Follow on formula ? or stick with infant formula till 1 years old

[lemon255]

My baby is 5 months currently on Kendamil number 1. Some people are saying when the baby gets to 6 months I should switch the powder to follow on milk. Yet others say I should stick with first infant formula until they are 1 years old.

Only had 1 home visit from the healthcare visitor and when I went to the doctors for babies vaccines the nurse couldn't answer my question.

What have others done ?

Following as I'm in the same position and curious what others think I'm on SMA comfort and found it was the only one that helped reflux so I'm hesitant about switching.

No stick to first milk.
They only create follow on milks as they can only advertise them ones.
They aren’t needed.

First milk is completely sufficient.

Babies need formula (or breast milk) until a year old. Follow on milk will not give them the full nutrition and calories they need. This is bearing in mind milk should be the main source of these during the first year of life.

Follow on formula were created as away to get round the strict advertising laws around formula. Follow on formula are cheaper and can be included in things like boots points and be on offer but they tend to be harsher on tummies. There is no nutritional reason to change formula.

Your HV is just at the end of the phone and you can give them a ring.

First Steps Nutrition are the best source to look at for formula info and they say stay on Stage 1.

The reason being it's designed to meet babies' needs until a year old. Follow on is not any better at this. First stage is also better regulated - follow on has fewer regulations which is partly why it can be advertised.

Generally people saying you need to or should or it's beneficial to move onto follow on have been taken in by advertising (often relating to iron) or are just making an assumption based on the ages on the packaging.

When your baby gets to a year if you still want to give them milk you should swap to cow's milk or plant based milk, don't move on to the toddler (12m+) formulas as these are REALLY poorly regulated and contain large amounts of sugar/vanilla flavourings.

If you want to stay on formula for some reason ask your GP or HV for advice about this because there is some concern it can push nutrients from food out of their diet (or something like that?)

With my first DD I changed milks as the formulas seemed exactly the same but the follow on milk was slightly cheaper and could get boots advantage points on it.
My second DS had a lot of problems with wind and digestion so I kept him on the first milk as I didn’t want to risk unsettling him

My HV said to stick with first infant formula until he was 12 months old.
You could ring and speak to a HV - number should be in the Red Book.

www.firststepsnutrition.org/parents-carers

Stitch are you getting confused with toddler milks? Follow on isn't insufficient and will meet an older baby's needs just fine, it's generally not that different from first stage milk. But there is no need to change and first milk is more highly regulated so it does make sense to stick with that.

@Stichintime

Babies need formula (or breast milk) until a year old. Follow on milk will not give them the full nutrition and calories they need. This is bearing in mind milk should be the main source of these during the first year of life.

Follow on milk will so give the nutrition and calories they need. It is for 6 months+. I switched at around 9 months as it was cheaper than first milk