Firstly, if a mother does not breastfeed, she should never be made to feel guilty for her choice. Customers seeking advice about choosing an infant formula milk must always speak to a healthcare professional (this includes pharmacists and pharmacy technicians). Cow's milk (as a drink) is not recommended for babies under 12 months, so infant formula milk is the only accepted breast milk substitute. All infant formula milks available in the UK are formulated according to strict regulations and aim to be as compositionally close to breast milk as possible. Most are based on cow's milk and are modified to meet the specific nutritional needs of babies. Modifications include:

• Altering the whey:casein (proteins) ratio from 20:80 in cow's milk to 60:40 (the same as mature breast milk). Milks for hungrier bottle fed babies are casein-dominant, in the same ratio as cow's milk €“ 20:80
• Increasing the lactose content
• Removing fat and adding vegetable oils to increase the absorption of essential fatty acids
• Reducing the salt content
• Adding vitamins, minerals and other key ingredients.

Follow-on milks

Follow-on milks are suitable for babies from the age of six months onwards to complement a healthy weaning diet.

If a baby is enjoying breast or infant formula milk, it is not necessary to switch. However, follow-on milks do contain an increased amount of iron, stores of which are reduced at about six months of age when weaning first starts.