Which HiPP formula is right for your baby

It narrows less than you would think. 16 of HiPP's powders are labelled from birth, across four different ranges, so a newborn does not reduce the choice to one.123

What the age does decide is the legal category. A baby under six months needs an infant formula, which is every PRE and every 1. A baby over six months may have a follow-on formula, every 2 and every 3, but does not have to: a first infant formula can stay the main drink to one year.45

The stage finder does this part interactively, by age and by the market you can buy from. What the numbers mean is its own page.

If one has named a formula, that is the answer and this page is not. If one has not, two of HiPP's ranges are still not yours to choose.

The Comfort and Anti-Reflux tins are foods for special medical purposes under Regulation (EU) 2016/128, sold for the dietary management of a named condition, and both say to use them under medical supervision.6 They are on open shelves, which is why people buy them unprompted, and that is the wrong way round.

There are also babies no HiPP formula is for, which has its own page: a diagnosed cow's milk protein allergy, galactosaemia, a premature baby, and anyone needing a formula registered in the United States.

This is the real choice, and the only one that changes the ingredient list.

Combiotik is organic cow's milk with galacto-oligosaccharides and the lactic culture Limosilactobacillus fermentum. It is the main range and the widest: PRE, 1, 2, two different Stage 2 boxes in Germany, and 3.1

PUR is organic cow's milk with neither the prebiotic nor the culture, for parents who want fewer additions. Germany only.1

Goat is organic goat's milk with the prebiotic and no culture. It is an alternative rather than an upgrade: the trial EFSA reviewed found babies grew the same, and it is not a way around a cow's milk allergy.4

HA is hydrolysed whey protein, with the prebiotic and the culture, and it is the one powder range HiPP does not make organic. That surprises people, and it is worth knowing before the rest of the decision: if organic is what you came for, HA is out.1

UK organic is the British first and follow-on milk: organic cow's milk with the prebiotic and no culture.3

Least important of the four, for the first stage at least. The German PRE, the Dutch Stage 1 and the UK First Infant Milk agree on all 44 rows of the panel, and all three are made in Germany.

What the market changes is the label, the pack size, the price per 100 g, and one ingredient that never reaches a panel: the British tin lists no lactic culture, and its instructions ask for hotter water in consequence.

Three things, in order of how much anxiety they cause.

The stage number. It sorts HiPP's products inside two legal categories and the only line with weight is at six months. A higher number is a different category, not a better milk.5

PRE against 1. In the German range the difference is a little starch; everything else matches. Outside Germany the question does not arise, because no other market sells both.

The country on the box. See above: for the first stage it is the same milk.

What matters more than any of them is whether a baby is feeding and gaining. If one is, the tin is working, whatever is printed on it. If one is not, no tin is the answer and a health visitor is.4