Follow on milk - do they need it? Please advise.

[Gizboss]

Hi there,
So am very confused and am worried that I'm messing with my babies' digestive system so would welcome some advice as cannot get to see my health visitor this week.

Put my daughter who is 6 and a half months old onto Aptamil follow on milk last week on the advice of a friend (she had been on Aptamil 1 for 3 months and doing very well) she had an allergic reaction to the follow on so took her to the doctor who told me not to worry but to change milk brands so I went for the SMA gold follow on as a trial (the doctor agreed that follow on was the way to go) and have been giving it to her for 24 hours. Then I saw another friend this morning who told me that I didn't need to change her milk at all and that she could have Aptamil 1 up until 12 months. Have since looked at the box and it implies that that is indeed the case. So I am confused - do I keep her on the SMA follow on (she doesn't seem to be drinking much of it but then the box says she needs less) or do I go back to the Aptamil 1? Just feel like I don't know what I'm doing - again! Please help. Thanks

If aptamil 1 wasn't causing any problems I'd go back to that
follow on milks are a marketing con, babies don't need to move on to them at all

My 9 month old is still on SMA stage 1. I don't think you need to change if your child is fine.

Stage 1 is fine, follow on also fine after 6 months - I would stick with whichever she seems happiest on and whichever is most convenient for you.

Follow on milk was basically invented because it's illegal to advertise formula for babies under 6 months, so they make the follow on and advertise that.

In makeup I believe it is quite similar to the 1st stage milk, it has more iron, which can make some babies constipated, and I think it's slightly harder to digest like the stage 2 hungry baby milk so it keeps them feeling full for longer.

I asked my HV about this as DD was still on cow&gate stage 1 at six months and she said as long as DD wasn't wanting much more than the guideline amount it was fine to leave her on it if she was happy.

I'd stick with whichever she prefers.

I'm with Riven on this. Never had it for my big kids and so didnt bother with my younger ones.

I BF for on average 6mths and then just used SMA gold. DS 3 was FF and I stuck with SMA Gold until he went on cow's milk at 12mths.

I was never advised to use follow on by any health professional (and DS3 had tons and tons of health appts and reviews etc so I am sure someone would have mentioned it).

Think its all a bit of a scam but I could be wrong.

Go with the original. Follow on formula composition isn't as tightly regulated as infant formula so risks having the cheap ingredients if they can get away with it.

I did give my DD follow-on milk from about a year but only because I was worried she wasn't getting enough iron in her diet. She had it until she was about two. It just seemed like an easy way for me to ensure she was getting the iron she needed.

I stayed on C&G stage 1 until DS was 12 months and have now swapped to 1+ C&G. My son wasn't able to tolerate the change in fluid thickness of the follow on milk for 6-12 month old babies.
I am giving cows milk now he is over 1 and plan to drop 1+ altogether as soon as he learns that solid food is worth the effort.

My ds2 is almost 6 months & I plan on sticking with stage 1 milk. After all the reflux probs & stuff we've had the last thing I want to do is mess with his system again. I'll stick to stage 1 until he gets onto cows milk.