Formula milk - where to buy it cheapest or cheapest brand?

delain

Ukuser wrote: »

asda have on offer on the 1 year plus milk £5

HTH

which no one needs - cows milk is fine from 12 months and if you use the 1-3 year milk your child gets too used to the formula taste and not drink cow's milk at all - depriving them of an important part of their diet as they grow older.

anna25071970

somethingsgottogive wrote: »

How old is you little one? Is he/she old enough to move onto cows milk? I know people says 'keep 'em on in until thy're 2', 'vitamins and iron bla bla' but it's easy enough to supplement cows milk with leafy greens and other fresh fruit and veg in baby food

If you do need to buy formula, have you tried 'mysupermarket' to compare prices in the big 4? The other thing is make sure you're not missing out on healthy start vouchers (for low income families) which can be redeemed against formula.

My little one is only 2.5 months. I have been breastfeeding up to now but have just switched to formula and cannot believe the prices. I understand the government want to promote breastfeeding but surely it should be up to the mother to decide how to feed their child? I don't think it helps new mums who formula feed by "penalising" them (no offers on 1st milk). Being a new mum is hard enough without the nanny state punishing you for not being their idea of a good mother :mad:.

Nicki

anna25071970 wrote: »

My little one is only 2.5 months. I have been breastfeeding up to now but have just switched to formula and cannot believe the prices. I understand the government want to promote breastfeeding but surely it should be up to the mother to decide how to feed their child? I don't think it helps new mums who formula feed by "penalising" them (no offers on 1st milk). Being a new mum is hard enough without the nanny state punishing you for not being their idea of a good mother :mad:.

They don't penalize formula feeding mothers as you put it. Most mothers are still entitled to receive child benefit which is more than enough to pay for the child's formula milk for a week. Are you suggesting that formula should be free then, or that breastfeeding mothers should get less child benefit than formula feeders.

It is the manufacturers not the government who decide the cost of formula milk, and the manufacturers could choose to make first stage milk cheaper than second stage, which would cancel out the fact that retailers can discount follow on milks. I do think it's fair enough that manufacturers and retailers should be prevented from promoting formula milk for babies as it isn't as good for newborns as breast mik. It's not like mothers are prevented from formula feeding if they can't or don't want to breastfeeding, just that by banning special offers on formula, breastfeeding is encouraged a little more. The number of mums who are still exclusively breastfeeding by the time second stage milks can be introduced is still sufficiently small to suggest that the cost of first stage formula is not so steep as to be a deterrent to buying it.

ethelsmum

anna25071970 wrote: »

My little one is only 2.5 months. I have been breastfeeding up to now but have just switched to formula and cannot believe the prices. I understand the government want to promote breastfeeding but surely it should be up to the mother to decide how to feed their child? I don't think it helps new mums who formula feed by "penalising" them (no offers on 1st milk). Being a new mum is hard enough without the nanny state punishing you for not being their idea of a good mother :mad:.

You also can't earn advantage card points on it either at places like Boots IIRC. :mad:

Spendless

When I had eldest 11 years ago, the baby clinic sold SMA £1 cheaper than the supermarkets. I'd had problems with him taking to cow and gate and SMA he got on with. It worked out that I got every 5th or 6th tin 'free' compared to paying supermarket prices. 3 years later, when I had his sister there was pennies between the clinic and supermarket prices and though there were bigger savings on other brands especially Aptamil which was about 1/3rd of the supermarket price at the clinic I was reluctant to give her anything but SMA due to the problems we'd had with her brother. She's now 7 3/4 so it's a long time since I bought formula but I understand from prev threads that clinics can no longer sell formula/formula at reduced prices.

My suggestion is to look round the shops/their websites and decide on a brand that is within your budget.

I never moved on to the 6 month plus stuff. Just moved them onto cows milk as they turned 1 year old.

delain

ethelsmum wrote: »

You also can't earn advantage card points on it either at places like Boots IIRC. :mad:

No. But you can, much to my great astonishment on a rare sheepish trip in there, get them on the morning after pill :eek:

jmf76

ethelsmum wrote: »

You also can't earn advantage card points on it either at places like Boots IIRC. :mad:

It's annoying isn't it - Hubby works at Mr T and can't even use his employee discount on milk :mad:

onlyroz

Nicki wrote: »

Most mothers are still entitled to receive child benefit which is more than enough to pay for the child's formula milk for a week.

Agreed that child benefit is plenty enough to cover formula, nappies, wipes etc. I also think that the government should be doing everything they can to encourage and assist women to breastfeed where possible.

got-it-spend-it

Nicki wrote: »

They don't penalize formula feeding mothers as you put it. Most mothers are still entitled to receive child benefit which is more than enough to pay for the child's formula milk for a week. Are you suggesting that formula should be free then, or that breastfeeding mothers should get less child benefit than formula feeders.

I think it is a bit of a myth that breastfeeding is free actually. I worked out that for the first six months that I exclusively breastfed my son it would have cost around £300 to have fed him formula instead (based on the average number of feeds he had per day). As a breastfeeder I bought maternity bras, a breast pump, milk storage bags, bottles for expressed milk which he had when I couldn't be home to feed him myself as well as the extra food I consumed while feeding (and I was much hungrier than normal in the first few weeks).

I still think that breastfeeding is far and away the best nutrition for babies and I would definitely do it again, but I don't subscribe to the idea that breastfeeding is 'free' (although admittedly the expressing equipment isn't strictly necessary, but I couldn't last six months without needing to leave my baby for more than a couple of hours for various reasons).

jcr16

i always used sma gold. wasn't the cheapest, but i never had any problems what so ever with it. and i plan to with future children use sma products again.

sometimes you can get brand new sealed tins on ebay. ie mum bought too many, or baby didn't take to it. i'd only buy them as long as in date and sealed tho.