To expect the NHS to pay for me to breast feed

[pamplem0usse]

OK so not quite:
10 week old DS has a cows milk allergy. He's EBF so the only solution currently is for me to cut out all dairy from my diet. I'm already a pescatarian.
Dairy free alternatives seem to be really expensive.... AIBU to think I should be able to be prescribed some of these given (a) the amount of money I'm saving them on hypoallergenic formula and (b) since I'm likely to save them significant amounts of cash by helping prevent further allergies develop....

I'm lactose intolerant and have been dairy free for years. I don't see how it is more expensive.

I tend to eat things that are naturally dairy free rather than finding dairy substitutes though. I do occasionally buy a carton of lactofree milk so I can have a hot choc in winter though, but that's a handfull of times per year.

YABU. However, you're entitled to ask to be referred to a dietician on the NHS who could probably suggest cheaper ways of achieving the same thing than buying expensive dairy-free alternatives.

yes I think YABU

(says she who has never bought formula and donated loads of my milk to SCBU..... wouldnt have occured to me to want money for my milk, nor for the sterilising equipment and pumps etc that i bought (over £200 worth) to be a donar)

Yabvu. You don't have to eat alternatives to avoid dairy. You can eat other stuff.

The NHS is not there to pay for yours or your child's food. You are not saving the NHS money What a ridiculous thing to say. You are preventing our baby from being ill, not doing the taxpayer a favour!

Agree with outraged. Words have failed me!

I'm guessing you're joking. It can be difficult at first, my 7mo ds has a cows milk protein problem too and I've cut it completely from my diet. It's far easier than I thought it would be. I'm wanting to stop bfing for various reasons now though and getting anyone to take the problem seriously and prescribe suitable formula is a struggle. He comes up in welts if I ever slip up, even if you dab milk on his skin :(

I think Yabu for the reasons stated by others.

Really?

Yabu!

Dairy-free foods don't have to be expensive, well it is if you buy the "free-from" stuff at the supermarket.

If you give a list of what is expensive I will try to find cheaper alternatives for you ( and as you have a 10 week old I will try to not give you lots of recipes as you are probably knackered and cannot be arsed to make your own cookies).

YABU

When you have a baby you become responsible for the baby's welfare. There is lots of support available in the UK to help this happen, but the responsibility remains your's.

If you need to drop something from your diet for the baby's wellbeing so be it. Presumably this is a short term change rather than permanent?

I am bit puzzled why it is so much more expensive to be dairy free. I don't drink cows milk and basic soya milk is about 60p a litre in the supermarket. I do sometimes eat yogurt but I could live without or you can get soya yogurt. Again I'm a bit take it our leave it about cheese. Non dairy spreads are going to be about the same as dairy.

Haha.

You could always switch to bottle feeding and get his dairy free formula on prescription.

outraged how is preventing a baby from getting sick NOT going to save the tax payer money?

Surely every hospital visit costs??

You're an adult - actually, you don't NEED any form of dairy foods in your diet, past the age of about 5! Up your intake of leafy veg/salad, nuts and seeds and you will get all the calcium you need (it's just marketing bollocks that you need dairy in your diet, you don't).

After weaning my DS4 from BF at about 13 months, he just went onto Goats milk (full fat, available in all supermarkets these days), rather than buy expensive special formula (he has no reaction to it at all, very few people react to goats milk).

I do sympathise with op.

I had the same with ds2.

To the others is not the obvious dairy products but the fact that dairy is in everything like biscuits, some breads, etc. You have to check everything you put in your mouth. Difficult to eat out or with friends etc.

I want paying for a) not smoking (saving a bundle there) and
b) losing weight

If the baby would otherwise be prescribed formula, then OP is absolutely and unequivocally saving the NHS money by rendering it unnecessary. This is not a matter of opinion. Still though, I think wanting dairy free alternatives prescribed is a bit much.

YABU.

Nice try, but I hardly think this is a priority case for the already cash-strapped NHS.

Preventing a baby from being ill will ultimately save the NHS money, but it's a parents responsibility to do what they can to prevent their child becoming ill.

There is something very simple and inexpensive that the OP could do to protect her own child's health, yet she has the cheek to think the NHS should pay for her to parent her own child. It's ridiculous.

I may as well say that I demand the NHS pays me not to do extreme sports. After all, I'd be saving them money by not putting myself at risk of injury. Or maybe they could pay for me to fly up to Scotland to see my family as there would be less risk of my being injured in a car accident, therefore I'm saving the taxpayer money. Or, perhaps, they could pay for someone to walk my child to school. I can't be bothered to parent properly myself, and it will save the NHS money if my small child doesn't get run over by a car.

You are saving them significant amounts of money, by feeding your own child?

OK....

I am also saving the NHS money by not smoking. Instead of smoking I eat mars bars, will the NHS pay for my chocolate?

I am saving the NHS money by not taking up skydiving as a hobby and therefore minimising the risk of breaking my leg, instead of that I choose to read, will they buy me a kindle and a new book every week.

re Soya formulas - those with a cows milk protein sensitivity have a fairly high chance of also reacting to soya products.

I had to stop drinking wine when breast feeding

Children can be prescribed gluten free food, as it is expensive.

Back in the day when soya formula used to be the alternative for a baby with a cows' milk allergy, that was available on prescription too.

Dairy-free food is expensive but it is not available on prescription. I agree it does not seem fair.

I used to feel pissed off that a child with a gluten intolerance could get expensive alternatives for free, food but my child with a life-threatening allergy couldn't.

But 'tis life!

YABU. The NHS does not pay for special diets as far as I know. YABVU.