BLW & Formula feeding

[ChelliBelle]

Hi,

I did post this in the BLW sticky but no one replied lol, so I'll try my luck here.

We are currently BLW. My little one eats little bits at some point, but generally just sucks and plays on the food. I know this is all normal learning with BLW, but what I'm wondering is more on her formula milk.

With her only having minimal solid foods do I now use follow on milk from 6 months? For example, she is on Aptamil milk, and the stage three 6monthold follow on milk, which they say is to compliment weaning, but with her only having minimal solids is it still ok to use this?

I've looked online but I can't seem to get any answer about it.

 

[MindUtopia]

Just use whatever milk you've used from birth. The follow-on milks are just a gimmick for the most part (they can't advertise first milks, so they developed a new product that legally they can advertise). First milks are made for up to 12 months, after which you can just feed regular cow's milk. There's no harm in using them if they work better, but you don't need to either. First milks are made for weaning too. We do use a follow-on milk, but only because I tried it one week on a whim and it meant my daughter suddenly wasn't constipated (she's pretty much always been constipated, even on breastmilk). So we stuck with it, but otherwise I would have kept her on her other milk til 1 year.

And then just keep feeding as you always have. Eventually, he'll start eating enough solids (usually around 9-10 months) that he won't be as hungry for milk and will drop a feed. We've been doing BLW and my daughter is little over 9 months and only just in the past week or two has stopped wanting her 11am feed (so we moved it to after lunch, about 2pm, and then replaced the afternoon feed around 4pm with a solid snack). If you keep feeding on demand, your baby will let you know, but it probably won't happen for awhile.

 

[ChelliBelle]

Thank you i'm more relaxed with the BLW and enjoying watching her experience new foods. Cheers for your help- eased my concerns x

 

[Rachel_C]

While I agree that follow on milks are a gimmick invented by formula companies so they can advertise and I didn't use them for my LO for that reason, I've changed my mind now and would if I had to FF again. It doesn't really teach the companies a lesson if you insist on buying 2 tubs a week of more expensive milk! Take that nasty company, I'm going to give you more money than I have to for basically the same product. I think when we were using formula, it was about £1.50/tub more expensive for first stage milk so quite a lot more expensive over a year or so. I'd give it a go and see if it agrees with your LO. If it does, stick with it and spend the money you save on something fun (or tasty) for LO

 

[ChelliBelle]

To be honest they both cost the same and are the same size. She seems fine on it so i'll just continue- thank you