Moving 6 month old to stage 2 formula

[Sleepdeprived91]

DD has been on reflux milk since 8 weeks old, she’s now reflux free and weaning so I bought regular stage 1 milk to try. A few people have noticed and asked why I haven’t gone to stage 2 milk. As far as I was aware stage 2 was the same as stage 1 but they can’t advertise 1 which is why 2 was made. I’ve asked HV but they can’t give advice on changing milk and GP appointment is 2 weeks away. Has anyone else stayed with stage 1 until 12 months or should I be moving to stage 2?

We’re still on stage 1 at 10 months as recommended by health visitor

No need for follow on milk if your lo is happy on first milk. It was invented to get round advertising laws on first milk. I did switch at one point but only because it was cheaper and you could get special offers on it

It is fine to stay on stage 1 milk. If she is on specialist milk then I would definitely not change it. We stage on first milk but like you she was on a specialist milk.

When she is on less than 17oz of milk a day you will need to give multi vitamins and at 12 months you can move to full fat cows milk.

Yep, our HV said stick to stage 1 formula. No need at all to change to stage 2. So we used the first stage until a year old, then swapped to cows milk. You're right about the marketing...I know people who buy the follow on milk so they can earn Boots Advantage card points on it and benefit from offers.

I've just switched to stage 2. I can collect points on it and it could be on offer. Makes a difference to me.

Is there a reason not to switch to stage 2? We also stuck to stage 1 because of HV advice- same as pp have said- that its much the same as stage 1 but they can advertise/have offers etc...but is there a reason NOT to move onto it?

Yes we stayed on stage 1 milk until DS was 12 months. We tried the stage 2 milk at 6 months and it gave him the most horrendous diarrhoea so our GP advised me to keep him on stage 1.

We switched straight to stage 3 when he was 12 months and he's been fine with that - he's 15 months now and just dropped from 3 bottles a day to 2.

Follow on milks are usually casein protein based and first milks are usually whey based. It's just a different protein. Casein can be harder to digest and cause constipation in some babies but sometimes keeps them feeling full longer. That's really the only difference, besides the marketing bit.

If you have no reason to move on to stage 2 milk, then I would stick with the stage 1 if it's working. If it isn't, you might try the follow on milk and see if it's any better. I switched only because my dd was always fairly constipated (on the first milk, which usually isn't as constipating) because I wanted to see if it would make any difference. She was actually less constipated on the follow on milk (even though that isn't usually the case with most babies), so we stuck with that. So it can be very individual, but I wouldn't rush to make any changes if what you're doing is working, especially when you've only just changed.