To be shocked at the price of formula milk?

[Souredstones]

It's been 9 years since I was last pregnant and this time round I'm not going to attempt breast feeding because for my previous pregnancies I produced no milk and wasn't able to feed them. So I'm not stressing out I'm going straight in for the formula. I have medical reasons for doing so.

I get that they've put the price up to deter formula feeding. I know why. I agree breast is best. But from what I saw today it's now a sneeze under £10 a tin.

I'm lucky we can afford it, but what if you're on the threshold of not receiving help and find yourself, as I did, unable to bf even with the full intentions of bfing and being unable to afford this price.

Is there a reason it's doubled in price in the last decade? Have production techniques changed that much?

I'mNotBloody14, do you have any idea how fucking horrible and hard it is to get by on one low income? On 15k she's going to be getting less than a grand a month to house, clothe and feed two adults and travel to and from work. She probably only gets a pittance in housing benefit which will be cut back even further if she has bedroom for the baby which isn't being used. And she probably won't get tax credits until the baby is born.

On an income like that you can't 'cut back elsewhere' because all you have is spent on essentials. On 15k you're not going to be frittering away your money on holidays and booze. It's more likely to be a choice between eating and paying your council tax this month.

Never read such patronizing nonsense in my life, you've clearly never lived on a low income.

Also, the cb for the eldest is still £20 even when they are out of nappies so if you are planning a second child it's worth considering the age gap.

But really, kids cost money, from birth . and whether pregnancy was planned or unplanned i think you should expect to be paying out a good whack of money to keep them alive and comfortable. I get that formula is necessary but so is proper food after weaning and that has shot up in price too over the last few years. At £10 a tin over 5 days i dont think it is very expensive. £14 a week to feed your child- how much do you spend on food for yourself for a week?

There are waves of buying from China that mean there's a shortage of supply. Several times in the past year or two all supermarkets near us have been sold out of Cow & Gate (which is what we use.) The nursery we use have a notice up about how they are having difficulty buying because there's rationing by suppliers to prevent bulk buying.

Given this, it's a surprise the price hasn't gone up in the last three years. Was £7.50 three years ago, seems to be £8 now. (If they have any.)

As the lone parent of 2 children earning £8k a year yes i have a bit of an idea bridget thanks

Ive done the cloth nappies, bfing, borrowed buggies, selling my furniture to eat - i know how hard it is- im still doing it.

In countries where more promotion of formula is allowed (such as bogof deals etc) prices are higher.

Formula prices are not determined by some big breastfeeding conspiracies. They are set to maximise formula companies profits.

a tin of sma was £6 odds in 1998 so I guess it is inflation though we were on low income in 93 so got milk free for dd1

£10 per person per week if we can afford that much if not it regularly dips to £5 like right now when we are on a sanction from benefits and DH needs to be able to attend a4e and job interviews.

15k a year isn't that low an income is it? DH was earning less than this when we had our first and I became a SAHM. I remained a SAHM too and have been for a few years now. It's tough, I don't deny it, of course it is. But it's manageable if you're savvy.

I think the behaviour of formula companies is atrocious. They're sneaky, underhand gits and of course, driven entirely by profit. I do also appreciate that £10pw to feed a baby is relatively little. These two things are mutually exclusive. They require much more food once they're older and otherwise, you'd be spending the £10pw on bfing essential cake (this is a fact, an absolute fact and nobody, but nobody is to tell dh otherwise).

I don't get the fuss...? Don't buy formula, breast feed (& really give it ago rather than giving up by day 2) & save the money.

And don't buy prcocessed food either, buy the ingredients & cook from first principles, while I'm at it, buy cloth nappies too.

No brainer.

Lovely idea. Not helpful when you don't make milk though.

OP, how naive you are to believe that a formula company wants to deter you from using their product. Have you seen any advertising for formula milk, I don't think I have seen any that promote breast feeding in a positive way. All they care about is profit, unfortunately not so much about the babies they are feeding. There is big money to be made from selling formula milk and they have realised this. I am sorry that you will be filling their pockets because of a medical condition, it is really unfair and that makes me more cross with formula companies.

Willowisp - you're not being very realistic - some of us don't want to bf at all and need convience food and disposable nappies as we work full time and would rather spend what free time we have with the family rather than in the kitchen or sorting out cloth nappies - get into the real world !

Why do you need to be in the kichen to breastfeed? Surely youd spend more time in the kitchen if ffeeding?

The percentage of women in the Nordic countries that have milk production problems is tiny.

Are we so different? Doubt it.
They just get proper help to bf, everyone does it, it's the normal thing to do.
Cows milk formula has a place of course but it's madness to think that the producers don't do it but for big profit.

What should formula cost then?

I do think formula should be banned from advertising as all, and these daft loopholes about follow on milks annoy me. But then I don't suppose that would result in a cheaper product due to lack of advertising costs, would it.

I found it v strange that people looked down their nose at me for using cow&gate, while banging on about how much better aptamil was.

I'm shocked at the price of a lot of things these days.

Petrol, food....

I breastfed my first, my second was low birth weight and I breastfed him but from day one the midwives at the hospital pushed formula top ups... Needless to say he ended up a ff baby through no lack of trying. We went through approximatly one and a half tubs a week at 9.97 a tub. Definately expensive considering how much it costs to feed a small child from scratch.

There should be some provision for babies that need to be ff in my opinion.

Parker231 ah, I see now. When I breastfed, cooked and put my baby in cloth nappies, despite working full-time, it wasn't for financial reasons at all. It was because I'd rather have done those things than spend time with my family.

I also looked into cloth nappies and they are expensive too! Liners, appropriate size nappies, detergent and tumble drying during wet/cold weather can all add up.

Imnotbloody14 - we use a proportion of convience food to save time. To us the advantage of ff as oppose to bf was that we could both do the feedings (and anyone else who was around) and take turns at night. My job is very full on and broken sleep each night would have been a nightmare. The cost of the formula was factored into our budget when deciding to start a family.

Well yes parker there are nice advantages to ff- however if the cost of ff is something you object to ( which is what willowisp was responding to) then it isnt unrealistic to sugget bfing

I wonder if some people who are skint don't bother with formula and use normal milk?

I remember years ago a baby died as it was been weaned on Smash rather than baby food due to costs.

Id say there are some who feel forced to reduce the amount of baby milk they are giving due to cost

DD2 needed formula top ups to catch her up after she lost a lot of weight in the first few weeks and we got in on prescription, didn't cost a penny. I breastfed and she only had one formula feed a day but there are arrangements for babies who are found to need some formula.

Formula is expensive but I can't say the cost was something I took into account when I chose to breastfeed.

I agree formula is expensive but as i never considered bf we knew that we would be paying for formula for 12 months - although twins wasn't part of the master plan !