to my daughter’s needs.

In hospital, the brand she was given was Enfalac, but by the time she arrived home, she was fully fed on breast milk. When I put her on formula, I started her on S-26. She had dreadful, painful constipation. Back then, the Tresillian nurse I spoke to on the phone was easily able to tell me that little babies such as my daughter don’t always do so well on S-26 due to it’s high iron and sodium content. She suggested I check the label for these levels, then choose a formula milk that had lower ones. We followed her advice, switched over to Karicare and voila! Crisis over. Happy baby.

Fast forward to six years later when I had our next child, my son. We breastfed for five weeks, then changed to formula after that. Oh my god! What a nightmare it was trying to get any useful information! The brands had changed in that time, and good old Tresillian this time were restricted from being able to advise me on which brands were better than others. I was kindly told this, and she muttered, ‘all I can say is, they’re pretty much all the same’.  (Except, in my opinion, when you factor in that all children are individuals and react differently to different brands)

I googled the subject, and got no answers there, either. The only way I could find what I was looking for was to take myself to the store and research the labels myself. With a high-maintenance baby boy, I decided to wait until my partner came home so that he could help with bubs and I could take my time to read in peace.

So, how do you decide which formula to choose these days? If you need advice, who do you turn to?

It’s not great to change a baby’s formula regularly, as it can wreak havoc on their little tummies, so it’s no wonder as mums we feel the pressure to try to get it right as early as possible. I have some suggestions here on points you might like to consider before choosing a brand. Of course, if your child has reflux, lactose intolerance, is premature, or has other medical issues, definitely talk about this with your doctor.

Read the label

Pretty obvious, but read the nutritional information on the back of the tins at the shop, or your friends’ at their home. Do you want your baby to have omega-3′s added, or probiotics? Do you feel comfortable with the nutrients offered, in the amounts given?

Some people choose to boycott Nestle

Many of us are aware of this, and if you aren’t, you can read a brief summary on why here. I mostly boycotted Nestle, but I did go through a stage when formula feeding my son, where I did use it. It’s your choice, but it’s important to know what goes on behind the scenes so you can choose whether you want to vote with your dollar or not.

Think about your budget

Think about how often you get paid; is it weekly, fortnightly? How many tins will you need in that time? How much will this cost? Some brands are more expensive than others. Cost may not be a factor for some, but if it is for you, this could heavily influence the choice you make. The first formula my son started out with was Bellamy Organic formula. It was one of the more expensive ones. At the time, we could factor it into our budgets, and decided to use it. In the second half of his first year, we wanted to tighten our belts a little more, and so we then changed brands to Nestle, which was one of the cheaper options at that time. He was also on solids, so we felt not as bad doing this as we would’ve when we was a newborn.

Try to gauge availability of different brands

When I had my son on Bellamy organic formula, I was very happy with it, but sourcing it each week was often a nightmare. Stocks often ran low in my town, which made it difficult to buy on many occassions. I’d end up having to look for it in other towns, often spending a lot of time and money travelling  to do this. This was almost five years ago though, and hopefully things have changed!

Obviously, I had no clue this was a problem when I started my son on this brand, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen it. If you know other mums who are formula feeding, it’s a good idea to ask if they ever have problems with low stock for their brand, or if they’ve ever heard of it happening to mums who use other brands. It’s especially important if you don’t live in a metropolitan area.

Sometimes it takes trial and error

Despite our best attempts to choose carefully, sometimes certain brands simply don’t agree with our babies. Like the S-26 with my daughter. Or my son, with a particular brand (the name which now escapes me) with high levels of acidophilus. He got a terrible rash with that formula, and I had to switch to something that had no acidophilus instead. Although I said earlier that it’s not good to switch products regularly, sometimes the only way to know what’s best for your child is to experience it first hand.

Have you ever been in a position where you’ve used baby formula? How did you choose which brand to use? Who did you turn to for advice? What would your advice be to other mums in this situation?

Other reading:

Baby formula in Australia – brands sold, where to buy and cost

Bottle feeding (all about infant formula)

Bottle feeding with formula

Our experience with baby led solids

The frugal baby