Bargin Booze advertising a specific brand of infant Formula

[Beatrixemerald]

Totally expecting a flaming here buty local Bargain Booze is advertising Cow and Gate formula on a sandwich board outside, if nothing else it is illegal, but I also think I should probably mind my own business but it gets on my nerves. Think they should probably stick to booze. WIBU to say something to them?

"'Tis the way with any mn thread that mentions formula unfortunately!"

Positives and negatives of breastfeeding, fine, but any hint of criticism of the commercial product that is formula will bring down a shed load of defensive shite on your head because formula is god's own milky tears of goodness dontcha know

Thanks for coming back and updating OP, I can hide the thread now.

Rather goady of you Beloved. Was that really necessary?

You've rather proved my point there Beloved! What I meant was most of the threads end in a massive row, many get deleted completely, HQ have already commented on this one in fact.

All the snidey and defensive responses to the OP weren't called for.

Are you talking about your own posts beloved? After all this is aibu, people are entitled to share their own opinions abd experiences, including you

And your "God's milky tears" comment wasn't snidey at all? Are you serious?

Yes, I'm serious.

Formula is the only commercial product you're not allowed to criticize.

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so i may have confused the hell out of them, as i would not have been exclusive at 3 weeks and 6 weeks but all them other times! ;)

You can criticise whatever you like beloved but make it based on fact rather than emotional claptrap. Breastfeeding is better for babies when it goes well, there you go a factual criticism of formula that no one can argue with .

It doesn't make formula poison though. It doesn't mean that in some cases it isn't the best way of feeding baby. That's all anyone has said.

Part of my criticism is based on emotion- is that not allowed?

I care deeply for the women I have met suffering pain and distress because of breastfeeding problems.
Women who are so ignorant of basic breastfeeding skills ( as was I) because they have been raised in a culture of formula feeding.
So uptight because they lack the basic relaxed ideas about positioning and latching a baby - which in an ideal world are learned when they themselves are children.
So alone, having no sisters, mothers, neighbours who know these skills either.

And I know this is because rich formula companies are feathering their pockets at the expense of a woman's basic right.

I think that critique of a product should be based on fact yes.

It is also naive to assume that the feeding culture is entirely the fault of formula companies. Both of my parents (late 60s) were bottle fed before formula even existed.

fulltothebrim as I child I never saw the babies in my family (of which there were not many younger than me) being fed, be it by bottle or breast. So I don't think we can blame formula companies for that. Modern life means that people move, so I live miles away from my mum (who bf) and the female members of my family. I wouldn't really want to talk to my MIL about breastfeeding (who bf) as we don't have that kind of relationship and don't have a close relationship with my neighbours (one of which doesn't have children, so no help there). None of this can be blamed on formula companies. I never intended on doing anything other than bf, but to my horror found it difficult. I had a fair amount of support from the local bf support service, but had a DD with a (diagnosed but untreated) tongue tie (they said it was small) and an (undiagnosed) lip tie. Add to that constant bf due to colic (it made her feel better) and a velcro baby who was permanently attached to me and wouldn't let me sleep, it's no surprise I broke and started mixed feeding, moving to fully ff at 3 months. I don't blame any of this on forumla companies and I'm just glad I had to option to switch. It made me a better and happier mummy. And while I understand and agree with no discounts on formula milk, I don't see the fuss about a small shop (which I've never heard of) advertising that they sell it.

toby formuka has eisted for well over 100 years.
THe most agressive decade for formula marketing was in the 1950s- bang on the time when your parents were babies.

They weren't fed on formula. And they were babies in the 40s. My grandmother 100 years ago fed her younger brothers and sisters watered down condensed milk and sugar.

For correct info about formula and marketing in the UK, read Politics of Breastfeeding.

Formula only took off in the 1960s in the UK. Before then babies got dried milk (national dried milk was the govt product which existed for about thirty years) or condensed and diluted milk ( eg carnation) or diluted doorstep milk.

The United States experience is different.

However supplements to breastfeeding were widely advertised in the UK long before that ('when mother's milk is not enough'). They were rice and cereal based products.

One of the things that 'did' for bf was hospital insistence on separating mothers and babies and feeding to a routine. Bf did not work at all well in those circumstances.

"You can criticise whatever you like beloved but make it based on fact rather than emotional claptrap."

What 'emotional claptrap'?

Just to clarify: marketing of formula definitely has a role to play in all of this. Until legislation came in to stop it, formula was given free to maternity units (actually, in some cases the formula manufacturers paid the hospitals to allow them to do that). That's how important it was, commercially, to stop women bf. Without strict rules, there would be all sorts of other incentives to mothers and to public services that favoured ff.

There is nothing wrong with selling formula at a fair price and making it easily available. No one needs to be told formula exists, so advertising and marketing has the sole aim of increasing sales at the expense of bf. It needs to be controlled, for that reason.

erm Milky tears or whatever it was.

Agreed, it has a role/ had a role, but the situation like most things is highly complex.

"erm Milky tears"

Errr, joke.

Beloved, I laughed :) :)

OK I'm clearly not as easily amused. It sounded sarky and snide to me, but happy to stand corrected if that was not the intention.

I think things can be funny and sarcy and snide though ( Jo Brand, Jack Dee, Sarah Millican, for instance) .

God knows, the whole stupid 'ff and bf debate' (ugh) is ripe for it.

Don't mind a joke but it was clearly aimed at me as you quoted me. That's when it comes across as snidey when you quote another poster when you say it.