What type of infant formula is best for newborns?

Question

My wife and I are bottle feeding and we are unsure which formula is best. Help.

Answer 1

The best is whichever your child takes with the fewest problems. There *is* no single best for every baby. In fact, it's against international agreements to even make such a claim. Your doctor will probably recommend a formula (whichever one gives her/him the biggest gift, usually). If it doesn't work well for your baby, try a different one.

The reason no one brand is "best for baby" is that each one is "closest to mother" (another phrase that is against international agreements) in a different way. One manufacturer tries (and fails) to imitate the protein balance in human milk. Another will try (and fail) to mimic the sugars in breastmilk. Yet a third wants to copy (but fails) the fats in human milk. And there are *hundreds* of different compounds in human milk--many of the living cells--so nobody could get a very close copy even if they did try.

Answer 2

ENFAMIL LIPIL w/ Iron!!!! I've been an Infant care provider for 3 yrs and this formula has been the most widely used. It is Iron fortified, with DHA, ARA, and Choline (another nutrient found in breastmilk)The babies that drank Good Start were hungry a lot more than the ones on Enfamil. The Similac Advance was good too. I just didn't llike the smell. But I vote Enfamil. Thats what I'm gonna give my children if they are healthy and don't need a special formula.

Answer 3

If the baby isn't on soy formula, I had great success with the Great Start formula by Nestle/Carnation. My daughter thrived on it & never had problems with gas or colic. They make a follow up formula too & I kept her on that until she was 18 months old. I switched from breastfeeding to the Great Start formula & she did just fine. I know it seems like a lot - there's so much to choose from! Talk to the babys' pediatrician & see what brand they recommend. Good luck!!!

Answer 4

Enfamil Lipil worked wonderfully for my son. It's also the same formula that 97% of hospitals use while you are still in there. It's pretty much the absolute best! It's great at helping with tummy troubles. It's broken down just right.

Answer 5

My first baby was on enfamil iron and that worked fine for him while I supplemented with breastmilk. My second, I also supplemented and he was on Nestle Good Start 0-12 month formula. It has iron and other things found in breastmilk. He's doing really good on it. He started it at about 2 weeks old and he's about 2 1/2 months old right now. Also... disagree about all formulas being alike. I experienced first hand problems with different formulas with my second baby. We had to try several before Good Start was chosen... That's why he started it at 2 weeks old...

Answer 6

Most formula brands such as enfamil and Similac send samples in the imail close to the due date. My son was preemie so I had to use a special kind of formula for him which was awful! He was constantly throwing...and I mean throwing up not little cute pieces of spit on the bib. I had to constantly change his outfits and many of them I threw away. I tried Gerber gentle ease for a little while and it gave him the worse gas. Now I use enfamil prosobee which he seems to tolerate more. However, I never had problems when I occasionally would give him the regular similac formula, so I would recommend that one. Bottles: Evenflo are easy for baby to grip and the drop in ones are easy for clean up. Dr. browns are the worse ever.

Answer 7

Like a couple other people said, from my experience the best is Nestle/Carnation Good Start. We tried almost every other name brand you could think of. The biggest thing I noticed with the other brands was that if you shook the bottle, there were lots of bubbles. Bubbles in my opinion could cause tummy aches and gas. Just from experience I found that Good Start seemed to cause less spitups, and less gas. It doesn't bubble up either.

Answer 8

depends...enfamil lipil is good to start out with...my babies spit that up like crazy so i tried the A.R. lipil which is supposed to thicken up making it less likely to come up BUT it did so...we went through 3 or 4 different formulas and now they are on Nestle Good Start and thats the only thing they've kept down besides the Neosure (but that was for the prematurity) good luck

Answer 9

Ask your doctor what formula is best for your child. He/She is the only one that can help you find the best one for your child.

If the child is lactose intolerant I'd suggest Nutramagin instead of Prosobee though. I've heard about many adverse effects from soy formulas.

Answer 10

anything that is iron fortified. i dont think that there is one that is better than others, some babies do good on one type of formula and cant stomach another brand. so the "best" all depends on the baby. i give my daughter Enfamil Lipil and she does great on it.