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We have embarked on a life-long journey to become a family. In June 2013, we have brought home two beautiful babies. Our family is now complete and our marriage formally recognized by state and federal laws.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Formula, formula, formula?... Bueller?

Decision, decision, decision... this is why I hate shopping. I can never decide whether I should buy the item or not. 
My sister used Nan for my niece, who is now 1-yr old. Unfortunately, it is not available here in America. There are several manufacturers I checked out, but it's so hard to decide which one to get. Our friend, who has a 3-wk old boy, uses Earth's Best organic brand. I checked out other organic formula and the other alternative is Baby's Only organic brand, or Safeway organic brand. In terms of nutritional content, they are pretty much the same, so it's the price and whether it's organic would be the deciding factors. We might end up buying the Safeway organic brand. Eventually, we'll play around and mix the cow's milk formula with soy milk formula when the twins are old enough. I never liked consuming a cow anyway.... so our twins don't need to have it's milk either.

Needless to say, it's good to have many choices in case we need to switch. Now let's see, we need what!!!?.... Based on his calculations, my partner said we need about 21 tin cans of formula for the twins during our stay in Delhi. Ugh!!! Don't even ask me how many diapers we need... :)

To our dear friends from Brazil, we are sorry that you will have to start over with the process. We are praying for your next successful attempt. We hope that you will get there soon!









14 comments:

  1. check out the Gerber good start...it is supposed to be the american equivalent of nan..

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  2. I'm using gerber good start with the twins. i had them on Enfamil (that's what i took with me to india) at first but the iron was super high and it made them constipated and have SUPER green poop. Gerber good start you can get at Sam's Club in the jumbo size for a great deal. I took WAY too many cans of formula with me. But its best to be prepared. They really always ate less than 2oz at a time the first couple weeks so you wont need as much as you think. one note is to bring a few bottles of the prepared stuff (all brands have them). these are awesome for the embassy, frro, and for the plane rides back. soooooo much easier to use then mixing. Plus splitting one prepared liquid bottle for twins makes it easier!

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    1. Hi Sean, that's very helpful info. Thanks for letting me know. Cheers!

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  3. I am useing simulac because I went to the web site and they send me coupons every month for there formula, and the first month they sent me to things of formula for FREE. But bring formula with you and give it to the hoapital so they can feed it to your baby before you pick it up, thats what we did. Otherwise you have to go through changing them on formula and they can get masty poo. LOL

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    1. Hi Michael, thanks for letting me know. We are considering Similac as well, but haven't finalized which formula to use. We plan on sending some ahead of our trip.

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  4. You are right in saying we are lucky to have such choice, one of our twins had issues (colic and constant projectile vomit + constipation) until we found the right formula/s for him (it took 5 formulas before that) he is now on a blend of lactose free + novolac constipation + gripe water + occasional probiotics and he is the best he has been. We still have loads of one of the formulas we had to try in Delhi thinking it was agreeing with him.

    Our other twin is still on the same formula we took for baby pick up in Delhi !

    Best wishes and luck!!

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    1. Sorry to know about your experience for one of the twins. Hopefully, both won't be picky. :) Cheers!

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  5. So I had Scarlett on Nan when I was "living" in India for 5 months. When I got back I researched and found that Nestle makes it, and that Gerber Good Start has since acquired Nestle. So if you want the same thing in America, go with Gerber Good Start. I've always used the "gentle" formula and Scarlett has never had any stomach issues-- in India or America. Good luck!

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    1. Hi Bernadette, thanks for your input. My partner's mother actually recommended Gerber Good Start, so based on 3 comments here already, we will now consider it as well. Hugs and kisses to your princess, and especially to MC. Cheers!

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  6. I took Nestle 'NAN Gold' to India but the hospital said it was too rich for newborns and they were right! The Swiss-made Nestle formula available in India was perfectly fine and available everywhere.

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  7. Thanks Tom. My sister used Nan Gold, too. We'll see what the hospital recommends. Cheers!

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  8. We started with Similac and Saffy took to it very well. If you sign up and register at Similac.com, they'll send you a full-sized container of Similac Advance and a small can of Similac Sensitive and some $5 coupons. But if you have a Target near you, they have generic "Up & Up" versions of Similac, Enfamil, and Gerber GoodStart (soy & sensitive versions too) much cheaper and in larger sizes (40oz. for about $20). We switched her and had no problems at all. In fact, the Target brand seems to mix a little bit better and she's less gassy. I did some research and they are identical to the name brands.
    We ended up taking a full can of Similac and 2 boxes of the ready-to-feed bottles (16 2oz bottles) for the flights home (http://www.amazon.com/Similac-Advance-Infant-Formula-Months/dp/B002VSU3D8/ref=sr_1_7?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1362683160&sr=1-7&keywords=similac+ready+to+feed). We ended up running out of powder formula and found a place at M-Block that sold Similac (for about $70 US a can!). I would suggest starting with a generic version to start with, especially since you're going to be buying double the amount. Or at least look into the generics when you get back home.
    The ready-to-feeds were sooo handy on the plane! We flew British Airways on the way home and they couldn't warm the bottles or give us warm bottled water. They offered to use warm water from the coffee maker to make the bottles! Saffy was taking about 3-4 oz. every feeding, so we ended up going through all 16 bottles, but no mixing or questionable water was involved.
    Then again, we rolled the dice and brought all that formula to India hoping there would be no health issues or her having trouble breaking down certain proteins.

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    1. Hi Morgan, thanks for the detailed feedback. We live near Target (10 min walk), so we'll consider using the generic version. Cheers!

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