AIBU to feel uneasy about this? (Not wanting to spark a BF or not BF fight)

[shudabinme]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393353/Hospital-restricts-free-formula-baby-milk-newborns-encourage-mothers-breastfeed.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Bit ~ about this, all for BF but this smacks of social engineering... shall we extend it to the Mums as well, lets just feed them vegan food (no offence any vegans out there, just trying to make the point!)

Hmm, now that was uncalled for and I think I've been a twat upon review.

It is difficult for me to interact, especially via this medium but I try to learn from my mistakes and even more from the balanced, sensible and cogent messages posted by others.

Apologies to all concerned.

confudled have you looked at the thread I linked? OP said She has been told this is to happen from July the 1st, So yes I am sure if you were able to ask someone if what She has heard is true, and then reply as such to the OP I am sure She would be Very grateful.

Here is the link .....again confuddled www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childbirth/1223588-Bham-womens-hosp-will-not-provide-milk-or-sterile-environment-for-new-mums

Microserf's paediarician friend should probably be resported to the GMC for their lack of continued professional development. The research is clear and if she was telling Microserf otherwise she is wrong.

What needs to happen is that hospitals have clear policies about helping people breastfeed.

For example. If your baby is sleepy/jauniced and is not feeding then the hospital will supply an electric breast pump so that you can express your milk which you can then use to cup feed or bottle feed EBF etc etc...

Yes ohanotherone - I met a neonatal paed. His opinion was that giving a prem baby breastmilk (your own or donated) is one of the most important things that can be done to prevent NEC.

The hospital I had my babies in stopped providing formula years ago. It is a UNICEF baby friendly hospital, I assumed the no formula rule was because of this. I also assumed the reasoning behind it was that it would seem hypocritical to do everything they could to encourage breastfeeding, yet then hand out free bottles to mothers who have chosen to FF. (but I'm not in any way criticising a mothers right to choose how to feed her baby)

I wonder if stocking bottles of formula to hand out to anyone would affect a hospitals baby friendly status.

Finallygotaroundtoit suboptimal or healthier, its a matter of semantics. I accept your fundamental point that breast is better than formula although I find the stuff about it being intended for calves slightly hysterical: bottom line is a large number of babies the world over are fed formula and while it may not be the best nutrition they could have its not doing them a tremendous amount of harm either.

But as HushedTones points out most women breastfeed in hospital and then give up afterwards. I couldn't actually breastfeed even in hospital but the point remains that giving new mothers access to formula in hospital isn't making them more likely to abandon breastfeeding once out of hospital -- hospital feeding is actually a bit of a red herring.

Again, I repeat my previous point: I'm not challenging the dogma about breast being best. But I think its unconstructive when women who either can't or won't breastfeed are made to feel that they are not only unhealthy but actually delinquent. For me the idea that women be kept in hospital indefinitely until they are seen to breastfeed is a triumph of politics over pragmatism. For the reasons discussed above keeping them in doesn't actually make them more likely to breastfeed consistently once they've been discharged and if they can't or don't want to do it in hospital singling them out as dysfunctional is hardly likely to make them want to do it. Much better to provide low key outpatient help.

How is saying that cow's milk is intended for calves being 'hysterical'?

The fundamental point is not that human milk is better for babies but that cow's milk is worse.

Breastmilk is normal,standard what babies (and mothers) are designed for.

If half of all newborn gorillas in captivity were given giraffe milk, would we really attribute any increased illness in them to the normal rates of illness for gorillas? And conclude that the ones getting primate milk were somehow being 'protected' - better health for them being an added bonus but not really to be expected?

yes my hospital did his last year when i had my now 1yr old son and i formula fed as an nhs worker i know the nhs wastes a ridiculous amount of money on huge amounts of managers and pointless intiatives but they take formula milk off babies wether you choose to breast feed or formula is your own decision and i wasent bothered about bringing in formula milk but think hospitals have far more areas that they can save money in

I did see the link and still think it's a load of rubbish. I'm a July mum so why have I not been told? Why are there not signs up in antenatal clinic saying that things are changing? There was for a long time before NNU stopped supplying nappies. Why are the local press not up in arms?

The only signs I can see are that milk is not to be taken home.

I went for my antenatal appointment today and asked if my new baby has feeding/jaunice problems and I can't express enough (they will provide pumps and sterile bottles) will the DGH have formula and I was told that they wouldn't have formula, and that I should buy some just in case. I asked even if prescribed by the paediatricians and was told it was part of the Baby Friendly Initiative.

If you choose to bottlefeed from the get go, for whatever reason, I can't quite get my head around why the tax payer should be funding that choice?

Considering the NHS is in a precarious financial position as it is, it seems insane to suggest it uses some of it's precious resources to provide an inferior foodstuff to the one mothers bring into hospital free in their breasts. Especially as formula feeding already brings increased pressure to bear on the NHS.

Clearly there does need to be a supply for emergency use, which there will be,

Finallygotaroundtoit the analogy with giraffes and gorillas is interesting but it doesn't really get us anywhere with the fundamental question which is this: if for whatever reason a woman who has just delivered a baby can't or won't feed that baby with breast milk, is the greater good served by making it more difficult for her to feed her baby with the next best option?
My contention is that it doesn't make any bloody difference because that outcome has probably already been decided (whether by nature or the mother.) When I had my dd I would have moved heaven and earth to have been able to feed her with breast milk. But I couldn't. So eventually, after my little girl had gone 72 hours with very little milk, I took a decision that formula was better than starvation. The nurses and midwives said I would be allowed a bottle of formula but that from that point on I would be on my own. At which point my husband brought some formula in. I was so fecking tired and fed up that I was past complaint, but would some miracle have occurred allowing my breasts to have overflowed with milk for my little one had the staff been even tougher with me and refused me the formula? No it bloody wouldn't. All that would have happened is that my dd would have dropped even more weight than she did. I would have been even more depressed and pissed off to have spent yet another night in hospital with everyone and their dog staring at my norks and trying to figure out what was wrong with them etc. All very on-message but achieving very little in terms of the ultimate goal of getting me to breastfeeed.

I'm from this area originally, and had my son at the hospital there. I've also worked with a lot of mums to be and, in particular, young mums.

The area as a whole has a reduced number of people even trying breastfeeding. Baby doesn't even go near the breast to see if it's possible. I'm all for encouraging breastfeeding - and these steps seem reasonable in doing so. They're not refusing to allow formula - just asking you to bring in your own.

Nappies aren't free in hospital. You take in clothes for baby. You arrange your transport home. If you want snacks etc in labour you bring them in. And this is an extension. I see the debate about adults getting fed - but it's not like they're forbidding feeding - they're encouraging an alternative and free method which will, in most instances, have a great benefit to both mother and child.

Actually, looking around, it's us unit mums with the sterilisers for our expressing sets. Everyone else has pre-sterile bottles and teats. So really can't see them withdrawing that!

This is a Babyfriendly hospital and the best for breastfeeding around here - I hate talking to unit mums from other hospitals because the things they tell me scare me! I think a big part of what makes them good is that they have the knowledge to support either method and will give you the support you need, they also won't let you give up on what you want to do - I mean that in the nicest possible way. With my eldest I was getting fed up and wanting to take her home so told the neonatal nurses I'd give her a bottle (bottle fed babies go home from the unit sooner as they don't need a week on Transitional Care to establish feeding) and they gently said no, it's not what I wanted and I knew it really and they wouldn't let me give up on that. I did say it slightly tongue in cheek, about the same time I pulled my clothes around her and asked if I'd pass as pregnant if I walked out! So their reaction was a telling off in a similar tone but I know if it hadn't been they would have been the same.

Hi confuddled
Did you ask them there if it is to stop there on july 1st like the OP of the other thread has heard?

when i had my first child i did intend to breast feed however i found very little support both in hospital and out the midwiveswould come along and say yes he has latched on after i few seconds went away and he immediatley fell off i know breast is best etc but as a neurotic new mother whose baby was naturally small at 41weeks gestation [ 5lb 14 oz]i just didnt want him hungary if the nhs wants more mothers breastfeeding they should provide more help and support as breat feeding is nt that easy for everyone