Better Tasting Formula?

I too would recommend mixing. When I switched my boys from formula to milk I did this. I started with 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula, then 1/2 and 1/2 and so one. It worked great. I never had to deal with going from breast to formula because my boys got both from birth, so were used to going back and forth between he 2.

Hope this helps. Also, I used Enfamil lipil, it seemed to mix well so no lumps or undissolved portions in the bottle.

What about pumping? Medela has a breast pump that pumps out of both sides at once. No formula has the amazing nutrition that is in breast milk. They say up to 2 years, breast feeding helps brain function.

It's worth a try.

Sometimes it's not the formula that tastes "bad", but the bottle or the temperature that's wrong. We had a hard time with this at first with our daughter. She would cringe every time we tried the formula as well, but compared to breastmilk, formula is going to taste weird. Repeated exposure (it can take up to 10 times for a baby to learn to like a new taste!) and playing with temperature helped resolve the issues for us. Good luck!

This is a trick I use with pets. I mix the new and old food, in this case breast milk and formula, together. I begin with 70-85% orginial and slowly up the concentration of the new until we are at 100%. This way they get used to it slowly and the change in taste is not so overwhelming. I cannot see why this would not be OK to try with a baby. The idea is the same. Good luck!

at that point with my daughter i started supplementing with baby's own organic formula and found that it tasted great. it says it is a "toddler formula" on the can, but after doing more research i felt comfortable using it because of the nutritional makeup and how it compares to other formulas on the market. the company supports breastfeeding for the first year, so they they market their product as toddler formula. If you have concerns about this, it says on the website that Baby's Only Organic meets the nutritional requirements of the FDA's Infant Formula Act. anyway, my daughter loved it and i tried a little of it myself and found it was much tastier than the similac we also tried. we were able to find this at our local grocery store/health food store and it was very affordable. here is the company website: http://www.naturesone.com/dairy/suggested-use/

As a few other moms have suggested, I'd recommend mixing the formula with breast milk as a transition, if you're able to pump. We're currently doing this with my 16-month-old daughter, transitioning from formula to cow's milk. She won't drink the milk if it's by itself, so we're slowly decreasing the percentage of formula in the mix to help her get used to the taste.

(For what it's worth, we use Similac soy-based formula. Not sure the taste is all that great--I think it's just whatever they get used to.)

Good luck!

In the book "Nourishing Traditions" there are actually a couple of recipes for formula. There are a lot of good things in modern formula, but there's also a lot of junk (like high fructose corn syrup). I fed my babies some formula, so I'm not judging. I just wanted to let you know that there are altlernatives out there. I only found this book last year. I might make some of my own to supplement my next child.

well, first of all, Nestle does not make good formula. Check out all of the chemicals that are in it. Secondly, 7 months is in my opinion & my pediatricians' too young to wean. That is probably why she is not liking the formula...she wants you.

She may not be ready to wean.

I worked w/a nurtritionist when my son was small, as I didn't make enough milk for him as he was a hungry boy!

Goat's milk is actually a very good alternative. The fatty acids are similar to human's milk and the size of the goat brain/body is proportionat to the human brain/body (unlike cow's milk). Try mixing some breast milk w/goats milk. Also, my son started on rice cereal w/milk in a feeding bottle by that age and it was very good for him.

One more thing to think about - your breast milk taste like what you eat. So what are you eating and how can you incorporate this taste into the formula/super soft food you feeding her?

A big don't is to tempt her w/honey or sweetening the milk, it will overstimulate her tastes for sweets for the rest of her life.

Good luck!

I think I tried them all with my son! The best tasting that I found was The babies R us brand it was sweeter like breast milk. I also mixed the breast milk with the formula for a while started out with more breast milk than formula and gradually added more formula until he switched. Best of luck it can be EXTREMELY frustrating. Another suggestion, my step mom added just a pinch of sugar to the formula for my little sister and that worked too.

I think that you milk is supposed to taste sweet. The other milks do not. I read on here one time, but a long time ago, that someone put sweetner in milk and then gradually added less and less.
Good luck.

Well my question is, why are you trying to wean a baby who obviously isn't ready? A baby that young still needs your breastmilk. It nurtures their brain and body development, and also creates a calm environment of trust and love.
Yes I am a pro-breastfeeding momma, and yes I still breastfeed my son (13 months). But I've never regretted it, and it has only made him stronger, smarter and we've bonded that much more. I just don't see the downside of breastfeeding I guess.
Good luck, I hope you find the best answer for your little girl.

Good question! I'm not sure what I'd recommend, but I do know all formulas are required to meet certain nutritional values. You could try with a couple different store brands maybe? Have you tried mixing BF with formula? I had a friend do that, mixed two ounces of formula, added two ounces of breastmilk, to transition.

We received Similac in the hospital with both our girls. We used it at home for a couple weeks with each before gradually switching to Costco's house brand. The Similac pre-mixed formula from the hospital smelled almost like it had vanilla in it, it was so sweet.

One tip I figured out and recommended to a friend of mine who was weaning recently was to add (literally) two or three drops of mylicon inside each bottle, when preparing it. Powdered formulas (not all) can be very bubbly when they get shaken up to mix. It worked much better for our girls than trying to feed them mylicon when they were gassy!

Good luck! I hope you find something that your girlie likes.

I don't have time to read all the requests but from what I saw most of them said to try mixing. I breast fed my daughter for the first 6 months and I had to switch her to formula. I tried mixing breast milk with formula and my daughter wouldn't touch it. I ended up giving her just straight formula and she did ok with it. She didn't seem keen on the Enfamil so we switched to Target's brand and she loved it (me too, it's cheaper!). She didn't seem to mind when we slowly started mixing cows milk in though

I hated Good Start powder, but used the liquid concentrate with my last child. The clumping in the nipple drove me and him crazy. I would suggest buying a few small cans and tasting them yourself and offering them to baby to see which, if any, is preferred. I don't know that I would add anything to it, because it might make the transition harder, unless you mix it with breast milk. Good Luck.

Hi C., at 4 1/2 months I began to wean our baby with Enfamil Premium. We only used that becuase we had free samples of it. After a couple of months we asked his pediatricion if it would be a OK to switch to a more inexpensive brand and she said not at all. So we tried Similac and the Costco brand. He hated them both. And we ended up switching back to the Enfamil Premium. I don't know if that was because he was used to it or if it just plain tasted better?

Best I've found is Baby's Only Organic Formula by Nature's One. I used it for my daughter from a month old and she LOVED it and momma felt good about the ingredients! You can check them out online at: http://www.naturesone.com/index.php

Good luck! -J.

I had the same problem when I weaned my son at 7 months. I mixed the formula with vanilla rice milk. At first, 50/50, then less each bottle. Good luck!

Have you tried mixing the formula with breast milk in increasing amounts to get her used to the taste?

The only formula that my son would willingly eat was premixed liquid enfamil lipil with dha etc (we tried most of them, btw).

2 things:

1) I tasted ALL of them, where my son couldn't see me, nearly every time I warmed them up. Most of them were terrible, AND all the ones that had "gentle proteins" (aka, already partially broken down, aka partly digested) went bad inside of 20 minutes. My friends who use these types have to mix and serve them cold. They're wretched in a blink (20 min) if made warm... they start to turn almost immediately, are sour within 10 minutes, and are worse than spoiled rotten in 20-30. Ugh.

2) The premixed ones have kind of an oily, silken feel to them, but they're ungodly expensive. Many babies won't take the powdered kind at all in the beginning if they've been lucky enough to get the real thing first. So it's definitely a good rule to try the liquid if you're having formula refusal. FORTUNATELY most formulas have sample cans, so you aren't out $20 per can just for taste testing. :)