Whole Milk or Growing Up Milk?

[LeeLou456]

DS will turn 1 in a couple of weeks and we are wondering whether to start him on whole milk or move onto Cow&Gate Growing Up Milk? Does anyone know which is better for babies? He has roughly 4oz or 5oz 4 times a day and has no special dietary requirements.
I'm tempted to put him on whole milk but I'm interested to know what others in the same situation have done with their lo's

Growing up milk is a marketing ploy to enable manufacturers to legally advertise formula. Cows milk over 1 will be fine !

I plan to switch my nearly 1yo to whole milk soon. Growing up milk has no additional nutritional benefits, especially if the baby is eating a variety of solids 3 x a day. Cows milk is cheaper too.

No need for growing up milk, just use full fat cows milk

First steps nutrition website is a useful source of information

Absolutely agree with pp. My health visitor told us not to bother with the growing up milk as it is a marketing ploy. Whole milk is fine for over one year.

Whole milk
As @happy writes it’s a ploy and costs a lot more. And fresh milk just tastes much nicer!

I tried to switch to cows milk at 1 but DD absolutely hated it - I tried everything, heated, cooled, in a bottle, in a cup, mixed with formula etc., all to no avail so we are on Aptamil 1-2yrs growing up milk which she guzzles down.

Whole milk

Thanks everyone, I was hoping the majority would say whole milk! It's always interesting to hear other people's opinions though.

Growing up milk is fortified with vitamins and minerals, so if you struggle to get a multivitamin into your child another way, that's useful to know.

We switched DD over to whole milk, and she had terrible constipation - to the point there was blood when I wiped. We did the switch slowly, over about 3 weeks. We switched back to follow on milk, and her bowels were much happier! However it's worth saying that she was eating virtually no solid food at this point; if you child eats normally (i.e. thinks any form of solid food is worth swallowing), then whole milk should be fine.

Incidentally, DD eats plenty of dairy as now, and has no toilet problems; I think it was just that whole milk was all she was consuming, and her body couldn't cope.

Whole milk; DD didn’t even seem to notice the change. I did one bottle whole milk then the next a few days later; no issues with digestion either

Whole milk, you can also get Cravendale’s big milk if you like. It comes with added vitamins already in it x

Big kids milk I meant!

We used Arla Big Milk. It’s fortified whole milk so cheaper than formula but has iron and some vitamins in. DD1 disliked it initially so be prepared that you might need to gradually switch over.