Which milk for 6mo?

[peachweach]

My 6mo DD is weaned now and happily eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. She's formula fed and still on first milk at the moment, but I'm just a bit unsure of if I should be moving her to a follow on milk.

The follow on milks all say 6-12m on the cartons, but the NHS guidelines say follow on milk from 6 months isn't necessary. So should I just carry on giving her the first milk until she can have cows milk as her main drink at 1yo? Or will she be missing out on other nutrients if she doesn't have the follow on milk?

Thanks in advance!

Personally I've never used follow on milks when babies are weaned they say the milks have added vitamins and iron but they get that from the food they eat. As far as I'm aware they are only supposed to have a couple of bottles of follow on so you'd still need the usual formula anyway but I am happy to be corrected on that. Dd3 is youngest of 7 and is weaning now and I'll just carry on with her formula until she's ready to go to cows milk.

Follownon milk is a bit of a con because the formula companies arent allowed to advertise their first milks, so they created these to allow them to get their brand advertised! Its absolutely fine to keep using the first formula until you wean on to cows milk.

Thanks for your replies! So is it majorly different, the actual formula? Because I'm just thinking, if it's not then I might as well get the follow on one? At least then you can collect Boots etc points on it?

There is evidence that the high amounts of iron in follow on can actually be detrimental to brain development. I’d stick with the first milk

My daughter is coming up for 11 months he and I went through the same thought process OP. Ended up just sticking to the First Milk in the end after discussing it with the Health Visitor.

I switched to follow on at 6 months so I could get boots advantage points on it!

I switched to follow on as you can get offers on it and it was cheaper, but not until around 9 months

Thanks all, I've stuck to the first milk for now, but that's exactly what I was thinking @coffeeforone and @dementedpixie, if the follow on milk is just a sales con but not unsafe/detrimental to babies health then why not use that and be able to collect Boots points and get special offers on it?! Although @EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic did mention up thread about high iron levels in the follow on milk being detrimental so that's something to consider I suppose.

@MrsMyreton glad it's not just me! Just out of curiosity, what was the reasoning behind your HV advising to stick to the first milk?

I have never heard of that link before tbh. I know excess iron can cause constipation. Have never heard if it affecting brain development, not sure if that's true.

Hi OP,

Similar to what everyone has said really, she just said that the follow on is a bit of a con and that baby will get all she needs from the First Milk