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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

First stage milk versus Follow On milk

16 replies

BouncingTurtle · 26/06/2008 08:31

Ds is now 6mo, and I am thinking of possibly introducing a bottle of formula a day before I go back to work.
Is follow on milk really necessary? First stage milk appears to be for up to 12 months?

TIA

OP posts:
Olihan · 26/06/2008 08:37

Not necessary in the slightest. AFAIK, follow on was intro'd by the formula companies to get round the advertising ban on stage 1 milks. So normal formula is more than fine.

How many days are you working? What hours? I know people have managed to work and continue bfing without needing to use formula. Depends how you feel about formula really .

cmotdibbler · 26/06/2008 08:38

First stage milk is suitable for until you decide to give them regular cows milk - follow on milk is just a marketing con.

Original poster
BouncingTurtle · 26/06/2008 08:59

That's pretty much what I suspected.
I'll be going back in September full time and ds will be in nursery from 7.30am to 5.30pm.
I will be expressing at work, and continuing to breastfeeding morning, evening and night, but I worried that I might not be able to express enough for him when he is at nursery.
I don't seem to have time time to express atm, because he is such a frequent feeder and we're out and about so much. I've only just started weaning him, so hoping that as he takes more and more solids he'll drop a feed or two to give me more opportunity to express.

OP posts:
littleboyblue · 26/06/2008 09:10

Does follow on milk not have more iron in it? As babies natural iron bank starts to run out at about 6 months, I thought follow on was to give them the extra nutrients they needed.

tiktok · 26/06/2008 09:21

littleboyblue, follow on has more iron in it than ordinary cows milk - as does all formula. The extra iron in follow on (compared to first stage) is neither necessary nor useful - the baby cannot absorb it, and this is why follow on is often associated with babies becoming constipated. There are no extra nutrients. Even the ads are careful to compare it to cows milk, not ordinary formula, but the impresh you get from ads and marketing is that at 6 mths babies 'ought' to move on to it....once they have you hooked, you're a sucker (they think!) for other wastes of money like 'Junior Milk' for toddlers. Bah!!

OP, buy it if you want to, but not because it is 'better' for a 6 mth old than ordinary formula.

FAQ · 26/06/2008 09:27

I agree with the above - the only advantage to the follow on milk is that you can earn clubcard/advantage/whatever points on it - and it's sometimes on special offer

I don't "get" toddler milk - I mean - unless yo're breastfeeding then surely the chances are you're going to switch to Cows milk at 12 months old.........aren't you???

I certainly did - wasn't going to spend ridiculous amounts of money buying more tins of formula when the milk from the fridge was ok for DS3

cmotdibbler · 26/06/2008 09:29

BT- he'll probably be fine without any formula anyway - but as you'll be expressing feeds that he would have had, it'll be much easier. All you need to have expressed in advance is one or two days feeds, and then it all goes on from there. I went back ft when DS was 4.5 months old and expressed until he was 14 months, so have been there !

LBB- it does, but its probably not absorbed anyway. They should be getting any extra iron required from solid foods, not adding it to milk. Cos if you think about it, this arguement about iron stores running out from 6 months, tells you that its not absorbed so well from milk anyway ?

Original poster
BouncingTurtle · 26/06/2008 10:35

Oh I'll be definitely switching to cow's milk as his main drink when he is a year old, I'm also a bit about this 1yr+ milk. I'm intending to use cow's milk in cooking and such now.
I'm going to see how it goes, and hopefully I won't need to bother with formula. I suppose as well if he is eating plenty of dairy in the form of yoghurts & cheese, and having water as well, then again his milk requirements wouldn't be so much during the day?

OP posts:
Bucharest · 26/06/2008 10:36

Olihan is right. The WHO tells you follow on milk and the 1 yr stuff is just a cunning ploy to be able to advertise.

Lizzer · 26/06/2008 10:41

Nothing to see here

BT, dd was bf with no formula/fo milk and by 9 months we were down to just morning and night bf's, so I reckon you'll be fine too-like you say, yoghurt and cheese during day and ds will be getting enough to last til you get home at night

littleboyblue · 26/06/2008 10:51

cmotdibbler hadn't thought of it like that. I've been giving ds follow on as thought it was giving him the nourishment he needs now. Oh well, I might try cow's milk when this tin runs out.

Original poster
BouncingTurtle · 26/06/2008 11:07

Thanks for the reassurance everyone
Just been worrying about how my little boobaholic will cope at nursery but I guess a lot can change in 2 months!
Lizzer - that's very reassuring thanks
I'd rather not give him formula, ds is a bottle refusnik, will only take a bottle from someone else if he knows I'm no where around! So my Dh would have to give it to him while I hid somewhere, and my DH is often home past ds's bedtime which would be an ideal time to give it to him or away overnight.

OP posts:
startingtogetveryworried · 26/06/2008 17:34

I have been thinking the same and considering swapping to follow on because its cheaper lol Is that a bad reason?

Original poster
BouncingTurtle · 26/06/2008 17:54

Well I am tempted by the clubcard points

OP posts:
Seona1973 · 26/06/2008 20:20

I did change as it was cheaper (I even changed to a cheaper brand i.e. Aptamil to Cow and Gate). DS never seemd to notice the difference, thank goodness.

Place · 27/06/2008 14:43

That's 'cos apptamil and c&G are the same in different packaging

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