Nido and one year old??

Denise, We brought our 19 month old daughter home on Feb.13th and she was still on Nido milk, I used it until we saw the ped. in March and he told me to change her to whole milk. I tried but she refused to drink it, I later determined that the Nido is room temperature which is how most of the children recieve their milk in Guatemala and the whole milk that I was offering her was "cold" After a few weeks of switching back and forth, I have finally got her on whole milk and she has gained 2 lbs. I think the milk is pretty much the same according to my ped. but the whole milk here has many more vitimans in it. Glad your little guy is home.

Nido is simply powdered milk, so there is no reason not to switch to whole milk...he isn't on formula anyway...and most pediatricians recommend switching at one year of age, unless the baby is seriously underweight.

How soon do they start giving the baby Nido? I'm wondering if my son will be on it at 6 months or if he'll still be on some sort of formula(what do they use anyway?) We have Nido at our commissary and if I need some, I should probably start stocking up.

Hi Most docs rec. the kids stay on formula until 12 months, as Becky said..some switch to the "part 2" formulas at around 9 months..my daughter was underweight, so she is still on regular formula at nine months..not the "part 2"..she has gained almost 2 lbs since March 16th! In Guatemala, some foster mothers switch the babies to either regular powdered milk or Nan 2 at 4 or six months of age..Unless they are eating a variety of baby food, I still dont agree with this..all my daughter was getting was powdered milk and applesauce..no veggies or meat baby food and along with her lactose intolerance, had alot of diarrhea on top of everything..since she kept taking her off the soy.. I would keep the babies on formula until your doc tells you otherwise,,ususally at 1 year they can switch to whole or 2% (not skim).. Cathy

Shan C, Our little one was switched to nido at 5 months old possibly sooner. Her dr. told them to put her back on formula; not sure if htey did or not. We found out that the foster family didn't really do what the doctor told them. When we went down for her pick up trip we found out she was supposed to be on a soy formula (which luckily we had on us) and hte foster family gave us Anchor milk; and explained that she had trouble with the milk so they kept changing the brands of milk. She was also supposed to be on a prescription vitamins which she never received, or at least we never received them to give to her when we visited or when we picked her up. We've decided to keep our dd on a soy based formula for ages 9-24 months for awhile; probably unitl she's at least 18 mos. old. Only because we know she wasn't getting all the vitamins and nutriendts she should have been getting, and we don't do dairy products. Which is fine since she has a dairy allergy or intolerance anyways. We'll see what our pediatrician says tomorrow. DD has gained 2 lbs in the 2 weeks; in Guatemala she was gaining 1 lb every 4-6 weeks according to our medicals.

Katrina, We had the same type of situation..she was only gaining 5 ounces a month in foster care, and in 3 weeks with me gained 2 lbs..isnt it amazing.. I kept our son from Peru on soy formula until he was 24 months.. .but corn syrup is used as the sweetener which is not good..I would look into organic formulas that do not contain corn syrup...I think with our daughter, at 12 months I may try her on goats milk..instead of cows milk..it is much better tolerated..I can get it pasteruized and in cartons at my local health food store... thanks..Cathy

I feel the need to write and say that whether or not the children are on formula usually depends on the attorney. If they supply the formula, the foster family will of course use it; or, if they get paid enough to buy formula, I'd say any good foster mother would buy it. But, if the attorney is not paying enough money so that the family can easily afford the formula, or if the attorney is not automatically supplying formula, no wonder the children end up on powdered milk, since it is so much cheaper. I found out our attorney supplies the formula, and as soon as our foster mother would call him to say she needed it, it was there. Our daughter was not taken off her formula until 13 months of age, when Dr. Montiel then switched her to Nido. Yet ANOTHER thing to find out about your proposed attorney - do they provide the formula, or the money for it? And, also good to check out others' experiences with the attorney's foster mothers. FWIW, Tina

I agree with you Tina! We wish we knew that our foster mother needed help with the formula. We would have gladly sent extra funds to pay for it, but no one said a word. And it probably had to do with either the attorney or the fact that we had a first time foster mother. I think that she didn't know she could ask for certain things. We even asked the agency if we needed to send extra funds to help out with medical or other needs and they always said no. Great Points Ladies! Cathy thanks for the info. on the soy. We too are trying to stay away from corn syrup...I've lost 14lbs since cutting out the products with corn syrup! :)

All this discussion left me wondering: Jonah was on Nestle Nan2 (at 5 months) when we were there visiting. He had just been switched from Nan1. This is forumla, not powdered milk, right? And does it correspond to Nestle Good Start in the US? Or some other Nestle formula? Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me! :) Kelley

Nan1 and Nan2 are in fact baby formulas. Our little one was on Nan2 for awhile, this is a higher calorie formula for babies who need it, for one reason or another. I believe they do compare to GoodStart. It is possible to find Nan here in the states, especially in certain cities/areas. Tina

Our baby was on Nido when we brought her home at 13 months. I had bought TONS of Similac thinking that she would be taking that brand. Then thanks to the Hague she came home a lot later than we had expected. Wal Mart would not refund me for the formula, the would only "exchange" it, so we switched her to the Carnation Good Start #2. She refused the Similac. Slowly I started mixing her NIDO with the Good Start and it worked. She know takes the Good Start #2 with no problem. Her Dr. said it was OK to use this instead of whole milk. We are playing "catch up" so to speak. I talked to the Nestle Company and the rep. told me the closest thing to NIDO in the US is the Carnation Good Start #2. So she is taking Good Start #2 and I didn't waste the $400.00 of Similac that I had purchased . And the poopy diapers are not as stinky as when she was on NIDO. LOL Hope this helps! :D :D

Hi, I believe Nan 2 is not higher in calories etc,,than Nan 1..it is a follow up formula for older babies taking solid foods. I feel that at 5 months it is too young to switch to the part 2,,but,,they def. do things differently in Guatemala.. Dr. Montiel himself tells the foster mom's to switch to Nan 2 when they are six months old.. I still dont agree with this...he is assuming the babies are taking a variety of solids and some of the foster moms only give them fruit, nothing else. Cathy

Tina I went down every eight weeks and brought enough formula to last for the entire time between trips, plus gave the foster mom jumbo packs of diapers, poly-visol vitamins, motrin, Desitin and six outfits for the baby plus shoes each time I went, plus gave the foster mother some cash..She had no reason to take her off formula, since I was supplying tons of it..I feel she either sold it or used it for her other babies...there was no reason for our daughters poor weight gain, other than the fact that she kept putting her back on powdered milk..

As Cathy can testify...even if the formula is provided or enough money is provided it does not guarantee that the babies will not go on Powdered Milk at 6 months of age. It is very much a 'cultural thing' in Guatemala. Mothers have done it for years with their own children and they don't see any reason not to do with their foster children. Even the doctors don't see a lot of reason to keep the babies on full formula after 6 months...sometimes it is a hard battle to win!

Thanks for all of the info. We have decided to give him formula until we can get into see the Dr. Our Dr office advised us that the only concern they had is whether he had gained enough weight and had received enough iron. They recommended iron fortified formula until he can be tested for iron levels. He is fine weight wise. Thanks Denise