Feeding a 3m baby follow on milk - anyone do this?

[Suffolkblush]

Evening all,

Got my ds weighed today - 15 weeks and 15lbs! Mentioned to the health staff that he's still feeding very little and often (with 3 night feeds, gah!), even with the switch from breastmilk to hungry baby formula about a week ago.

She suggested that I start him on the next stage of milk now as it contains more curds which will fill him up more. Has anyone tried this?

I'm just feeling a bit hesitant as although I'm assuming it's ok (otherwise why would she suggest it) the packaging does say for 6 months plus and ds is just over three.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

i would be reluctant , never heard that re follow on milk. you could phone the formula company helpline to check but i didnt think follow on milk had any role in making them fuller longer.....

follow on milk is a swiz that allows manufacturers to bypass the no advertising formula laws. It is no better for your baby and no baby should need it

I'm not an expert but this sounds strange advice to me too! I would check with a different health visitor/your GP if you are concerned about your DS's weight/feeding patterns.

is also normal for a breast fed, or indeed any young baby, to wake in the night for feeds

oops sorry. .So you've had bad advice there

I find it most odd with this obsession with feeding then something to make them sleep.

Baby's are little.. They have little tummy and are supposed to wake up at night for the most part.

i think follow on milk does contain slightly more iron....but that isnt going to be of benefit to you at this point .

Er no. Your baby is most likely going through a growth spurt. So stick with normal formula just give more of it.

That is odd advice. Follow on milk is definitely only for 6 months plus (and not even necessary for that age range), and the adverts for it clearly state that it is not a breastmilk substitute.

Also agree that feeding 3 times in the night, and little and often, is unfortunately normal, and doesn't need any special milk to fix.

In fact little and often with nights is normal for a 12 week old baby.

No way. That is for 6mths upward and not suitable for the digestive system of a 3mth old. And so what if 15lbs? He's meant to be putting in weight. ..and your breast milk is made for him...no need to change.

That'll be the 16 week growth spurt then. My DS3 is now 7 months and woke 3 times last night yawn and for a full week between from 15 weeks he fed every two hours round the clock. It was exhausting but it's how they grow. Have a google for Kellymom for more info. The HV is talking utter shite. It scares me where they get this rubbish from. They must teach it in HV school in Spouting Bollocks to New Mothers class.

That's about the right weight isn't it (judging by my generally average DSes)? Not particularly heavy, and the feeding sounds totally normal although when you say little and often, do you mean every 3 hours or every hour? 3 is normal, every hour would be a bit more unusual - although not in the evenings.

I think that sticking to appropriate age milk is better - I agree with janmk, that ringing the formula company would be a good way to set your mind at rest

Absolutely not. That is terrible advice!

Please don't change his milk. As PP have said, this is normal behaviour for a baby of his age unfortunately. My DS fed approx every 60-90 mins day and night from 14-17 weeks. It nearly killed me but it didn't last forever. Now he is 24 weeks and still wakes 2-3 times between 7 and 7 which is the norm IMO.

No baby really needs follow on milk. They are just a way of the milk companies being allowed to advertise as they can't advertise their 'first' milk due to legal restrictions.

You are doing a great job feeding your baby - stick at it. Before you know it he will be waving at you from the school gate!

(And he sounds a perfectly acceptable size btw )

most babies wake on the night to feed

Sounds like a bad idea to me. NHS says that follow on milk is not suitable for babies under 6 months.

When my DS was waking lots at night I started to follow a routine where I fed him every 3 hours from 7am and 7pm (waking to feed or offering before he was demanding it, if necessary), and fed him at night only when he demanded it. He improved quite rapidly.

I think 3 months is about the earliest you might expect a baby to sleep through, and my DS went from waking 2 or 3 times a night to sleeping through very suddenly (in about a week).

I wouldn't.

As pp said, follow-on milk only exists because formula companies aren't allowed to advertise milk for babies younger than 6 months.

My HV told me that the earliest we could expect DC to sleep through was 12 weeks, so I'd be surprised if waking in the night to feed at 15 weeks was abnormal.

Thanks all, not worried about his weight, 75th centile, nice and sturdy!

I was just curious about the advice as it was something I'd never heard before.

He's my second so I'm well aware that babies need to feed through the night, no worries there. At the mo he'll have a 3 hr nap from about 7.30 to 10ish but then he feeds every 90 mins throughout the night... usually with a bonus poop at 5am ish. I remember my dd being much more settled at this age, so wasn't sure if this was also pretty normal or something I should pay more attention to. If the general consensus is normal then that's good enough for me.

He hit a growth spurt last week and we went down to feeding pretty much constantly during the day which was fun, hence the intro of formula to give me (read: my poor broken boobs) a break.

Think we'll stick with the hungry baby and get some baby rice in his diet once he hits 18-20 weeks, hopefully that'll fill him up a bit more.

Thanks again!

Are they just pulling random people off the street and giving them a badge with health visitor and letting the pass out "advice" to new mums,
Your baby has not even been on this earth for 4 months! Just go with little and often and yes they do wake up in the night as said above they have teeny tummies that will get hungry. It's not forever.
My ds at that age fed every 3 hrs or sometimes 2 hrs depending on how hungry he was, he is a little person so sometimes he will eat more than others, if he didn't finish a bottle, I just chucked it.
Just try and go with what they want and it will balance out.
I had a look at the only time ds was weighed as I was summoned at 4months he was 14lb 8, he's really tall, so was/is probably slightly underweight but he looks fine is growing out of his clothes, a happy baby and eats fine.
Stick with first milk, hungry baby is a con and is just harder to digest and follow on for a baby that young would probably mess up their stomach.

Sounds like bollocks "advice".

The NHS only advises first milk until 12 months - not hungry baby, as it is hard to digest, and not follow-on.

If your baby is hungry then it's because he needs calories. Trying to fill him up on hard to digest milk or rice so he takes less isn't going to do him any good.

Are you sure she didn't mean the hungry baby stuff? I wouldn't give follow on milk as it is higher in sodium than first milks and not suitable under 6months

Maybe she thought you were giving first milk already as you wouldn't normally go straight to hungry milk from breastfeeding. She probably meant for you to go from first milk to hungry milk and not hungry milk to follow on milk.

All milks are the same, the only difference between hungry, comfort, first stage, second stage is the packaging. Info gleaned from the actual manufacturers.