Baby Milk Price Hike!

Broken_hearted

feelinggood wrote: »

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.

Have you any idea how hurtful that is to 1,000s of women who for many reasons are unable to breastfeed. Some have medication which will pass through the milk, others simply produce none.

feelinggood_2

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Have you any idea how hurtful that is to 1,000s of women who for many reasons are unable to breastfeed. Some have medication which will pass through the milk, others simply produce none.

I recognise that it can be hurtful, but I think we need to step away from emotionalising breastfeeding/formula. It is a serious topic, and I think one that should be discussed without emotional, although that is difficult.

If a woman is genuinely unable to breastfeed, she should not feel any guilt. That said, I don't think any woman should feel guilt over her choice. I don't think we should avoid sharing information or ideas for fear of offending though.

MrsTinks

I have to agree with Broken Hearted - I stopped at 3 months gradually because DD was too busy looking at everything and not really paying attention and would turn her head whilst still latched on. The PAIN!!!!!
I didn't give up lightheartedly - I perservered through thrush and that is no laughing matter! But it just got too much. I know breast is best - and I'd have loved to carry on till 6 months but it wasn't to be. I use Aptimal too - because it appears to be the best one and frankly it seems to work for us.

I have no issue with them not having promotions on under 12 months milk formulas, but I do sometimes feel penalised for "being a bad mum" and FF my DD. Maybe if the HVs were able to issue vouchers redeemable against any formula in cases where mum had tried to BF but couldn't... but then how do you measure and implement that?
I loved BFing DD - but it just didn't work for us (and I expressed to the point of feeling like a cow at milking time!) and so formula was the right way for us. I'm lucky that affording it isn't a problem - and it's an expense I took into consideration when we started planning the small person. If your finances struggle with the added cost of formula then I think it's nothing but poor planning and would suggest that maybe the problem isn't the governments but people in this country and their grasp of what responcibility parenthood is.
I don't care if there is a human rights thing to the contrary - I still believe children are a priviledge, not a right. If you can't afford to feed a child then don't have one (BTW that isn't aimed at anyone here, just my personal little rant )

Glamazon

I'm not going to get into another breastfeeding/formula debate - I CAN'T Breastfeed as I have NO supply due to breast surgery which I chose to have before I had kids. It is up to the individual what they want to do and having Breast Is Best shoved in your face every 5 minutes is unfair to women who choose to FF.

I do agree that Aptamil is expensive - I've just switched to HIPP Organic instead and am finding Jack is a little sick after each feed now. Despite being on Gaviscon for reflux.

What I think is that you get child benefit every week - £20 more than covers formula & nappies so I don't see it as an added expense.

xmaslolly76

welshmoneylover wrote: »

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

I agree with that point it isnt good for baby to be swapped from milk to milk

So maybe supermarkets shouldnt be allowed to do special offers but i still dont see why they stopped the clinics selling it at a decent price. The clinic i used for my daughter used to keep a record of what was bought so the Hv's could keep an eye on what you were giving your baby it also made it easier to get hold of the specialised milks that many shops dont stock

Mrs tine i agree if you cant afford your baby you shouldnt have children i can afford my bubs but it still annoys me that we seem to get penalised for not breastfeeding for 6 months. My first two were breastfed until demand out stripped supply and with bubs he just didnt want to know initially he latched but would never suck and then he refused to latch at all and i wasnt about to let him starve i did express like yourself for a while but its not a practicall thing to do on a constant basis so formula was our only option.

MrsTinks

Actually Glamazon put it better than me The £20 a week more than covers the milk and nappies and other sundries for the baby - sure it's a nice financial bonus if you don't need to pay for milk, but if you do then you're already getting £20 a week to cover that etc.
If you can't afford milk then your budget is wrong - because the £80 a month is for the baby and shouldn't be counted in your income anyway
I would be greatly interested in knowing though how large the profit margin is on babyformula...

Glamazon

MrsTine wrote: »

Actually Glamazon put it better than me The £20 a week more than covers the milk and nappies and other sundries for the baby - sure it's a nice financial bonus if you don't need to pay for milk, but if you do then you're already getting £20 a week to cover that etc.
If you can't afford milk then your budget is wrong - because the £80 a month is for the baby and shouldn't be counted in your income anyway
I would be greatly interested in knowing though how large the profit margin is on babyformula...

Also most people get CTC which they wouldn't get if they hadn't had a baby.

I bulk buy nappies when on offer - the current lot were 8p per nappy so 5 nappy changes a day = £12 a month. Formula lasts 5 days costs average £7 = £42 a month. Wipes/gripe water don't come to £26 so the child benefit mor than covers food & nappies!

Clothes don't need to be expensive either when I was pg I got most of J's clothes second hand from ebay, car boots & Freecycle - all designer gear

feelinggood_2

An interesting read, that sums up some of what I was saying a bit better:
http://www.bobrow.net/kimberly/birth/BFLanguage.html

JBD

MrsTine wrote: »

Actually Glamazon put it better than me The £20 a week more than covers the milk and nappies and other sundries for the baby - sure it's a nice financial bonus if you don't need to pay for milk, but if you do then you're already getting £20 a week to cover that etc.
If you can't afford milk then your budget is wrong - because the £80 a month is for the baby and shouldn't be counted in your income anyway
I would be greatly interested in knowing though how large the profit margin is on babyformula...

I quite agree here. I chose to bottle feed my babies because I hated breastfeeding [did try it though] and I used my family allowance [child benefit?] to pay for it ,and other essentials. I think you have to accept that no matter how committed you are to breastfeeding it may
not work out and you my have to buy formula at some stage. It's not a matter of being penalised, it's just a fact of life.

Glamazon

feelinggood wrote: »

An interesting read, that sums up some of what I was saying a bit better:
http://www.bobrow.net/kimberly/birth/BFLanguage.html

This quote (the first line) makes me so :mad::mad::mad:

"The truth is, breastfeeding is nothing more than normal. Artificial feeding, which is neither the same nor superior, is therefore deficient, incomplete, and inferior. These are difficult words, but they have an appropriate place in our vocabulary."

So I'm now a bad mother because I chose to have surgery years ago and now what I am feeding my baby is deficient, incomplete and inferior. It's the only thing he can have as I have no supply, so not only do I feel guilty for starving my baby in the first few days due to my determination to BF because of the Breast is Best pressure I can now feel guilty because the only thing that I can give him isn't good enough.
Wow I feel so much better now!