Baby Formula – Taking A Baby To China

For specific stores, if you're going to be in Beijing we get our baby formula from Hualian, a big upscale-ish expensive supermarket chain here in Beijing. They sell American brand Land O'lakes cheese and Japanese TV dinners, so if they can manage that then I trust their formula. They always make us pay for our formula separate from the rest of the purchase and have formula salesladies guarding it so that no one defies the protocol and it is all very official. They also occasionally run Mead Johnson sponsored promotions where they'll give away stuff if you buy so much formula at once. We got a very nifty Mead Johnson playmat last week.

In Beijing the biggest baby chain store is Leyou. I think they are national, maybe in other cities besides Beijing. Their baby formula prices are comparable to Hualian, I think Hualian maybe one or two kuai cheaper. The 0-6 month formula that we use, the Enfamil, costs about between 90-100RMB for a 400g box depending on the store. Chaoyang district stores seem to be more expensive than Haidian district stores! Hualian and Leyou both sell the big brands -- Wyeth, Enfamil, Similac, and some Australian brand that has commercials on TV all the time, as well as Chinese brands like Yili and Scient. I haven't seen the SMA but they might have it, I just haven't looked since we used Enfamil for both kids.

We actually used one box of Yili formula that two of my students gave to me (it was kind of sweet, these two teenaged boys, my best students, rocked up to the house when I was on maternity leave bearing gifts -- a box of formula and a bag of sunflower seeds!) when we ran out of our regular formula one night when it was too late to run to the store. I don't think our daughter much liked the taste of the Yili, but she drank it and didn't have any problems, although we went back to our regular formula when the box was finished.

seems like the popularity of this thread suggests that the proposed "family in China" section might be a good idea after all

seems there's a lot of people here with a lot of good info to share

What say you R. Duke?

Yokie, i fail to find much merit in your comment. What does my situation have to do the  the infant formula and/or the proposed wet nurse? Either my suggestions are worth while or not; why attack me.  Got a problem with the female breast or something?
And to others, my hope is that the idea of the wet nurse vs the artifical food may be openly discussed not whether any mother wants to breastfeed her baby. I have a sneaky suspicion that prudish american sensitivities are entering this discussion. And don't forget, even Moses had a wet nurse and he turned out 'famous' and well regarded.

Sorry Ting .... we had been talking about formula in China, how to buy, where, etc.

This was not about breast feeding versus formula.  You seemed to want to stand on a soap box and preach about breast feeding ... as a parent I have heard too often people preaching about things they have little to no experience with .... so, I was asking if you had kids .... so I could gauge your experience and knowledge accordingly.

It was not meant as an attack ... it was meant as a "gathering of information".  Sort of like reading a biography to understand the basis and background of someone's theories and thoughts.

...never buy (baby formula) in markets or all-Chinese supermarkets.

The nearest big cities to where we will be based are Changchun and Jilin City.  Does anyone know if a big chain store (e.g. Carrefour/Wal-Mart) can be found in those locations?

Slim, Slim, Slim. When it comes to the 'chun, come to me first. As for Jilin City, I only know where the bus station is located.

There are a few Carrefour/WalMarts around. I have noticed they carry a good selection of baby-type products but since my youngest is 12, formula is not what I look for. I might soon  ()

There are a couple of stores that also feature imported products that I'm sure will have it. Next time I go, I'll give you a list of what brands they have. The big local chain is called Hunkalong (sp?).

Yea, recently Changchun has finally entered the twentieth century. In the next 25 years, it'll enter the twenty-first!

Whatever happened to breast feeding?

Not always as easy as it sounds-----you should try it sometime

Indeed. I breastfed both my kids until I had to return to work and I'm still trying to keep it going at least part time with my daughter, but it isn't easy, especially for working moms who have to pump. I think everyone knows that breastmilk is superior to formula, it even says so on the packaging for formula, but there are many reasons why it might not work for some moms and I don't really think anyone should have to justify their decision on a thread specifically asking for info about formula, not breastfeeding. 

This is a touchy subject for mothers -- try spending some time on parenting boards where this thread would have reached a 20 page all out war by now. 

Sorry kids, I wasn't judging.

Pfff, mothers whinging about breast feeding. 

It's MUCH harder for fathers.

I can't agree Stil, when my wife breastfed the kids, I didn't have a problem at all. Maybe sometimes just to get up and get her a drink

Pfff, mothers whinging about breast feeding. 

It's MUCH harder for fathers.

Wholeheartedly Agree!  It was sooo difficult trying to breastfeed my daughter!  Almost impossible too .....

...we have decided to load our suitcases with three months' supply of baby formula purchased in the UK – which equates to about fourteen/fifteen large 900g tins – but we are worried about the possibility of this being confiscated on arrival in Beijing, or some official asking us to open every sealed tin to check the contents...  Everything I have read leads me to believe that we will not have any problems, but it only needs one official to make life difficult for us.

For the record, we walked through Chinese customs without a single tin of baby formula being confiscated or opened.  We made no attempt to disguise the fact that we were a family travelling together, so even the most rookiest of rookies could have had a good guess at what we had packed in our huge cases.

The only thing one Chinese official did get a bit upset about was a tub of E45 cream; it was above the 100ml allowance when we caught our connecting flight.  I guess London must have allowed it through, because I doubt they would have missed it (we had one baby bottle containing water and were asked by a UK official to drink some of it before he allowed it through).  The E45 cream got through after the Chinese official was told to calm down by his colleague, but on another day we would have probably heard the 'clunk' of the tub hitting the bottom of the plastic bins.

I have one little tip for travellers with young children that travel to China and make a connecting internal flight - apologies if this is obvious, but I wasn't aware of this until very recently.  Airside of your departure airport buy what you need to get to your final destination (I had to order two days in advance of my departure to reserve the items I wanted).  Ask the shop assistant (in my case it was a branch of Boots at Heathrow) to put the items you need for your first flight in a standard carrier bag, and then to put the items that you'll need for your second flight in a sealed bag.  The sealed bag will also contain your receipt.  The sealed bag, despite containing many cartons of liquid, is allowed to be taken onboard as hand luggage and, more importantly, be allowed to pass the strict security checks before your connecting flight.