Formula with baby porridge - am i undoing any good work?

[Zimm]

Hi all,

DD is 6.5 months, EBF. I would like her to start eating a really hearty evening meal to see if it will help with her night waking. I know it probably won't, but I am giving it a try. If I mix her her porridge with formula rather than EBM i won't be undoing the fact she was EBf for six months will I - as now is mix fed anyway, being as she is on solids? So formula is just like another food at this point right? I just dont have the energy to express milk each day to put on the porridge and as she's not eating much she still has LOADS of Bm so she wouldn't be missing out!

Thanks!

Just use cows milk, don't waste your money on formula

Yup, cows milk is just fine. NO need to waste money on formula at all.

Of course you won't be undoing all the good work that breast milk has done and is still doing. Formula in porridge will be absolutely fine, even has the benefit of added iron which she will start needing from about now.

Or use cows milk, as others said

Thanks all - which is likely for her to easier to digest formula or cows milk?

I'd go with cow's milk

FWIW am in exactly your position atm and am contemplating a bottle of formula at 10pm ish to try and improve sleep even just a bloody smidgeon

Oats are harder to digest than either (but totally fine for her) so it's really not an issue.

WRT iron. Formula does have more iron but it's not bio available. The iron in BM is bio available and perfectly sufficient. TBH it's a non issue. She'll get all the iron she needs from BM and food sources.

Re iron, if you use Ready Brek for example then it is fortified with iron, if you're concerned. I don't think it's actually that difficult for a babe to get the iron they need, bloody Cow & Gate just want you to think it is.

If you do use powdered formula, remember you have to make it up with water at 70 degrees and allow it to cool.

If it was me I would use cow's milk (hang on - it was me 5 months ago, and I did use cow's milk!)

HTH

I just used cow's milk from 6 months too.

I think you're right that she's not EBF anymore if she's on solids though, so just treat formula like any other foodstuff.

Personally, I did find a bowl of readybrek with half a mashed banana in it for tea did improve ds's sleep, but only in the first part of the night 7-11pm. Still, nice to have an undisturbed evening!

Thanks all! very helpful as always.

I am googling about this topic and stumbled on this chat. Even though these were published a long time ago (2011) I feel the need to correct this in case other mums stumble on it too.

In the first year, infants absolutely need iron. Research has proven that the mothers provide a huge stock of iron that babies pile up in the womb so that they have enough for the first couple months after birth.

Once you introduce solids, or when you stop breastfeeding, you'll need to ensure your baby gets enough iron. Don't use supplements; formula or iron-rich vegetables do the trick.

We can not use cows milk in the first year for 2 reasons:

1. cows milk has more natrium (salt)
2. cows milk has less iron than formula Or breast milk

Once babies reach the first age you can use cows milk

I'm sorry but NHS says you can use cows milk in cereal, foods, cooking from 6 months as long as the main drink remains formula/breastmilk until 1 year

Jeezo bloody zombie thread!!