New to ff, quick question re 6mo baby and formula types

[Hazelanne]

Hello,
I'm hoping someone might be able to confirm whether some advice I received from a health visitor regarding what stage of formula for my 6mo dd to use is up to date and correct. (Not trying to undermine HV here, just new to ff and rather unsure about it all.)

Having only recently made the change to ff I was asking at what point do I switch from stage 1 formula to the 6month+, and whether its linked to age or weight or weaning. She replied that there's no need to change to the next formula along as the stage 1 is closest to breast milk and that's what an ebf baby would be having so I should just stick with that and let dd get her extra nutrition from solids.
Just want to know if this is this standard practice, obviously want to be doing what's best for her and this does make sense but not heard the same advice before. What do you think?

Thank you

Hi I breast fed my lb & went on formula when he was 3 months.I used aptamil first milk & stuck with that until he was 11 months & I switched to whole milk as by then he was eating plenty! There's no need to get them for different ages its just an advertising thing my hv told me! I would go with the usual first milk until baby is 1 :)

I agree with HV too.

hi there,

yes she is correct. follow on milk/hungry baby milk bla bla are all marketing cons really and do nothing but clog baby up.

breastmilk stays the same doesn't it and there's no need to thicken it up or chsnge it so the same principle applies to stage 1/newborn milk.

in fact i have found the lighter the formula the more they appreciate and enjoy the solids if that makes sense.

previously i liked hipp organic stage 1 milk (disclaimer do not work for them just found them to be the lightest)

hth

My DS is just 6 months and after a traumatic 2 weeks when he was born, I had to admit defeat and change from breast to formula.

We use Aptamil 1st milk and we won't be changing until he moves on to cows milk.

HTH

Great, thank you for such speedy replies, will stick with the 1st milk then!

the only reason they make 'follow on' milk is so they can advertise. You can't advertise infant formula for use before 6 months in case of undermining breast feeding (same reason they are never on offer, don't get Boots points etcetc.) so they advertise the 'from 6 months' product to get the brand name out there. Likewise cows milk is fine (& alot cheaper from 1 year)

Splatt is right. It's all a con to get round our advertising laws. They just made up a product. It doesn't exist in countries like USA which can advertise

Yes first milk is fine. Sweetie there is no difference in lightness or heaviness in formula types if by that you mean fat density or calorie content. They are all pretty much the same. It's iron that is higher in follow on and both follow on and second stage are casein based ie the protein is less modified . Won't make any difference to whether the baby appreciates solids.

I kept my dd1 on first milk up until 12 months with my subsequent dds I moved to stage 2 formula solely because it was so much cheaper. I wouldn't have moved from stage 1 for any other reason.