@lewis5398 I’ve seen tons of parents use powder straight from the start! For my own peace of mind, I would make sure to boil water and let it sit for 30 mins (or whatever the instructions say on your can) and sterilize my bottles quite often.
We used RTF until about 3 months but I did find that she did way better on powder than RTF.
@lewis5398 RTF isn't a thing in my country (there is like one brand that sells RTF here) so it is either breastfeeding or powder formula from the start. I have never heard of RTF until I read about it on Reddit and suspect this would apply to most parents in my country.
@lewis5398 RTF is just more convenient. Get a dr brown’s pitcher ($10 on Amazon) and boil your water and make a days worth of formula ahead of time. Bonus points if your baby will take it cold out of the fridge. As long as you’re boiling the water to sterilize the POWDER (it’s a misconception that you’re doing it to sterilize the water, unless you’re in an area where water is unsafe) you’re good!
@katrina2017 Can u tell me step by step how to fo this. I'm a fan, and not delivered yet.. but im so anxious cuz I don't get when to put the formula in,at what temp..and when is it safe to put the pitcher in fridge. Do I hav to let it cool?
@lewis5398 I have been using RTF since day one and my son is over 7 months. The cost has been insane. However, my son is only full on RTF and cries if we give powdered. We are on a very strict budget until he is off formula because it takes up a huge chunk of our money.
@lewis5398 We only use RTF when we are going out somewhere since it's convenient vs trying to make formula on the go. Otherwise we boil water, let it cool for 5 min, then use it with powder formula to make a pitcher that goes in the fridge.
ETA: Plan to stop boiling in the future, but tbh it's nice that the powder dissolves so quickly.
@lewis5398 We used RTF in the hospital and have kept some around for emergencies - but other than that we used powder formula the whole time.
My baby was full term and healthy - not immunocompromised. On the advice of our doctor we heated water to 70°C to make formula for the first few months just in case.
ETA: we have safe drinking water from the tap so we use that and don’t boil it.
Don’t make formula with boiling water. It can ruin the nutrients. If you do want to boil the water make sure you let it cool first! 70°C seems to be the magic temp - cool enough not to ruin the nutrients but hot enough to kill off most of the bacteria that could be in the powder.
@lewis5398 Powder after leaving hospital, dr browns mixing pitcher and microwave sterilizer. We didn’t even sterilize the powder but our doctor said we didn’t need to. I didn’t know it was even a thing until later on so I might do that for the next if it happens.
@lewis5398 I used the RTF in the hospital and for about 1 week afterwards but have been using powder ever since and my LO is doing totally fine. I use an electric kettle to boil water and use the Dr. Browns pitcher to mix the formula and make several bottles at once, then just stick them in the fridge until I need them. The RTF are great for when you're traveling or out and about and need a quick feeding...but I wouldn't use them for everyday due to how expensive they are.
@lewis5398 If you can find concentrate it’s cheaper than ready to feed and considered more sterile than powdered formula. You mix it with water and is what I used from the start. It’s what is recommended where I live for at least the first three months. Many parents use powder from the start. I’ve been kind of paranoid and with all I went through to have my baby I’ve just stuck with concentrate.
@lewis5398 With my first, we never used RTF. I did buy some for the convenience when we were out and about. Never had a problem mixing that in if need-be.
With my second, tried RTF and had major issues, transitioned to powder at about 2 weeks.
@lewis5398 We only used the RTF for the first couple nights because it was easy and we were figuring out our groove on what we wanted to do for night bottles. During the day we used powder and I breastfed during the first month. Combination of all the ways to feed LO My OB and pediatrician have me TONS of sample cans of powder Enfamil so I would say they approved of powder formula haha
@lewis5398 I used powdered from the get-go, when my daughter was about four days old. Just make sure you follow the instructions on the can regarding sterilizing the formula and you’ll be fine.
@lewis5398 I used similac RTF for a few months (and still do sometimes for convenience when we go out). A lot of formula companies will send you coupons, so I got all my family and friends to sign up for the similac ones and I saved so much money that way.
@lewis5398 We keep small bottles of RTF around for our diaper bag and the occasional "we forgot to mix up a pitcher, now what?" feed. It's not our primary method, but they are super helpful for us to keep around.
As for price, Costco carries it online, so we go that route.
@lewis5398 We only used powdered formula for my newborn. Just use purified water to make it. We used RTF in the hospital, but just didn’t see the point in it afterwards. My son was and is absolutely fine, and so are all of my friends babies who were fed the same way.
My OB and pediatrician have me TONS of sample cans of powder Enfamil so I would say they approved of powder formula haha