FertilityZone

Hi Rianon,
Well done you managing exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months!
Lots of questions -
Firstly, your h/v wasn't being difficult, M/Ws and H/Vs are not allowed to recommend a particular milk. To be honest, there's not a lot of difference between the brands. C&G first is fine. All the first stage milks are easier to digest than the "hungry baby" ones as they are whey dominant rather than casein dominant (casein is the "curds" part of cow's milk and is more difficult to digest so it stays in baby's stomach for longer) There's no need to change from the one you start with - it's suitable for older babies as well.
A made up bottle will keep for 24 hours in the fridge, only about an hour at room temperature. You can take bottles of boiled water in sterilised bottles and add the milk powder when required - I think Boots sell little pots for carrying measured amounts of powder with you when you go out. As long as you have wide necked bottles it's quite easy to tip the powder in. Or you could use little plastic bags instead - might be easier to add the powder that way. Most babies don't mind if the milk is room temperature.
The guideline amounts are calculated as 2 1/2 ozs per lb that baby weighs in 24 hours. So if you divide the total by the number of feeds in 24 hours, that will give you an idea of how much to offer. She probably takes different amounts at each feed now, so maybe some bottle feeds will be more than others. It's only a guide, your baby knows when she's hungry and when her tummy's full, so be guided by her.
I think I've answered all your questions, but can I just say you need to substitute one feed, then wait a few days before substituting another, and so on until you've changed them all, otherwise you may find your breasts become engorged and painful. Do you have to stop completely before starting tx? If not, then you might want to keep the morning and bedtime breastfeeds.
Good luck with the tx.

Check out the tommee tippee milk dispensers - a small plastic po5 that sits in bottle at top of neck. I found this the most convenient way to make up a bottle x

Hi Rianon,
It works out to be about twice as expensive, but you can buy formula milk ready made up, as milk. You just snip the carton/open the bottle, and pour it into the baby's bottle and voila - you're done! We ended up doing this with our girls because it saved us so much time. We also found the baby bottles were quicker to clean (no powder, so no risk of clumps of milk). It is much less faff then using powdered formula.
To save on the expense, you could perhaps just do this for night time feeds, or when you are traveling?
B
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