Follow-on milk ? confused!

[daisyj]

I have been mixed feeding dd since 4.5 months, using Hipp organic first milk for her formula feeds. Started weaning onto solids three weeks ago, which she is loving and eating 3 meals a day. I switched her to Hipp follow-on a couple of days ago, as I assumed it was more suitable after six months (she is now nearly 6.5 months).

She has taken to it fine, but I?ve just read that they don?t really need to be switched, that there?s more casein in follow-on milk, which isn?t a good thing, and that if they are eating well they won?t need the extra iron that follow-on milk is fortified with anyway. Now I?m wondering if I should just have stuck with first infant milk or should switch back. She currently has two 7-oz bottles a day (some of which sometimes goes into her food), and two breast feeds (occasionally three if she needs one in the night) as well as her food. Help!

Personly i feel follow on milk is just a marketing gimmic (sp).

I am just weaning dc3 and have nevered switched from the formula i was using prior. I have only moved them to cows milk at a year.

I'm sure someone (tiktok) will have more knowledge on whether you need to.

The only reason 'follow-on' milk was invented is because it is illegal to advertise formula for babies under 6 months.

To get around this the companies simply changed the formulation a little bit and re-labeled it so that they could advertise it, build brand recognition and so by the backdoor make the population aware of their formula. It's stealth advertising.

Th iron thing is contested, babies may not actually need this extra iron if they are having anough in their weaning foods. Plus the evidence that iron drops off significantly in breastmilk at 6 months is also contested.

You can get info on kellymom.com about this or search the archives on here as this has been before!

You don't need to switch. Follow on has more iron in it, but this is unnecessary. It is casein-dominant. Not really an issue. You can stick or switch - up to you! It's certainly not 'better' than ordinary formula.

It is a marketing gimmick, though, as we have discussed lots of time on mumsnet - you could look at old posts about it

Thanks very much everyone. I did wonder about the marketing/advertising thing. However, now I've switched, and as tiktok says it won't do her any harm , I think I'll stick with it. At least I know for the next time that I don't need to change until they're ready for cow's milk.

I did switch but only because it was cheaper