To start a thread about boots not giving "points" for formula

[Kab13]

Saw someone complaining about how she had breasted for 10 months and went into boots to buy some formula and couldn't collect points on her boots card because boots don't allow it (when buying formula for under 2's I believe).
I'm breastfed for 12 months then moved onto formula & it never really bothered me that boots didn't give points out for buying formula for children under two.
I kind of get it but can't help but feel if you really struggled to breast feed and chose to move on to formula for whatever reason this could make a new mum feel ridiculously guilty (even more than she did before)
What about mums that CANT breast feed? I do think it's a little unfair on them... Someone who worked at boots commented on this lady's status saying that they can not promote formula use (give rewards for buying it) by LAW. Really ?

nat I was giving an example of how support is shit in this country based on my experience not projecting my feelings about how I fed into everything else

And yes I am saying breastmilk is better than formula milk. Do I really need to show you studies to prove that a natural way of feeding is better than an artificial way of feeding from another species? If so how about NHS, UNICEF, WHO studies? Take your pick, it's not hard to find

chunderella I was trying to answer your question about why it was OK to have points on bf stuff. As others have explained, the no points is to stop underhand promoting by the formula companies. I've not bought formula yet, but I admit at the supermarket I'm very bargain driven. I look for the best deals on nappies etc. So would I be swayed by deals on formula? Probably if I'm honest. But I should be choosing with baby's best interest in mind, and the no promotion law means that is more likely to happen.

I'm not suggesting everyone thinks like this, but I know I'm influenced by cost a lot when supermarket shopping.

nat you also can't spend points on mobile phone top ups or lottery, yet no one feels guilt about this. It's just the law and not out to discriminate

Also OP sorry I missed the part where you said you did successfully BF (yay!)

The WHO evidence that backs their policies in particular is irrelevant to mothers in the UK today.

So are British breasts not as good as the rest of the world? Yea formula is more dangerous in developing countries because of sterile water issues. This does not mean it's better in developed countries than breastmilk.

I'll make it clear - I want to see a study that says formula milk is better for babies than breastmilk. That's the vast majority of babies - allergies etc aside, I want ine that says formula milk is better for the typical everyday allergy-free baby

Here you go nat although I think it's basic common sense that human milk is best for human babies. What you've asked me to do is the equivalent of asking me to prove that cat food is better for cats than haribo sweets are (and no I'm not comparing haribo to formula it's an analogy)
www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/News-and-Research/Research/Breastfeeding-research---An-overview/
One of many sources to prove my point. I'd now like to see yours please that you're so insistent exists

PS Breast milk is NORMAL. We wouldn't have to use the word 'best' if it wasn't for formula. It's only best in comparison to formula

nat that's not true about UK ff babies not having gastrointestinal problems. It's cost the NHS £40m a year.

Chunderella - I agree with you about follow on milk - I don't think many people are aware that they don't have to move on to follow on milk (as demo started by someone up thread who said they switched because of the price) - but i don't agree that better bf support and a ban on all formula advertising wouldn't make a difference. Of course it would. Switzerland has a ban on all formula and better maternity pay for mums (which in effect supports breastfeeding as skint mums don't have to hurry back to work) - their Bf Rates are about 95% I think consistently. It's not all to do with the make up of the people who live there.

Not sure if the posts about follow on milk are aimed in part at me, as I mentioned I have used them due to cost and points - I should point out that I'm saving £2 a week by using follow-on milk. The points are neither here nor there, I'd still be buying follow-on milk even if points weren't allowed on it, because for us it is cheaper. Had I been able to use normal first milk, which tends to be the same price, I'd have carried on, but DD was on expensive comfort milk and hated when we tried to change her back to normal first infant milk. Follow-on is the only cheaper one she'll take, PLUS it comes in handy bottles so we can send it in to nursery with her a bit easier, which the comfort milk didn't.

I'm not sure there are many people who will be swayed on Clubcard points alone.

Breastfeeding is better for babies than formula, of course it is, on a national and general level. On an individual level, countless anecdotes have shown that it doesn't really make a noticable difference. And from a personal point of view it was better for my DD to be formula fed. But there's no arguing with the science that suggests that in the presumably-controlled experiments they've done, breastmilk is more natural for babies. That doesn't mean that breastfeeding parents are better than formula feeding parents, but thankfully I don't think anyone on this thread is suggesting that.

I had to give up bfing DD2 at 4 months because she couldn't suck hard enough and was losing weight, I used to hate those Aptimil adverts: "for the first 6 months, breastmilk is best for your baby." I didn't even know I wasn't getting Nectar points on formula! Was DD2 supposed to starve then, to please the government?

but breastfeeding is free.

i get a 10% discount in the store i work in, i couldn't bf, it pissed me off that i wasn't allowed my discount on the formula.

trust me, i wouldn't have chosen formula over breastfeeding if it was about saving money, but when i DID have to use formula, its a complete pain in the ass that it costs so bloody much!