A dentist warned me that cow's milk is better for a toddler's teeth than formula. You can always supplement cow's milk with vitamins in their diet (Dandelion in Northcote Road do a good range of children's vitamins). My son had cow's milk from 12 months and at 2.5 years old was given some blood tests (for another reason) to determine his levels of iron and other minerals. He had very good levels of the right nutrients according to the blood tests - no deficiencies.

There was a panaroma program on this which showed the the formulas for the 1 plus contained sugar (which is why they like it as tastes sweet). Normal cows milk contains exactly the amount of iron, vitamins etc that a toddler needs. It is just all a marketing con ( I know as I work in the industry).l keep the formula as a back up if I run out of milk or as a treat as they do love it. The only difference between the Aptamil age 1 milk and age 2 is that one is semi -skimmed.

Just to say that both my children have been given formula until the age if 2, and they both have ALWAYS eaten extremely well (spinach is even their favourite veg!) from the age I have weaned them to solid food (5,5 months) and they dont even have a sweet tooth... They do like chocolate though but who doesnt!
There is nothing to do between formula and not eating well! I promise you as i DO know what i sm talking about.

I agree that follow on milk in a country like the UK is just formula makers gimmick. Have you tasted how sweet it is - no wonder children given formula don't want to eat well when they can have a really sweet milky drink.
Not sure cost is comparative - 6 pints of cows milk (more than enough for a week) is less than £2

thanks for all the advice everyone, i appreciate it. i think i might try to combine them - perhaps cows milk in the morning and formula at night..? x

The HV told me at DD's 1 yo checkup, that I should be putting her on cows milk as well as giving multivitamins, as cows milk doesn't have the same level of nutrients as formula. I was giving her formula at this stage, but was told that I should try and get her on cows milk. Go figure.

So, I kept DD on formula - which is easier for me to prepare as I am not comfortable with heating every bottle of cows milk in the microwave. I think the cost is comparative. DD has 1 or 2 bottles a day (7oz each) and we use one container a week (£7).

As everyone else has said, I think it's personal choice and every child is different. However, having worked with some of the companies that make follow-on milk, it is ABSOLUTELY a way for them to increase the size of their market. Follow-on milks started off as an idea in countries where children are at risk of malnutrition/unbalanced diets (ie in emerging markets). So in principle if your child is having a balanced diet and eating enough food, there should be no reason to give them formula beyond 12m. As others have said, follow-on formula is a good idea if for some reason your child isn't getting enough nutrition from the rest of his/her diet.

As others have said personal choice and I think also down to circumstances....my children were not great eaters- they just weren't really all that interested in food - and as such I kept to follow on milk at first to make sure they got all the nutrients they needed.

They really weren't great eaters until they were 2 so I think I did mainly follow on milk for the most of the year though if they had eaten well, I often mixed it with cows milk or if they'd eaten really well then I'd just give them cows milk on its own. I gradually moved towards cows milk over the year and by the time they were 2, they were pretty much fully on cows milk though again if they hadn't eaten well then I would give them formula.

Personally, I didn't really like giving it to them too much as it's so sweet, I didn't want them to get so used to having a sweet tasting drink, but as it was, they needed the nutrients so that's why I did it that way.

It is very much a personal choice, but I personally would suggest cow's milk. Your child should be eating healthy balanced meals now full of everything they need that they shouldn't need the follow-on milk.

I think it is just a way for the company's to open up to a larger market and to make more money.

If you decide to stay with the follow-on milk, watch out for ear and chest infections. Happened to two children I have previously nannied for that they had many chest and ear infections and when they came off the follow-on milk they stopped.

Very much a personal choice, but I went straight from formula to cow's milk at age 1.

My daughter did (and still does) eat really well, and I just didn't feel it was at all necessary, plus, it was very expensive!

All the 'professionals' I asked about it assured me cow's milk was absolutely fine as she ate a good diet.

Also I've heard the toddler milks can be more filling than cow's milk, which might fill toddlers up too much to eat properly-especially if they're having lots of it!

But each child is different!

Hello!
I suppose it also depends on how many times a day you give them milk. If like mine, it is in the morning with, or after breakfast, and in the evening before bed, then it might be less 'filling' than at meal times, just before a meal, or in between meals as a snack. If your children eat enough solid food and seem happy, healthy, and content, i would carry on as they are and maybe try cowsmilk every now and then to see if they've reached 'switching' time.
All the best.

You should do growing up milk until 2yrs old and then whole milk. As you said, it is full of iron and vitamins (such as vitamin D). If you dont give your child vitamin D supplements, growing up milk is then an important source for it. Vitamin D helps your child fix the calcium in his bones hence give him stronger bones. There are some very bad cases if rachitism in the UK because of that.
At the end of the day it is your decision but i think until the age of 2 milk with a lot of GOOD things in it should be given.

Obviously at the end of the day this comes down to personal choice having looked into the pros and cons of both (eg if child doesn't eat much and gets most nutrition from milk or the child has some intolerance to cows milk than these may be reasons to use follow on milk). My personal view is that follow on milk is just a product which has been created to enable baby milk producers to sell more product similar to the follow on milk for 6 m plus which was only created because in the UK advertising of baby milk for babies under 6 months is banned. Interestingly there was a cow and gate advert for follow on milk (the one with the Giant cup of cows milk) which has now been banned for being misleading. My child has had cows milk from 1. It is also cheaper!

Hi all - now that my baby is over 12 months i was thinking of switching her from formula milk to cows milk. However i also wonder if it would be better to give her a follow-on formula milk instead of cows milk, as this is fortified with iron and vitamins. What's the current thinking on what is best? Thanks