Follow on milk at 6 months

[Pussinglads]

DD has been FF since 3 weeks old. She's nearly 6 months now. Do I carry on with Stage 1 milk (hipp), or do I need to switch to Follow on milk? Any benefits of either, or do I stick to what's cheapest?

There's no need to switch. Just keep with the stage 1. It's a marketing ploy.

The only benefit of follow on to the consumer is the price. According to the NHS is it neither necessary or recommended - first milk til 12 months then cow's milk.

For the formula companies it is just a new product they have created that they can advertise, same as toddler milk, growing up milk, 2+ milk.

NHS guid lines say to stick to stage 1 formula till 12months. The only reasion follow on milk egseits is to get around the advertising ban on formula for babies under 6months.

It's basicly an invention to get around the ban and doen't have any health benafits

And quite apart from it not having any health benefits, the added ingredients often cause constipation.

It's a ploy.

Thank you all. Stage One it is.

It is not strictly true to say it has no health benefits, ds has low iron levels, and his dietician recommended we switch to follow on milk. He hasn't suffered any constipation.

I was advised that follow on isn't necessary as it is much the same, and stuck with first milk til 7 months ish but I have swapped now as follow on can be so much cheaper. A carton costs the same as first milk but it's included in e.g. 3 for 2 or extra points offers whereas first isn't.

DD didn't seem bothered by the change and hasn't been constipated - her poo is firmer but I'm pretty sure that's because she's been on solids for 2.5 months now. She'll have first milk once a day twice a week at nursery when she starts in a fortnight as that's what they provide, hopefully that won't be a problem either.

hth

hazeyjane - that's very specific to your DS though. If follow on milk wasn't around you would have been given iron suppliments instead. To much iron in a healthy person can have negative effects.

If your child has an iron deficiency then that's a different matter. But for a normal, healthy child, iron should come from food once weaning is started. It's better absorbed and gentler and avoids the constipation caused by excess iron in milk when drunk by a non-deficient child.

Just echoing what everyone else has said - everything I've been given from the NHS about feeding/weaning says that follow on milk is not needed or recommended and to keep using first infant milks. You can then swap to cow's milk as a drink after the age of 1. We're only a few weeks away from DD's birthday - yay! :)

Sorry, you are right, it is specific to our situation. I suppose I was just feeling a little pedantic about the 'not having any health benefits', when in certain cases, it does.