Enfamil Next Step Lipil instead of Vit. D Milk?

Have any of you chose to go this route when your little one turned 1 or did you just go to whole milk? I am wondering because my DS is about to turn 1 and he really likes it. It is for ages 9-24 mo. I'm more concerned about the DHA and ARA because there is so many eye problems in my family. I also like that it has more nutrition then regular cows milk.

Thanks! Patty

[tiredbuthappy]

we continued it for a couple of months. Although we got the much cheaper walmart brand at that point. I didn't feel that she was eating enough table foods and variety at that point to be getting all of the necessary nutrition. I personally do not believe that at 12 months of age, their nutritional needs magically change over night. Once she was eating like a little piggy and a lot of variety, we transitioned to whole milk.
It definitely can't hurt anything (except maybe your wallet), but it does have the potential to be quite beneficial.

[pcarsey]

Well, that is another one of my main concerns, he doesn't eat ANY table food! He won't even eat stage 3 baby food. He will gag until his face turns purple and he vomits. I have very bad gag reflex as did my mother and grandmother. I really hope he didn't get it handed down to him. I have tried everything under the sun to get him to eat more solid food and he clinches his lips shut and turns his head.  

I'm not worried about cost as much as nutrition.

[pinkbelle]

aubree is almost eleven months old and my ped. told me to start transitioning her now .. aubree is 23lbs ( so she is big for her age) so the doctor said to go ahead and make the switch ..  so ive been mixing it in little by little more milk..  she normally will eat 3 full jars of stage 2 baby food everyday plus whatever little bites i give her during the day.. i think since brayden isnt to keen on food just yet i would stick with the formula because that gives them way more vitamins..

[pcarsey]

I mix the Next step with his formula now and then once a day I give him some in a cup to get him used to it. Yesterday I had some jello, I mixed it up so it wouldn't be a big clump, tried to feed him some, he spit it out in his hand and threw it on the floor..lol

[AnnieBrooke]

I used the Nestle version, the Good Start 2 (for 9-24 months), and transitioned slowly to whole milk over the entire second year. (In other words, I would mix the formula as normal, and then put it in with whole milk at 3 parts (reconstituted) formula and 1 part milk, and then after a while it was half formula and half milk, and then 1 part formula and 3 parts milk. Then at my son's well-baby appointment at age 2, the doctor told me to switch from whole milk to 2% milk, because kids get enough fat from other things in their diet.  So I switched to the 2%, but still did about 1 part Good Start 2 to 3 parts milk (because of the vitamins and the eye protection) until I was done with the two big cans of powdered formula that I had.  I did notice that he had his first bout of real constipation right after the first week when he was on just plain 2%, but I never figured out if that was a coincidence.

[tiredbuthappy]

DD also had major texture issues. at 12 months she would eat cheese. She slowly started to eat peas, but would actually suck the insides out and spit out the shells. Anything else she gagged on. Many of my friends say their kids were/are the same around 12 months, so I think it is normal. She did outgrow it within a few months, although she still has some small issues at 21 months. She LOVES yogurt and fruit, but cannot/will not eat yogurt with fruit on the bottom. She spits out every last tiny speck of fruit when eating yogurt. She still can't eat regular oatmeal because of the larger pieces of oat so we have to give her infant oatmeal. She does have a very well balanced diet- i just have to separate everything. i recently gave her a chicken stew on noodles and she wouldn't eat a bite. the next day i separated everything- pasta in 1 section of the plate and chicken with a little sauce in another section. Veggies in a third. She inhaled it.

For some reason, one of the first foods that she was able to eat well was deli turkey. I guess the texture of that didn't bother her. She didn't take jello until recently.

[Renogirl]

We started transitioning Abby to whole milk by making her bottles with half milk, half water and a couple of scoops of the Enfamil Next Step - our pediatrician said that was fine - nothing wrong with mixing the formula with the milk

[mum2beagain]

My oldest has problems with food textures and wasn't eating table food for quite some time after his 2nd birthday. We continued with a "toddler" formula until he was eating a well balanced diet (around 2 1/2). One thing though make sure you still offer lots of food choices and wait until 1/2 an hour after a meal is finished before offering the milk (we were advised by feeding specialists to do this). If you give the milk with the meal or imediately after they have refused to eat they soon come to realise that the milk is coming if they don't eat the food you offer!

[Renogirl]

AMEN - I do give Abby straight milk in her sippy cup - and if I gave it to her first - she would never eat a bite of anything - she is still on quite a bit of baby food because she only has four teeth - all in the front - a lot of foods she still can't chew - so I will keep her on some formula and baby food for a while until she can eat a wider variety of table food

[pcarsey]

Brayden is just now getting his two top teeth (got his bottom teeth about a month and a half ago). I have been mixing the next step with his formula just to get him used to the taste. He doesn't really "like it" yet, but he is tolerating it. The only baby food I can get him to eat is oatmeal with some fruit, or just plain fruit. He will not eat veggies or any kind of meat.

[pcarsey]

Oh... and in the morning, I offer him food before his milk. Then he has no problem drinking his milk. But if I offer it the other way (milk first) then he won't eat any baby food.

[vsentz]

Alright Patty... I am gonna highjack (sp??) your thread for a second... I promise no more questions after this one! lol if you don't mind...

But I was wondering the same as you... how can it magically be fine for a toddler after 12 months of age to be in all milk and not at 11 months?

Also... my real question is: Maddie has been on 'sensitive' parents choice formula (lactose free) since she was a month old!... she had a lot of gas and tummy aches (what seemed like) and then we switched to that and she was perfectly fine....
I am lactose intolerant... not bad, but if I drink 8 oz milk... I'd die of pain in my belly and would be passing gas all day! (not fun when your day is packed with meetings!)
My mom is the same.... and now that I'm trying to transition her to 'regular' milk... she's been having a loooot of gas.. but only with the powdered milk! if I gave her the 'gallon' one, she didn't have much problem... so I wonder if there's anything I'm missing here...

Also, could I give her lactaid whole milk when she turns a year old? she gets plenty of food and eats everything and anything.... so I'm not too concerned about the nutrition part of it....well, I AM! but,... you know what I'm saying! lol ;)

[lhughes]

We used NextStep.  My doc said it was unnecessary, that milk would be fine.  HOWEVER...the convenience of NextStep is AWESOME...powder can be toted around w/o worrying over spoilage.  So we stuck with that until she was over 2???? I think.  Something like that.  After a while she didn't drink quite as much, and that's when we switched just to regular milk...um, make that chocolate milk.

As for nutrition, it's really pretty good...there are a variety of brands out there similar.  Ours didn't like anything but NextStep, though... so they must taste a little different.  She LOVED NextStep.  You can check the nutrition labels for what you think is best, but if he won't drink it, then it's no good anyway.

Our dd had the same gag reflex thing going...still does...at 3.  Yikes.

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

I was thinking about doing this mine will be 1 in 3 months and I just don't think switching them right over is a good idea esp for my tiny Mekaila

[mlb1234]

Hmmm - I did not even consider next step as I just figured it was a ploy from the formula companies to get you to purchase "liquid gold" from them for even longer!!  I don't really think it is necessary but it also won't hurt either.

[Renogirl]

I think each child is so individual - you have to trust your mommy instincts and do what is right for your little one - the likelihood of you making a decision that will harm your child is so slim it's not funny - think of all the children who thrived on condensed milk, powdered milk, goat's milk or unpasteurized milk before there even existed such a thing as (group oohs and aaahs) FORMULA!!!!!!!!!!   There is nothing wrong with mixing formula and milk - and if you think your little one isn't tolerating milk and you can't either - talk to your pediatrician - likely that they have inherited an intolerance (thanks Mom - lol) I'm sure your pediatrician would be fine with you trying lactose free milk - if your child is a nice fat rolly polly squeezably soft Charmin baby and you want to put them on whole milk at the appropriate age - GO FOR IT - you'll notice if there is a change in your child.

As always - before you make major changes in your little ones diet - ask your pediatrician if you have concerns - isn't that what we pay them for???  But we all need to learn to trust our judgement - we love our babies and we are going to do our best to make good decisions for them - It's ok - go ahead - trust yourself - and also understand that none of us are perfect - and we all make mistakes - I'll admit it - first time we went outside this spring - I didn't think we would be outside that long - and even though I am fair and burn easily - I didn't put sunscreen on Abby (group gasp!) and she got a wee bit too pink!  We need to forgive our mistakes and trust our judgement - Let's all stand in a circle and join hands - to borrow from a certain someone - Can we do it?  Yes We Can!!!!  We can raise our children to be healthy and happy and relatively undamaged mentally - LOL

[pcarsey]

LOL! Amen to that Sister!

[mum2beagain]

I know I mentioned my older son in my previous post but I also wanted to add that my younger son was eating us out of house and home by 12 months si I wasn't worried about keeping him on any kind of follow on formula. Over the course of his 13th month we did formula/whole milk mix gradually reducing the formula a little at a time until he was drinking totally whole milk. If we increased the whole milk content faster than 1/2 ounce every 3 or 4 days he got terrible gas and diarreah (diarrhea), but by taking it slowly he gradually adjusted.
Lactaid milk is also a suitable milk to give a toddler if they have problems with regular whole milk.

[babyscience]

My ds is 16 months and I still spike his milk with an ounce or 2 of Enfamil Lipil formula.  He doesnt eat too much stuff, so at least he gets his vitamins from somewhere.  I also give him a full 6 ounces first thing in the morning.  If I know he has plenty of good stuff to eat during the day, I just give him milk.

[kellym]

Patty,
I swear at 9 mo's I tried the 9-24 mo and Blake didn't really care for it. This is a boy that's been on table food forever and always hated baby food. Today he had his first sippy cup of milk. Shoot, 11 mo's 12 mo's, hee, hee. I told my dh I'm  NOT buying any more formula. He doesn't seem to have any reaction to milk so I think I'm going to keep him there. (Shame on me I gave him some egg the other day!) With Lily, right at 9mo's I switched her to the Next Step and she couldn't have cared less. My ped said it didn't matter, buy whatever was cheaper. At 1, we should be able to give them whole milk and have the same nutrients as the next step? Shoot, I think ;0)

[pcarsey]

Kellie,
My understanding is the Next step has DHA and ARA added for Brain and eye development while whole milk does not. I could be wrong, but that alone is worth it to me because we have bad eyes in our family. Everyone but me and Scott on both sides wears glasses.

Brayden hates any kind of "table food" except yogurt. I guess it just takes time. I know with Melissa (19 yrs ago) she was on regular milk by 9 months and Andrew, (7 years later) was on regular milk by the time he was 1.

I'm going to give him what he will take I guess...lol

[Renogirl]

I would like everyone to read back over the last few posts - look at all the moms who were able to make decisions based on their own child's individual needs and likes and dislikes - see how capable we are - we are amazing and we rock!!!!!!

[kellym]

Patty,
I don't know why Blake didn't seem to like it unless it was a teething stage for him and I just took it as "he hates it", ha ha. Okay, I just bought MY LAST CAN OF ENFAMIL TODAY, ha ha. Gosh, I think with Lily I went straight to organic whole milk after the Next Step, Do you think Vit. D is better?  I rarely drink milk and when I do it's 2% that Lily drinks.  I think if Brayden will drink it, heck I would do the Next Step. I'm assuming his 12mo appt is coming up, all of ours is right, ha ha...I can't believe 1 year!  Is Brayden doing any walking?? Blake only picks his fat leg up to do a step or 2, It's amazing to see Vanessa's running!  
A lot of children have texture issues. Brayden has texture issues with table food and Blake had texture issues with baby food.  It will probably be no time before he is snatching food off of your plate :)

[Mommy2Reilly]

Reilly is 14 months old now and he has been drinking Horizon Organic whole milk w/ added DHA and Omega 3 since about 11 months.  You can also get it in 2%. If you are worried about the eye health, I think this might be a good alternative to formula. It costs more than the regular kind, but I think when it comes to the health of our kids it's nothing.

[kellym]

Yes, that's what I put my dd on right after formula. It's a little expensive, but not 25.99 for formula!

[vsentz]

Thank you so much Reno! as always GREAT ADVICE! =)

I tried to give her today a sippy of the powdered milk (spanish version of next step, but from Nestle) and did NOT like that at all! she gagged... almost puked at the taste of it... so, off I go to get a little thing of regular milk, and a carton of lactaid... and compare the two of them. I don't wanna hurt her tummy and the doc said that 'she'd get used to it...' but I KNOW how it feels to be lactose intolerant, and if my mom is, and I am... most likely she'd got something going on... altho i didn't develop it until much later... so this is what I'm hoping for....

Kellie... I swear if I ever get to sit thru one meal in my life... it really sounds to me like a blessing! lol ;) (really, a blessing is to have her... =) and wouldn't change that for the world!).
I run around after her and at the end of the day I am SOOO tired! I can't even begin to think about having twins running around! oh my gosh! =O

Mommy2Reily, I will try that one, it sounds like it has all they need right now.. and I'll 'spike' her milk  in the morning and at night with formula still... altho, she ate a half of a huuuge hamburger yesterday! (daddy makes the hamburgers and they are thiiick!), and she ate her oranges with quite the enthusiasm! lol

Thank you girls! sorry for butting in Patty! hey, are you ready for Brayden's b-day? we will be thinking about you and baby boy that day too girlfriend! ;)