Is this a silly question????

[squirtle81]

OK this may sound really silly, but here goes anyway.

If your meant to stop giving formula milk at the age of 12 months and start

giving cows milk, why do they have formula for 12 months+??

[Ange&Seth]

That is a FANTASTIC question!! I'd like to know the answer to this one too. But thanks for clearing up another question I had, which was when they could have cows milk!!

[squirtle81]

Well i'm glad i'm not the only one that doesn't know why

[Baby Girl]

I don't know why but I know I gave my DD1 the 12 months + formula and cows milk and she liked them both as much as each other!!

The formula was a flavoured one (can't remember which flavour) so it made for a bit of a change of taste for her rather then plain milk all the time. I used to use it to make milkshakes for her too!!

[Miss Tazar]

to make money
we have a family advisory service in WA and they say not to be fooled into progress formulas, toddler formulas, etc... they are just gimmicks to make us buy their products
The starter formula is fine until 12 mths, then cows milk after that

I wonder if you should introduce the cow's milk slowly? I imagine so...

[Baby Girl]

The progress (step 2) formula that we use is cheaper than the starter formula so I don't know how it makes them more money - DD2 drinks less and it is cheaper per tin!!

Strange marketing strategy if you ask me!!

[jessgray]

my mchn told me that some kids dont get enough good stuff from their foods and cows milk so they need to have some formula thats why their is 12 months + formulas. which i think must be tru coz it says the same thing on the karicare ad

[rynosmum]

Purely a marketing ploy by the formula companies to try and secure a new market.

Toddlers are fine on cows milk (except if they have allergies of course) but it's a target market for these guys as they have previously been missing out once the babies hit toddlerhood. When you think that at this age, your child is getting most of their nutrition from solids, the claim that toddler formula carries more nutrients than cows milk is fairly moot.

Another interesting point. I spoke to a Karicare rep last year who said that all toddler formulas are pretty much the same. However the prices vary dramatically.

We still use formula if we're travelling as it's easier to keep some bottles of water and powder and make it up on the run rather than having to keep milk cold.

[xkwzit]

to make money
we have a family advisory service in WA and they say not to be fooled into progress formulas, toddler formulas, etc... they are just gimmicks to make us buy their products
The starter formula is fine until 12 mths, then cows milk after that

I wonder if you should introduce the cow's milk slowly? I imagine so...

Well said Roxy, hear hear

It's to guilt you into spending money - what a load of rot.

I always just swapped after running out of the last tin of formula. The kids had already had cows milk yoghurt and cheese, so I knew there was no intolerance. Just swapped and had no troubles.

Cheers

[Starlet]

I think they sell it because it has added nutrients, etc in it.

My DSD1 is a very fussy eater. She has chalky teeth and one of her front teeth rotted away to the gum and she never used to want to eat ANYTHING. Cows milk wasn't enough for her to get all the iron, etc that she needed. She is still very skinny and underweight because of the eating habits she's grown used to.

We use Heinz toddler formula, we get it from the chemist for $9.95 a tin and one tin lasts about a week. Why do we do this? Because we have 3 children drinking it and it actually works out cheaper to buy a tin of formula than enough cows milk to last a week(plus we have a small frigde and can only fit 2 3litre bottles of milk in it).

We use ALOT of milk, so yeah, the formula is more practical for us.