follow on milk...pointless???

[vis]

i know i have read it on here some place.

looking at the aptamil brand- it has more iron, but looks like it is made more of skimmed milk than the

i thought they needed the iron?

Yes,pointless.
Remind yourself that it costs seven times more than regular milk and ask yourself who gains from a mother believing it is a useful product.

yeh- but the

My hv told me not to bother, and as soon as they turn one, use full fat cows milk. She did tell me that if I was concerned about his iron levels etc, then to add a drop of Abidec to his milk (its a multi vitamin for children)

whats wrong with cow's milk?

We were told by hv that the follow on milks (for hungrier babies, for growing babies etc) we just full of more sugaer and more fat and not to bother.

moondog, I don't have a clue about all this, but how does follow on milk cost more when it's the same price as first/hungry baby milk, and the scoop size is the same, same amount of powder etc? I don't understand.

I think it costs alot more than buying a couple of litres of fullfat cow's milk which does the job admirably.

Oh, I see what she means now, of course.

But they can't have regular cows milk til they're 1 year old, correct? My lo is 6 months and I've just put him on aptamil follow on milk.

The iron is a red herring - if you check it out on department of health webpage, the extra iron in follow-on milk isn't in a form that's readily available to the baby anyway so there's no advantage from an iron point of view to giving follow-on over first milk.

babies can have cow's milk from six months, but not as a main drink.

Course they can James!
Save your money!
These companies just want to get hold of yuor hard earned cash by having you believe you need this crap.

Oh, well now I'm confused lol (and totally hijacking someone's thread, sorry!)

no james- i am with you now !

Follow-on milk was only invented to get round the advertising ban on infant formula (for which there are many and excellent reasons).

It has to be a different formulation from infant milk so it can be sold as a different product.

But it does contain iron in larger quantities than infant formula and this often constipates babies who would be better left on the infant formula till they're around a year old and can have cows milk, if you so choose, or get their calcium, etc from cheese, yoghurt and ice cream

Theres a thread on mmn somewhere that has questions about the new night time milk (which is pretty similar to hungrier baby milk, dont know about follow-on) where tiktok called cow and gate and asked what the extra was that improved it, their reply potato starch and rice flakes.

Don't bother, just stick to normal formula, if you;re worried about iron, give baby some dried apricots.

As harpsi says, if you use milk in babies foods from six months (ie cereals and things) you can use cows milk, just don't give it to them as a drink (ie their bottle).

Thanks both of you, that explained a lot.

all a big con really - although if you switch at 6 months until they're a year old with some brands you can save £1 a tin.....

Just pay look at the small amount of follow on milk bottles on sale at supermarkets and pharmacies.

It is just a marketing tool to keep you hooked to the brand.

The prices are extorsionate.

Your baby will get the iron from the carefully thought food mummy will prepare!