Follow On Milk

Since Ayrton has been born, I've always felt blessed that he's not a 'sicky' baby, having already had one that had severe reflux. So when Ayrton turned 6 months and started puking everywhere several times a day I was baffled. He also started to have very runny poo 5 or 6 times a day. At first I just dismissed it as an effect of introducing solids into his diet but it gradually got worse over the next month until he was being sick both before and after every milk feed.

I even started to wonder if he could have developed reflux, then finially something clicked and I realised that this had all started when we upgraded his formula to stage 3 Follow On milk. Ayrton was breastfed until 5 months when he self weened and I put him on Aptamil stage one until he turned 6 months when I moved him to the Follow On milk. Aptamil recommend you upgrade to this milk because it has an increased levels of Iron and long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPs) from the omega-3 and omega-6 groups. This means your baby can have the benefits of LCPs right up to the age of one year. Apparently. There is also a slight difference in the distribution of milk protein, with the First stage being 60% whey and 40% casein and the Follow-On being 50% whey and 50% casein

However, milk companies are exploiting a loop-hole in british advertising laws which state manufacturers are not allowed to advertise formula in order to help promote breastfeeding. But it doesn't state that that Follow On milk can't be advertised. So Follow On milks are packaged slightly differently and they've thrown in a few extra minerals in order to make the product sufficiently different enough to get round the advertising laws. Except that whatever these additional minerals are, many babies are having the same reaction to it as Ayrton. A quick Google search will bring up many posts from concerned mums who've noticed a change in their babies digestion, nappies and even sleep since changing to Follow On milk.
Many health visitors will recomend there is no need for mums to change to Follow On milk but when its the same price as stage 1 with seemingly more vitamins it seems like an obvious choice.

A quick switch back to Stage 1 milk showed an immediate improvement, with Ayrton no longer being sick and pooey nappies back down to one or two a day. I even noticed the grizzling that he had started to do (that I had put down to teething) after we put him to bed in the evening stopped.

Many mums assume that at 6 months its necessary to upgrade to the next stage of formula but it really isn't. The same goes for the 1+ year 'Growing up milk'. After 12 months, cows milk is perfectly adequate and much cheaper, yet too many people are fooled into thinking this is the best option for their babies. You just have to read the packaging to understand why mums would make this assumption with statements like Aptamil Follow On can be used as a main drink, as part of a weaning diet, from 6 months, really makes you think this is an essential part of your babies diet when this really ins't the case.

Of course I'm sure there are plenty of mums out there who have moved on to Follow on milk and not experienced any changes but why risk it if it's not necessary.