I'm Out of Formula.

no, do not give the baby regular milk. what you need to do is go buy more formula. if you cannot afford it, many food pantries will have formula for infants. also look into applying for WIC. they will supply some of the formula for an infant. baby's stomachs do not handle straight cows milk well. it can make them very sick, and they will not get the nutrients that they need from it.

If you are desperate and need something to feed the baby RIGHT NOW- you can prepare evaporated milk and mix in a little bit of Karo syrup if you have that on hand. I would only do this in an emergency or until you can find formula. Evaporated milk isn't a nutritionally adequate as formula. Regardless of what people say, feeding evaporated milk isn't going to harm the baby if used in an emergency, and is a much better solution than not having anything to feed the baby at all. Generations of people were brought up on evaporated milk and commercial formula did not even start to really be used much until the 1960s.

I mean - I am ok - 36 years old, healthy and happy, brought up from 6 weeks old on cow's milk.
people didn't breast feed as much back then. gave their babies evaporated milk etc

Edit - To the lady who said we can have serious cognitive impairments - well I have an MD, I am a podiatrist, I am not impaired mentally at all.
neither was Einstein, bet he drank cows milk... LOL!!

No! What do you do? Replace the formula! GO to the store. If you can't afford it, go to a food pantry!!! Call your Dr., for a sample. What did you think would happen? Your child will need to eat...

As the other ladies said, NO!!!!!!!!! 4 months is waaay too young for cows milk. If he/she were maybe 9 or 10 months I would maybe consider it for a very temporary solution (like one/two feedings) until you got more formula. But she/he's too young right now. There are so many programs to help with that, plus, do you not have any friends of family to help? Its embarrassing, I know, to admit that you cannot afford to feed your baby, but as a mom you need to learn to put your feelings aside and do whats best for your little one.

No, you can not. There is nothing that you can give to replace formula. Breastmilk or formula is primary nutrition for *entire* first year of life.

"Infants fed whole cow's milk don't get enough vitamin E, iron, and essential fatty acids. They also get too much protein, sodium, and potassium. These levels may be too high for the infant's system to handle. Also, whole cow's milk protein and fat are more difficult for an infant to digest and absorb." (taken from website below)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002448.htm

Call your pediatrician's office asap and see if they have samples.

Are you eligible for WIC? If you are financially have trouble buying formula then you need to investigate WIC asap as well.

Beg or borrow money from who ever you have to get your baby the proper nutrition until you can get this straightened out.

No. Go get more formula! Our pediatrician gives away samples and there are food pantries and women/infant centers or apply for assistance but do NOT give your baby milk or any other milk substitute. Formula or Breastmilk is the the primary source of your baby's nutrition till he or she is 12 months old.

It is really not recommended that you stop giving your baby formula. The baby does not have the ability to digest the proteins in the milk products yet and really could be harmful to them.

Is there some reason you can't go to the store and get more? Store brands are just fine and they're half the price if you don't have much money. If you're on WIC or aid, you should be able to go get some more formula right now. While your 4 month old won't be harmed by regular milk, it may upset his/her stomach and you can't substitute it for formula, because formula has FAR more nutrients and vitamins in it that milk.

Nope.

- Call your ped
- Go to the food bank
- Call Catholic Community Services (one of the best charities in the COUNTRY, no need to be catholic - they work with everyone regardless of religion)
- Call WIC
- Or go to the store and buy some formula

Some babies can survive on goats milk. but that's dicey - and sort of needs to be supplied directly from a lactating goat.

are you not still producing your own milk? can you not breast feed?

Absolutely not.

Buy more formula.

Call the pediatrician to see if they have a sample if you can't afford it.

Hi S.,

Formula, not milk, is all you should be giving a infant until they are 12 months old. If yo uare having trouble with the excess cost of formula, contact your pediatrician - they may have samples or the local churches or religious institutions. Also the state department of welfare may help you find a good source.

9a

I guess in an emergency, you could. However, I would get out and get
some formula asap.

Regular milk is designed for baby COWS. Your baby has different nutritional needs. Go to a food pantry, clinic, something.

For the poster who said that she was brought up on cows milk, I'm truly glad that you're fine. But the fact is that we know that human infants have different nutritional needs and can end up with serious cognitive and physical impairments if those needs are not met. Would you let your child ride without a carseat/bike without a helmet/wander outside alone/etc/etc/etc because you did it? I hope not.

Good luck.

The norm is not to start babies on regulare milk until they are over 12 months old...they can't digest the milk so I would go out and get more formula....you may want to get some powder in case you run out again.

NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!! Your baby is not ready for regular milk and there's a large chance it will upset her stomach. She may even be alergic to it.

There's absolutely no excuse what-so-ever for you not to have formula for your child. Why can't you go to the store?

Contact your doctor... I don't think you can give a baby milk.

Absolutely not. I gave my 10 month old son milk because he had stopped nursing on his own and I was not on board with formula at all and he got SO sick. Go figure he is the only one of my 3 that likes regular milk now at all and he is 5. But NO!!!

I dont think babies that young are able to tolerate regular milk...

go to the churches they sometimes have some start giving her cereal in her bottles to make it last longer. with my son I had to mix hi bottles at that age half formula has cereal and used a nubby soft sipper spout to do it and still had to buy more formula at the end of the month.

I wish you lived near to me, I have a TON of samples from the hospital and Dr.'s office that I have never used. YOu should call them and see if you can get some from them. Your OB should have a bunch of free samples that she could give you.... sorry I can't be of more help ~ You could also try to get on WIC assistance to get formula for your baby.

you buy more formula as soon as possible, goats milk is closest to human milk, cows milk is much more fattening and heavy than human milk. If your baby is starving i would say water down cows milk a bit but do it on the way to the store, or food bank, or peds office.

Dear S., I remember people making formula out of evaporated milk but I do not know the recipe. Sorry I am not much help. My best. Grandma Mary

A PP said to mix evaporated milk with Karo syrup, but my pediatrician told me that corn syrup can carry the same bacteria that is in honey, and the same rule applies to it: Don't give it to the child until they are 1 year old. Otherwise, can you call your local pregnancy care center? We donated to ours when we had extra formula. They have diapers, too, if money is the issue. Good luck.

K.

No regular milk until 1 year. A 4 month old should only get breastmilk or formula. Although it's best to wait until 6 mos to introduce solids, you can at 4 mos if the baby does the following: Sits unassisted, opens mouth to receive spoon, has doubled birth weight and has lost tongue-trust reflex (put an empty spoon on his/her tongue and see if he pushes it out with his tongue. If so, he's not ready for solids yet). If the baby meets all those criteria, you can mix some cereal with formula to make it soupy and feed with a spoon. It is not recommended to put cereal in a bottle unless you need to for medical reasons, as it is a choking risk. I would also not use Karo syrup, as it is possible for a baby to get botulism from Karo syrup.

The other posters have good suggestions: Buy store brand (it's the same as name-brand), ask for samples from your pediatrician, go to a charity or food bank, etc.

Good luck!

go to your pediatrician or food bank and get some formula. call the hospital where you delivered and see if they have samples they can give you until you can get more formula. do this quickly, as 3 or 4 hours will go by fast especially with a hungry baby!

Do you have WIC (woman infants and children) where you live? Or another county or state aid program? They will give you formula if you income qualify. Also, look online and sign up for places that will send you free samples. We somehow recieved tons of free samples and we didn't even use formula, my daughter was breast fed.

The baby needs formula. Look online for coupons, contact your ped for help, or look around for a food pantry or women's shelter. Definitely get yourself to a WIC office and food stamp office (you can use LINK to buy formula) TODAY if you have not done so. They should be able to give you emergency assistance the day of. Don't wait--google the nearest office and go before they close.

Stop by the pediatritions office and ask for samples. Tell them your situation and ask if you can have as much as they are allowed to give. Then go to the local WIC office, a health Department should be able to tell you where to go if it is not part of their office. If you do not qualify or if you are allready on WIC and it just didn't give you enough, then check with food pantries, local churches or even the health food store. Ours gave us the name of a local goat farm. We have an allergic little girl. The farm let us pay all we owed on pay day instead of each time we went to them.
Have you tried asking on Freecycle.com? I gave away some Neosure my girls no longer needed a couple of years ago. Someone always seemed to be giving some away. (In case you aren't familiar with it, it is a yahoo site that allows people to post and get things for free to keep them out of landfills) All you have to do is ask and I bet you get several responses!
Good luck and God Bless you for having the courage to admit you need help.