Ready to Feed Formula
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Anonymous
| Other than the price, is there any downside to using RTF formula instead of the powder? I find it so convenient and I read it’s sterile compared to the powder. I guess you pay for the convenience? Anyone else exclusively use RTF past the newborn phase? |
Anonymous
| I do because the powdered formula made my baby break out in hives but she’s allergic to everything. I do feel bad about all the plastic waste. Similac has lots of coupons if you sign up. I still breastfeed so we don’t go through the bottles all that fast. They can only last 48 hours (the similac—not sure about other brands) in the fridge once opened so you need to keep an eye on when they’re opened. Sometimes we use the 8 oz bottles if I will be breastfeeding her more or if we’re going to be out all day without access to a fridge. |
Anonymous
| Cost is the big downside. They’re also formulated differently, with different sugars. I preferred RTF for our allergy baby because it did not have corn syrup solids |
Anonymous
| Cost and availability are the downsides - I used RTF in the newborn phase last time around but there were definitely times I had to go to multiple stores to find it (and this was long before the formula shortage). |
Anonymous
| It's a lot of plastic. Bad for the environment, and also increased exposure to plastic for your baby. They also have some different additives which you may or may not be concerned about. Obviously they are FDA approved, so there is no known impact of those additives. |
Anonymous
| My kid was on a highly specialized formula that only came RTF. Other than cost and environmental impact the biggest downside was weight when we traveled somewhere. If you are using an easy to find brand you can buy it at your destination too I guess. I remember once we missed a flight and spent 10 hours in an airport. I was glad I had a couple days worth of formula in my carryon backpack but my shoulders were certainly tired! |
Anonymous
| I used RTF because I had a preemie and the dr told me to use it if we could swing it. The only downside was cost and if you want to take bottles with you somewhere, you have to buy the single servings or keep it refrigerated. It was a little tricky when we stayed in hotels. |
Anonymous
| We used the ready to feed because there was no question of over/under dilution. More convenient. Tasted better to me. The powdered stuff tasted like rusty nails when we eventually switched. |
Anonymous
| I found that the RTF formula stained clothes worse than the powdered. |
Anonymous
| Cost is the downsize, but I used it and prefered it as it was less gassy. |
Anonymous
|
Either one is just powdered fructose sugar. Not healthy.
Have there been any advancements in recent years for healthy alternatives? Or are they all still bad? |
Anonymous
This is indeed a concern, other than them being poor nutrition and full of chemical additives. RFK has spoken about this recently. |
Anonymous
Ok... thanks. |
Anonymous
Breastmilk is mostly water and sugar. So, formula designed to replicate breastmilk will always be mostly water and sugar. That is a feature not a bug. There are some subtle advantages to breastmilk, especially early on. There are significant advantages to breastmilk for some populations like micropreemies, or people without consistent access to clean water, and significant advantages for formula for some populations like infants with galactosemia, and adoptive families. But for the vast majority of families, both are good safe choices. |
Anonymous
"All sugar is the same!" ..... yeah, no. |