Fun Fearless Formula Feeders: December Check In

[Bluedaisy]

Hey Ladies,

We haven't checked in for a while and I was wondering how everyone is doing.  Tell me, how big are the bottles you are using, how many do you have, are you still sterilizing stuff, what type of formula are you using plus any goods/bads.

We're giving LO 7 ounce bottles but he doesn't always finish them.  We haven't introduced solids yet.  

We have 12 bottles and are still sterilizing and are using liquid concentrate.

Good: Baby seems very happy.

Bad: A little spit up and slow growth...although it seems like I'm the only one concerned.

[veggiemo]

I go here now.

-We have approximately 15ish bottles, using a mix of 4oz and 10(?)oz bottles. ETA: Eating 4-6oz at a time, every 2 hours-ish
-No sterilizing, just running them through the dishwasher. In fact, I will rinse and re-use bottles a few times as long as I rinse it soon after it's been used. (FFTC?)
-Using generic enfamil, powdered.
-Good: he's happy with it. Bad: $$$

[Bluedaisy]

Dec 15, 2015 13:54:56 GMT -5 @jemomma said:

M takes 4 4-5oz bottles and we are also giving purees/soft foods at least once per day, no more than 3 times per day. We are using Up & Up brand for sensitive tummies. It seems to be the only brand she tolerates well with no side effects, Plus it's crazy cheap!

We only have 2 bottles that I use (Avent Naturals) because I do not want to have to wash more than that at a time. I do not sterilize because I think it a waste of time. Just dish soap and warm water is enough for me.

She has actually started losing interest in her bottles. I think she would rather have the real food. Currently working on cutting out her last MOTN feed. We are doing well so far. For the past 2 weeks she has only had a MOTN bottle (around 3-5am) every couple of days.

I want to stop sterilizing but DH wants to wait until the new year....no idea why he's super laid back about all the things I worry about (ie: slow weight gain).  We're going to run them through the dishwasher I think.

We tried the Avent bottles but LO HATED those nipples.  Right now the Nuks seem to be our go to.

[hannahl201477]

We have about 10 bottles.
He takes about 5oz but he is still so random on when he wants to eat. Sometimes it's 2 hours later sometimes 4 Ya never know.
We sterilize bottles once a week. I just wash with hot water and soap.
He is really enjoying trying food. The only one so far he refuses is carrots.

Good: he is the happiest most content little thing. Formula related good: we use Gerber and it doesn't seem to stain clothes and doesn't stink like I think some other kinds do.

Bad: not sleeping through the night lol. He is scrawny and petite but I have heard formula fed babies "thicken" up slower than breastfed babies. Not sure how true that is though.

[baytosa2013]

Hello FF'ers!! We currently have 9 bottles that are the 9oz size. DD takes ~6 bottles a day at 5oz each. She gets one in the morning with Dad, 4 at daycare and then one at night when I put her to bed. She was at about every 3 hours but now she's pushed that back to 2 hours for some reason...growth spurt? We have moved up to eating purees twice a day per the Dr. She said she didn't want her to become dependent on the bottle and have an aversion to foods. At her last check up (last week) she was 16.1lbs and 26 inches...right smack in the middle of the charts for everything.

We don't sterilize, we just run through the dishwasher about once a week and then hand wash with hot water and soap.

The good: She's stayed consistent with bottle size, she's getting along well with solids and in a good place for weight.

The bad: Poverty status when I spend $80 a week on formula OY! my kids food costs as much as my DH and I for 1 week.

ETA: we use Playtex Ventaire bottles.  She hated everything else.

[holliberry28]

We used MAM for a little while to see if M would prefer them over the Dr. Brown's bottles, but we found they leaked for us sometimes. So we're back with the Dr. Browns, we have like 5-6 of the 10z of bottles, and 6 of the 4 oz bottles. He takes 6 oz every 3-3.5 hours.

We use Gerber Gentle Good Start, but he was on Nutramigen before. So glad to be done with that cheesy smelling grossness.

We also only sterilize before the first use, after that its hot water and soap. Still going back and forth between the #2 and #3 nipples though. 2 seems too slow, and 3 too fast.

We got rid of the MOTN feeding using Ferber a few weeks ago, but he was only taking 3-4 oz at the point so it wasn't too hard.

[Bluedaisy]

Dec 15, 2015 15:21:54 GMT -5 @jemomma said:

Kristykristyleelee , we used MAM for the first couple of months, but I hated the nipples on those. I felt like M couldn't get a good latch onto them. I have a few if you want them. I gave 1 to DD1 to use with her dolls, lol.

Bluedaisy - do you sterilize every time you wash? That seems like a tremendous waste of time. Maybe talk your H into once every week? It is really unnecessary now that our LO'S are older and their immune systems are better developed.

Every time, but we havea microwave sterilizer so it is super fast and  we're stopping completely after Christmas.  No idea why DH wants to wait till then but since it's only three weeks I can live with it.

[Bluedaisy]

hannahl201477, I've also heard that formula fed babies grow slower for the first six months and then faster for the next six and by age one they usually are heavier than breasfed babies. But I've seen conflicting info so take that with a grain of salt I guess. I'm definitely hoping it's true and that my little dude will catch up a bit. He's super happy and active and sleeps well so I'm pretty sure he's not going hungry but I'd love to see him climb a bit on the growth chart percentiles.

[stinybean]

Hi can I join in? J is mostly on formula, she gets four 5-6 oz bottles of similac and one 6oz bottle of BM.

We only have three 8oz bottles because she only takes 5 bottles a day. I haven't sterilized the bottles in awhile because we use playtex dropins. We wash/ rinse after every use.

Good: J has really been getting better at not spitting up.

Bad: It is getting hard to burp her, sometimes she doesn't burp for 30-60 mins after eating.

[musicfrk2002]

J eats 5 6 oz bottles a day. The only MOTN feedings he has had in months were the couple nights he had a super stuffy nose and was up every couple hours.

We have 8 of the Dr Brown bottles. Currently, 5 are at home, 1 in the diaper bag, and 2 at daycare. Our daycare washes those daily, so we don't bring them home with us.

We are using the sams club brand of similac sensitive (the orange one).

I'm not sure we've ever sterilized the bottles. We usually hand wash them, but they've gone in the dishwasher a couple of times when it was about ready to be run.

Good: much less spitting up, although it does still happen. J holds his own bottle 95% of the time.

Bad: gets angry when the bottle is empty, unless he has his binky right away. H thinks we aren't feeding him enough, but J doesn't complain unless he sees another bottle, then he wants more.

[alayne926]

S gets 5 5oz bottles a day. We are on the Target version on Similac Sensitive. She also gets rice cereal in her bottles to help with the reflux.

We have 14 bottles. Only sanitized when I got them out of storage from DS. She just started using the stage 2 flow nipples and seems to be doing well.

We've started trying purees, but she doesn't seem too interested yet. We'll keep trying.

Good: She's doing well on the formula, and her spit ups are not as bad.

Bad: She gets so mad if you take her bottle out before she's done. I feel like she needs to burp, but when I take it out, she screams.

[purpledaisy923]

Alice and James both drink 6oz at every feeding. Alice is on Similac Sensitive and James is on Similac Advance. We give them pureed baby food once a day. Alice loves the chicken flavors and James loves the bananas.

We have 8 Dr Brown's bottles total, 4 for each baby. I just wash them with dish soap and warm water daily. They get washed in the dish washer about once a week.

Good: I am sooo glad that I quit breastfeeding at 6 weeks. It was way too stressful for me to continue. My sanity is important.

Bad: Formula is expensive. I use $5 off coupons/checks and I typically buy them when Target has their buy 3 tubs of formula, get a $10 gift card sale.