..to think milk formula companies shouldn't price-fix?

[gallicgirl]

We initially used Aptamil as we believed the drippy nurse who told us it was most like breast milk, then had reflux issues to swapped to SMA staydown milk which was slightly less than the Aptamil I think. Now been prescribed infant gaviscon so we've swapped to normal SMA. The first few tins we bought were around the £7.50 mark so we were pleased that we were spending a bit less. Every penny counts and all that.

However, just been to buy some more formula and it was £8.99 in Morrisons. It was also £8.99 in Tesco yesterday. Just checked online and it's £8.99 at Sainsbury's, Asda and Boots (obviously it's more in Mothercare). When I've bought the SMA before it's been slightly different prices in different shops. I know food prices have gone up and shops can't offer discounts and the like, but I'm suspicious that it's exactly the same price in every store.

It's a 20% price rise!!! I can't believe that wholesale costs have risen that much.

When was the last time it went up? I seem to remember it being about £7 a tin 7 years ago so £9 doesn't sound that bad. There has been substantial food price inflation which has affected everyone. Formula manufactures aren't prepared to take the hit and why should they?

this shows aptimal at £6.97 in 2006. I don't think a £2 increase over the last 5 years is too bad considering the price of other things. Cooking oil has tripled in a shorter period.

"Starting up the manufacture is therefore made extremely difficult and most people would not find it profitable so not worth making a cheaper formula."

I suspect part of the reason formula is so expensive is because of the amount of money spent marketing it. The help-lines staffed by experts retired nurses; the internet 'mums clubs direct marketing swizz; the free cuddly cows; the full-page ads in magazines and newspapers; tv sponsorship......

'Value' formula probably wouldn't sell. Many mothers already feel anxious and guilty about not breastfeeding. They want to feel like they're giving their baby the best formula possible, the one which is closest to breastmilk, the most reliable and reputable brand. And they need millions of squids worth of marketing to persuade them that the formula they choose in fact the best, because the absence of any scientific evidence that one brand is any better than the others.

Perhaps that's the answer then. Maybe SMA haven't increased prices so much in the past when other brands have.

I know food prices have gone up but the average is only 4.5% so this almost 20% rise seemed loads.

I think generic formula should be available on the NHS for those who need it - branded formula could still be available in the shops for those who choose it for "lifestyle" reasons.

You're dead right Spudulika. I was started on Aptamil in the hospital but when I left, despite being an intelligent woman and despite many threads on here from wise people telling me there was no difference, I stuck with it because it looked the poshest/most serious/most scientific. I knew it was bollocks but I couldn't help myself.

"Even if they didnt why should the poor be hit hardest for making a choice that is right for them?"

It does beg the question as why formula feeding should be the right choice for the vast majority of the most disadvantaged children in the country, and breastfeeding the best choice for the children of the elite.

Would like to see ALL formula marketing banned. Then companies could drop the price of their product without impacting so much on their profits. Everyone would win. (should add, I'm very keen for independent, evidence based information on the different brands to be made available to parents - but that's not what formula companies are doing with their marketing at present. And they certainly have NO business to be advising mums on breastfeeding).

Gwendoline, Aptamil now advertise in upmarket women's magazines and broadsheet newspaper supplements. They deliberately target breastfeeding mothers, or mothers who intended to breastfeed, because they know that this group ironically uses more formula in total than mothers who ff from the outset. All their marketing rides on the back of breastfeeding promotion campaigns. Highly manipulative and highly effective .

Sorry, terrible syntax. Breastfeeding mothers don't do anything in a more ironic way than ff mums. .

Children of the elite? WTF did you really just say that?

I'm sure I remember seeing SMA and Cow&Gate at Costco so might be worth ringing your local one and seeing if they stock it, you could buy in bulk then which is often cheaper.

"They deliberately target breastfeeding mothers, or mothers who intended to breastfeed, because they know that this group ironically uses more formula in total than mothers who ff from the outset."

Am intrigued Spudulika, not sure I understand. Do they end up ff for longer? Why would this be?

"I know food prices have gone up but the average is only 4.5% so this almost 20% rise seemed loads."

Milk prices have gone up around 30% since 2005 so slightly more than formula prices.

"Children of the elite? WTF did you really just say that?"

'fraid so.

The children who are most likely to be breastfed, and to be breastfed longest, are the children of professional women.

The children who're least likely to be breastfed are the children of the youngest, the poorest, and the least educated mothers in the UK.

And if you controlled for immigration status this is even more pronounced as rates amongst the poorest 20% of the population are skewed by very high breastfeeding rates amongst recent immigrants to the UK.

"Do they end up ff for longer?"

Yes. They're more likely to continue to buy formula beyond the end of the first year.

SPudulika

Not questioning your stats at all but I am interested where you got them from? I would like to look into this a bit more for personal reasons, so if you have a link to the info I would appreciate it if you would share it :)

here

Department of Health 5 yearly 'Infant Feeding Survey'. There's one for 2005 somewhere on that site, and also the preliminary report for the 2010 one.

Thank you :)

Why boiling, if the evidence appears to point to that being true?

Oh and name calling and abuse....nice

boilingpoint, that was very aggressive.

Why, when that evidence is available in all sorts of studies?

are you going to tell me to fuck the fuck off if I reveal that the younger pregnant women from the poorer and more poorly educated backgrounds do tend to be the ones who stock up on bottle feeding equipment earliest and the question they ask is, not "which steriliser can fit a breast pump in", but "how many bottles can I sterilise at one time to make up the bottles in one go".

And when you ask if they need breast pads to bring to hospital the response is often "No, I'm not feeding my baby with my tits".

because it is complete bollocks! time and time again this debate has been done to death and its boring! all the presumptions and accusations!!

yep, boiling, the stats bear that up.

OP,
Formula companies in making money at the expense of mums and babies shocker!

They don't and never have played fair.

It isnt complete bollocks at all.

Where are your stats to prove your claim that it is?