when to nove onto follow on milk?

[kirdy]

My daughter is 6 months and has been having 3 meals a day for a couple of weeks now she is still on aptamil 1st milk at the min. Want some advice on when to change it to follow on milk. She was having regular 3 hourly feeds but over the last week she has been going 5 hours sometimes a little longer between feeds plus her 3 meals a day. Is she getting what she needs from the 1st milk or is it time to switch.

[BedHog]

You don't need to change. Follow on milk was brought in because there are laws preventing the advertising of 1st milk, so the companies needed a different product to keep customers aware of their brands. First milk is nutritionally fine, and when your baby is a year old you can move to cows milk. You could increase the quantity of each feed though.

(Having said that I did occasionally use follow on milk when it was on offer - no offers are allowed on first milk either!)

[kirdy]

Oh ok didn't know that. I tried increasing the amount she has but she will still only drink 6oz. Is going 5-6 hours between bottles ok? X

[SuperDuperTrooper]

We didn't bother with follow on milk either. We too were told about the company's ulterior motives. We stayed on first milk until 12 months and then weaned onto whole milk.

[BlueberryHill]

We didn't use follow on milk either, just introduced full fat cows milk to drink from 1 year.

I cannot remember how much I fed them or when, it depends how much food she is eating and when. Sorry, it was a while ago.

[kirdy]

Ok thanks will stick with the 1st milk then xx

[MillyStar]

Another who stuck to 1st milk

My dd turned 1 in april and shes now weaned onto cows milk, just need to get her off the bottles now!

Soooo much cheaper and also lovly not having to steralize

[LastDaughterofKrypton]

I switched to follow on milk as it was frequently on offer and would also give me loyalty card points. I figured if I was going to be paying out to the formula making companies I may aswell get something back for it. Like you OP my DS1 was on three meals a day by 6 months so getting majority of his nutrition from there.

[LastDaughterofKrypton]

I should add DS2 only 3mo so holding off on the steak and chips for a little while yet.

[Thesebootsweremadeforwalking]

DS was BF so didn't use first milk, but when he went to nursery at almost 12 months he just switched to cow's milk. My HV said there was no real benefit to follow on/ toddler milks, so we skipped them.

[carolinemoon]

If you're a member of boots parenting club you get 10 points per pound on baby stuff including follow on milk, so I used it for that reason alone (then cows milk at 12 months).