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Followup formulas (artificial milk for infants over 6 months of age) are specially adapted to the needs of infants 6 to 12 months of age

Followup formulas are completely unnecessary and are specially adapted to the needs of the formula companies' profit margins. They also are part of a marketing strategy which tries to get around restrictions on the advertising of artificial baby milks directly to the public (widely disregarded in any case). In Europe now, there are special formulas available for the toddler (1-3 years of age).

But getting the baby to take a bottle surely won´t hurt

The occasional bottle, when breastfeeding is going well, will not hurt. But if the baby is getting several bottles a day, on a regular basis, and, your milk supply decreases because the baby is nursing less, it is quite possible that the baby will start refusing the breast, even if he is older than 6 months of age.

Babies need to drink milk when the mother is not at home

Three or four good nursings during a 24 hour period, plus a variety of solid foods, gives the baby all he needs, nutritionally. He/she does not need any other type of milk when you are at your outside job. Of course, solid foods can be mixed with expressed milk or other milk, but this is not necessary.

If the baby is to get milk other than breastmilk, it needs to be artificial baby milk (infant formula) until the baby is at least 9 months of age

If the baby is breastfeeding a few times a day and getting fair quantities of a variety of solid foods, infant formula is neither necessary nor desirable. Indeed, babies who have not had infant formula before 5 or 6 months of age often refuse to drink it because it tastes pretty bad. If you want to give the baby some other sort of milk, homogenized milk is acceptable at 6 months of age, as long as it is not the baby's only food.

Maternity Leave

Take full advantage of your maternity leave to establish a good supply of milk before going back to work. This is critical to breast feeding success. The longer you can take at home the better.