Another follow on thread

[BabyMamma93]

My little boy is almost 8 months old. i find it sooo hard to buy stage 1 milk anywhere around here, i live near a million shops and supermarkets, but they are all rubbish at stocking stage 1 formula milk.
we had no formula in at all (id just made his last 4 bottles) and there was no stage 1 anywhere, so i left it to the next day in the hopes they had re stocked, they hadn't. so i had to get follow on milk.
ive looked into it online, and same on here, it said that it really is no different all it has is useless extra iron.
so does it matter that ive changed his milk?
if its no different it wont matter will it? i read that most babies get constipated from it, which ill look out for but other than that, is there no reason not to buy and use it?
i obviously only want whats best for him so if it means having to travel a couple miles to get stage 1 formula i will, but if this is just as good, then i might aswell carry on

 

[Rel]

Over here formula age 1 is meant for babies age 0 to 6 months and age 2 from 6 months. I have switched with all 3 of my children when they turned 6 months and they have been fine with it. Plus it's slightly cheaper.

 

[felix555]

You can switch to follow on at 6 months so not sure what the issue would be?

Iron can cause constipation but I think it's unlikely.

 

[BabyMamma93]

there isnt a problem, but i read something from another forum someone said they would never switch because follow on isnt as good as stage 1. i just want the best for my LB and i hate to think im not giving him it.
i also thought follow on was for BF babies not FF babies?

 

[felix555]

It's exactly the same. It has a bit of extra iron for formula companies to be able to get around the marketing ban. They can market formula aimed at babies 6months or older. Theoretically a baby older than 6 months needs more iron ... tada follow on milk is created and can be advertised but it's exactly the same thing. A bit of a con really.

 

[Pearls18]

I've heard something about the proteins in follow on milk being slightly more associated with obesity but I couldn't give you any evidence to back that, it's internet hear say lol. To be honest the main reason I don't use stage 2 is out of principle as I don't think there is any need for it so it's all just a marketing gimmick, I don't like the way formula companies operate (though I understand why they do what they do) so largely for me it's a bit of an ineffective protest but if I had nothing else in I would use it, we get our milk prescribed as DS is CMPI and thankfully the dr let's me have my protest prescribing stage 1 but the pharmacy don't get it

 

[MindUtopia]

There's nothing bad about follow on milk. It's only bad when folks think they 'have' to switch and it causes problems. It's no better than stage 1 milk, like the PP said, it's just a marketing gimmick because in the UK advertising of stage 1 milks is banned - so they developed a made up product that they could get around that ban in order to still market their product range as a whole. But the formula itself is perfectly fine, as long as it doesn't cause constipation or tummy issues. We did exactly what you did a little after 6 months. Ended up buying follow on milk a bit accidentally and found that actually it sorted out our daughter's constipation, which she'd had from birth, whether breast or formula fed. For that reason, I decided to keep using it, just because she seemed to do better on it. So yes, perfectly fine, as long as he seems well on it, even if there are no real nutritional benefits to using it.

 

[alex_22]

Like pp have said nothing bad about it just a little extra iron, my hv never mentioned anything about follow on milk but did make a point not to buy 1yr plus milk because it's just a waste of money and cows milk is perfectly fine she never said it was bad just a total waste of money, no formula can be bad for them they'd not be able to sell it if it was, im actually really surprised rusks are still available my hv told me even the reduced salt one's contain more salt than a baby needs, sorry I'm rambling x

 

[BabyMamma93]

hes only had 2 bottles and already seems a bit constipated. he went bright red in the face by pushing then when i took his nappy off it was like a adults poo by firmness, with a tint of blue in it. this is kinda what it was like when he was on enfamil ar.
should i stick to it for now? see if the constipation carries on and if it does stop,. or just travel a couple miles to find stage 1 lol

 

[LittleNikki]

My gp told me follow on milk just had stuff added in to fill them up more or something. I never switched my son just kept him on the stage 1 until he was diagnosed with cmpi and given prescription formula.