Baby Milk Price Hike!

xmaslolly76

Has any one else noticed that Aptamil have put their prices up by almost 60p a box and is now £1.25 more than the the other 2 leading brands.

Do you think the others will follow suit?

Also why do the government insist on preventing these companies from allowing special offers. Yes we know breast is best and i am sure that every mother wants to give their child the best start in life but why penalise those that cant. Milk is an essential for all babies we have to buy it weather it is costs £8 a box or £80. They should be making life easier for mothers not harder. They should bring back the discounted clinic milk.

Rant over sorry

SkintGypsy

Agreed. I breastfed my daughter for her first three months, but she wasn't gaining enough weight because she had reflux and couldn't keep the milk down. I couldn't make enough to keep up with constantly replacing what she'd lost, so had to switch to staydown formula which I couldn't get on prescription. :mad: If this next baby is the same it's going to cost me fortunes!

pigpen

Plenty of mothers don't WANT to breastfeed.. so those who cannot are treated the same as those who will not and if they won't try then they choose to formula feed knowing how expensive it will be.. informed choice and all that. I do think it is unfair to lump them together and in effect 'punish' the babies who will be weaned earlier to save money and who are fed watered down milk like they are in developing countries and in effect starved.. but hey.. the government will be happy they aren't obese!!

I do think that if it is physically impossible for someone to breastfeed or the baby is sick.. I had 1 with lactose intolerance and severe reflux.. and another with just the reflux both had to have thickened milk and for the best part of 6 months I expressed for DD5.. hat was hellish! I did it purely because we couldn't afford formula and she had to be fed. We started weaning her at dead on 6 months to cut down the amount I had to express.. it was crazy. DS3 I had milk on prescription for him.. he had pregestamil.

Many of the special milks the GP cannot prescribe but the hospital can.. it is worth looking into this gypsy if your second is the same.

It is right no to allow special offers and such like I believe but the effect this will have on babies from less well off families could potentially be detrimental. I will also admit to being on the 'breast police' when it comes to reduced formula in stores and I have insisted it was removed as it is against the law.

It is a very fine line between right and wrong and there are so man arguments for and against it sould be down to individual choice but it is becoming more individual budget I fear.

JBD

I think this is just a potential cost you have to factor in when having a baby. Not sure why Aptimal is more expensive than the other formulas, as far as I can remember they were all roughly the same price. There is no point complaining about it though, after all you will be paying for them for at least the next 16 years.

emlou2009

It doesnt matter whether the mother chooses to use formula rather than needs to or not, the prices are still ridiculously extortionate. How can you say some mothers should be entitled to cheaper milk than others because there was a specific reason they couldnt breastfeed? Does this mean that a mother with a low milk supply has more of a right to cheap formula than a mother and baby that simply didnt get on with breastfeeding? Its better for the baby to have a happy mother than a mother miserable because of breastfeeding.

xmaslolly76

I understand it is a cost we all have to pay JHD and i will pay it my baby gets what he needs regardless of cost. The point i was making is why do the government insist on making a hard time even harder just because they believe that every woman should breastfeed we are meant to live in a world of choice not a police state :-)

dieselhead

I don't mean to be rude and maybe I just don't 'get' this thread but children do cost money, its formula now in a few years it will be school dinners, they will always need to be fed, and I suspect that aptimal is still cheaper then them eating the entire contents of the fridge when they are teenagers!

RoxieW

I breastfed till 4mths then stopped because I couldnt physically express enough and I couldnt be tied to my baby 24/7 any longer. I now use aptimal. I dont think it is fair that the governement prevents special offers - everyone knows breast is best and can make their own decisions. I doubt very much if the price of formula even comes into it!
To turn 'breast police' seems abit spiteful pigpen - what difference does it make to you how others feed their babies?

SkintGypsy

pigpen wrote: »

Many of the special milks the GP cannot prescribe but the hospital can.. it is worth looking into this gypsy if your second is the same.

Thanks for that Pigpen. My last GP wanted me to feed my newborn Gaviscon and would prescribe that by the bucket load (which didn't work), but nothing more gentle. TBH he simply wasn't interested, since baby wasn't in pain, just starving and dropping off the weight charts!

feelinggood_2

Personally, I don't agree with advertising formula, or offering special offers, and I'm glad it is limited to only follow on milks, and would like the ban to be extended.

While people might feel penalised, I don't think it is done for that reason. Breastfeeding should be seen as the norm, the optimum, the best for baby and should be promoted.

Personally, I think the more formula is 'normalised' the less success people will have with breastfeeding.

welshmoneylover

xmaslolly76 wrote: »

Also why do the government insist on preventing these companies from allowing special offers.

It's because supermarkets cannot be seen to promote one baby milk over the other, ie, one brand cannot be said to be better than another brand.
Plus, it will stop parents swopping milk brands from one to the other every week which I believe is not good for a baby.
hth