Is follow on milk a gimmick?

[pinkyprincess]

I remember my mum giving my brother and sister full fat cows milk. Is follow on milk a gimmick to convince ff mums to carry on buying formula? Or is there a nutritional reason as to why it's sold?

My OH just asked me and I wasn't sure!

 

[Kbex]

If your little one has a balanced diet they won't need follow on milk just cows milk. Some of my friends gave their fussy eaters follow on milk but I am still not sure it's necessary x

 

[jules84]

There is a lot of vitamins and minerals in formula, mainly Iron, which most children don't get a lot of as they dont eat a lot of red meat etc.

They can't sell a gimmick like milk and say it's nutritionally superior if it's not, that's illegal.

That's not to say your child would not be fine without it, personal opinion really.

Hopf when I have a little one it is definitely something I would give my 1 yr + I think , I don't see the harm in extra vits and minerals esp since a lot of 1-2 yr olds go through stages of not eating much at all, nice backup supply . xx

 

[Mamafy]

I give my wee man full fat milk plus he's on a vitamin supplement so the best of both worlds

 

[vickib_1984]

I put Thomas straight in to full fat cows milk when he turned 1 follow on milk has what toddlers need but I would only use it if my child didn't like cows milk xx

 

[pinkyprincess]

Hmm interesting! When do you introduce cows milk? Surely if a child is eating the right foods, would they not get the right amount of vitamins and nutrients from that?

 

[MrsR]

I put Sebastian straight onto cows milk. My reason is that calcium inhibits the absorption of iron so putting extra iron into a milk drink wouldn't be as effective as making sure LO eats a balanced diet. I always make sure Sebastian has milk at times when he hasn't just eaten and that he eats a good varied diet. I don't feel the need to add any vitamin or mineral supplements unless advised by a health professional.

 

[MrsR]

We introduced cows milk at 12 months.

 

[Maria1977]

I think the follow on milk at 6 months is a bit of a gimmick as they aren't allowed to advertise the first stage due to the government backing BFing only! Which is so stupid imo, but anyways, when you check the ingredients they're not really that different. So I guess that the companies have got round the anti-first stage by promoting a follow-on milk at 6 months to get themselves noticed.

I've read and heard HVs say that there is no need to swap from stage 1 to follow on. I guess the main advantage is that you can get tesco and boots points for follow on and also use points to buy them and get coupons, whereas stage 1 is treated as though it doesn't exist

 

[Maria1977]

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant the follow-on milk at 6 months? Not the toddler milk at 1 years lol

Oz has the toddler milk as it has added nutrients, and a vanilla flavouring to make it sweeter as he won't entertain cows milk alone. Plus it's good to know he's getting the extra nutrients from the milk as his diet is very limited still coz he's so fussy!

 

[tinytoes]

I put Aoibheann straight onto cows milk at one I didnt see a need as I give her very balanced meals and foods with lots of iron . I will do the same with Lily depending on her weight and nutrition at the time xxx

 

[Amy_J]

My lo drinks toddler milk by cow and gate simply because he is a fussy eater and wont drink cows milk anymore (he used to though but recently started refuing it toally apart from on cereal) if he wasnt a fussy eater i wouldnt bother. As for the 6month follow on i Didnt bother and just kept lo on hungry milk until he was 1 year old, then switched to cows, and now at 16months hes on cow and gate toddler milk!!

 

[tinytoes]

As Maria just said if I had a fussy eater I would probably give it to them to be sure they were getting the nutrients

 

[vickib_1984]

12 months you introduce it to toddlers but like some of the other girls have said they only use the toddler milk as their babies won't have cows milk xx

 

[Lilelephant]

I think the follow on milk at 6 months is a bit of a gimmick as they aren't allowed to advertise the first stage due to the government backing BFing only! Which is so stupid imo, but anyways, when you check the ingredients they're not really that different. So I guess that the companies have got round the anti-first stage by promoting a follow-on milk at 6 months to get themselves noticed.

I've read and heard HVs say that there is no need to swap from stage 1 to follow on. I guess the main advantage is that you can get tesco and boots points for follow on and also use points to buy them and get coupons, whereas stage 1 is treated as though it doesn't exist

Is that why stage one formula is never on offer? It gets my goat lol

 

[vickib_1984]

It illegal for them to put first milk on offer and advertise it as they are suppose to promote breast feeding xx

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

I put my son on cow's milk at 10 months and it stopped his reflux nearly straight away.
Luckily he's always been a good eater so doesn't need the extra nutrients that is in follow on formula

 

[littlemiss83]

I'd say it is a gimmick

I dont know what to do about cows milk, with my 1st LO the guidelines were stop formula & start cows milk age 6m/o & obvs she ended up ok. My eyes nearly popped out my head when HV said they recommend not til 12 months now. Its not just the pissing about with making formula properly its the cost of it as well.

 

[don-don]

It prob is lol...
I thought follow on milk was from six months and then you get toddler milk for 1 year plus.
We used follow on milk from six months. Not really sure why tbh. But hes been fine with it. And now hes a year old, Ive just got some toddler milk. Gonna use that until he reaches his corrected age of one. Then move onto cows milk xxxx

 

[pinkyprincess]

I thought it would've been 6 months onto cows milk! I'm bfing and not really wanting to give my LO follow on milk so that would mean bfing for a year and I don't know if I can do that!!