Goodnight milk - does anyone know...

[fizzpops]

... why the instructions say to only make up a feed of 6oz (for a 6 month old)?

My DD has 9oz of her normal formula at bedtime (more than her usual feed of around 5-7oz).

I was just wondering - quite happy with giving her her regular formula at bedtime. It just seemed a bit arbitrary to say ALL babies should have the same when not all babies have the same amount for a feed during the day.

No ideas then? Or just soooo obvious it is embarassing....?

fizpops, if your baby is happy on regular formula, then why change?

Goodnight milk is no more than an attempt to create a need for a product where none existed before.

Having said that, I would guess the instructions err on the side of less volume because this is not actually 'just' a milk. It is a cereal product, mixed with dried milk. I think it is probably not a great idea to give a lot of cereal to a baby of this age, and the manufaturers know this.

"We have not been able to identify any scientific evidence to support the claims
made with respect to settling the baby for the night, or being gentler on the baby?s
tummy (search terms: starch, carbohydrate, cereal, settling, night-time feed,
sleep, bed-time meal)." That is a quote from the Government's Scientific committee who have looked at these products.

If you want the whole, very sceptical report, you can find it here:

here

the good night milk is apparently more filling, i gave dd at age 15 months as she was breast fed exclusivley till 9 months and she was fine and slept very well. the insctructions should be about right.

Thanks for 'doing' the link better, lilysmummy

I would agree - the 'goodnight milk' is prob more filling, and that's because of the cereal in it.

It's unlikely to harm a baby if the instructions are followed properly and the baby is old enough to cope with the ingredients. My preference would be not to give a young baby a cereal 'drink' just before bedtime, but I know they do this in other countries and the mums there think it is perfectly normal, so my preference is prob cultural as well as nutritional

However, I think it's all just yet another example of parents being sold an unnecessary extra product through 'clever' marketing, thinking it is somehow 'better' than what they were giving before, and thinking it will help settle a baby and/or ensure a longer period of sleep. There is, as SACN said, no evidence for this.

Thanks for your replies. I wasn't going to change - hence saying I was happy, just got a free sample sent and it got me wondering. I thought it might be something like this going by the ingredients and I also thought it may be more for marketing purposes than because my DD needed it .

Thanks for the link though!