Whats the 'most recommended' brand of formula?

Am weaning my 7 month old and switching to formula.. whats the most recommended formula out there? My paedeatrician recommended Nestle Nan HA 1 as it is fairly easily digested.. cheers

Im not sure about most recommended but my 2 wouldnt take anything but the heinz nuture and my MCHN swore by it too, if we have another and I fail again to BF heinz is what we will be getting

I was recommended Nan HA also, but my baby kept vomitting it. So she is now on S26 (not gold) and she is going great :)

Not sure.......I was recommended S26 but was planning on buying it anyway as my Mum used it on my brothers and sister......

hmm thanks guys, someone told me to steer clear of the "gold" types but am not really surre why.. does anyone know the main differances?

I don't know what the differences are, but both DS2 & DD2 haven't been able to stomach them.

some babies get more constipated on gold
ds1 was less constipated on gold. midwives recommended nan ha gold 1 as easy to digest and we had no problems. Stage 2 made him constipated, so we went back to stage 1

ds2 has occasional formula topups, started on the same formula as it was fine for DS1. REcently we changed to heinz - mainly due to the fact that its half the price and I can get it in 75c sachets (we only have 3-4 formula feeds a week so a tim goes off)

With DS2 I have seen no noticeable difference in how he hanles the two, and am very happy with Heinz

But with DS1 his digestive system did not like other formulas at all and NAN HA gold was the only one we tried that suited him

So after all the waffle - it comes down to what suits your baby rather than the recommendations. You may be lucky and find one straight away that works for you, or it may take a while

Also be aware of who is recommending and why - lots of hospitals recommend what their hospital is contracted for or what they use.

DS1 i used NAN and that was before they bought in all those fancy gold labels and if i changed to anything else he would get a tummy pain.
DS2 i started on S26 as top ups and didn't suit him then went onto Karicare Gold and that seemed good...only 1 top up a day normally at night. When i went shopping the other week they didn't have our usual so i decided to try the Bellamy's organic one so i got it and he has been sleeping through ever since.

I was recommended S26 but it gave my wee one AWFUL tummy pains and severely blocked her up. I switched to NAN HA and that was good but Charlie is refluxy so Dr suggested the slightly thicker pro version. MCHN suggested the heinz nurture to me but once again my wee on had digestive issues so we're back on NAN pro.

Try and see what works best for your little one I guess

S-26 has a bad reputation for causing constipation in babies - both MCHNs I had didn't like it at all. But having said that, most of the FF babies I know have been on that formula with no problems.

Karicare has a great reputation but smells and tastes horrible.

My MCHN liked Heinz and NAN and one of my girlfriends who is a GP is also a big fan of NAN - she prefers the HA.

Gold formulations can cause constipation in some babies.

My DD was on NAN Pro Gold with no problems, and it has a much better smell and taste than most and I understand the HA version tastes exactly the same.

I used Bellamy's Organic with my DS - it was the only one he would take - nice smell and the closest taste to breastmilk out of the various ones I tried him on. I started DD on Bellamy's too but my MCHN was wary of it just because she didn't know much about it. I eventually switched DD to NAN when we were away on holiday and the supermarket was out of stock of Bellamy's. Very similar flavour and smell and DD started sleeping through the night so I never changed her back.

Generally I seem to find that NAN HA gets the most recommendations and if I was in a position where I needed to FF again I would go for NAN.

Note that you DO NOT need to use Step 2 formula. Step 2 is casein-based rather than whey-based (Step 1 is whey-based) and harder to digest. It is good for hungry babies who are not being satisfied with Step 1 but because it is harder to digest it causes a lot of babies to suffer constipation. I would start your baby off on Step 1 of whatever brand you choose and if that is going well do not bother with Step 2. My MCHN always said that if bub is happy on Step 1 to not change...and not to try Step 2 until at least 8 months, if at all, because it is so common that it will cause constipation. The difference in nutrients between Step 1 and Step 2 is miniscule.

Thanks all :)

Think i will go for the Nan HA 1. Have heard the same thing re S26. Thats good advice Curly i am sure i would have been wondering about the Step 1 & 2 and what the difference between them is very soon!

Hi,

Just popping in to say....all formulas are really pretty much the same (that's not to say in individual babies one might suit better than another- but without trying you don't know)
As you can imagine, there are strict guidelines about what formulas must contain. All conform to these guidelines. The rest, the "extras" are really just marketing hype
The National Health and Medical Research council recommends you use a cows milk formula and base your choice on the formula being readily available in you area and on price.

I asked my pediatrican the other day and he said they are all the same just some thicker then others... he said S26 or NAN etc..... you are just as well getting the 15$ Heinz formula, So i got that for DD when she was bottle feed.. NO problems and saved a lot of money!

Check out the chemist - it's usually cheaper than the supermarkets or Big W believe it or not (by about $4 or $5). I never bought my formula from the supermarket again once I discovered that.

Our paediatrician said that Nan HA Gold was the way to go as it is partially-hydrolised (the milk protein peptides are slightly broken down) and therefore less likely to cause a reaction and much easier on their tummy :)

Heinz Nurture was best for DS and I willbe using it again for next bub.

the hospital we were at put my boys on S26 Gold.

I had no idea about the general view about S26 Gold making babies windy and more constipated until a friend mentioned it.

Our boys seem to stomach it fine (we did try to change to NAN HA but had the worst nights sleep ever so too scared to try it again)

I agree with Barb. I use SMA. My sis swapped to it after ringing Wyeth and asking what the difference was between S26 and SMA and they couldn't really say. (apart from the obvious price difference of around 10 bucks a can) My DS loves it and is $14 a can. Since he is a fat little chubba, works out cheaper for us in the long run.