To be outraged at this price increase?

[Pinkcat231]

I was reading an article the other day about baby formula prices and how families struggle to afford it then today I have noticed several shops have increased the price of all the Aptamil products.

I assume other brands will follow and it just seems outrageous with the current crisis and so many people getting less or no pay.

A lot of companies seem to be cashing in on the fact supplies are running low of certain items so AIBU to think Aptamil have jumped on that bandwagon or is this an innocent, albeit poorly timed, price increase in line with inflation?

I think the weight gain is to do with the baby, not the mother, as in, if BF isn't going well for whatever reason, then there's a risk that the baby won't grow as he/she should due to not drinking enough milk.

People are not twats or part of a brigade or deserving of being ignored or told to shut up when making relevant comments. Feeding of babies is big business and formula companies make an absolute fortune whilst having unethical practices. Feeding babies is one of those situations where offence if often taken and not given. Posters stating facts about how better feeding support and education would enable more women to breastfeed (whilst acknowledging that some can't or simply don't want to) is pertinent to a discussion about how new mothers are manipulated where spending is concerned. Lots of women want to breastfeed but couldn't due to lack of support and this creates a captive audience. We need to be better at offering mothers a true choice from the beginning.

Someone mentioned healthy start vouchers upthread. They are only about £6 per week for an under one year old so although that would help it in no way covers the cost of most main brand formulas. I can see how the extra cost would easily push people into food poverty. Most people I know who have ff have been spending about £10 per week before weaning starts. I’d love all advertising/branding of formula to be banned. But obviously that will never happen.

I'm always amazed more muns dont breast feed. It's free, great for baby, and helps to lose weight

But @ShowOfHands this thread had bugger all to do with if someone should breastfeed or not. Yet people still feel the need to bring it up. If this thread was about breastfeeding then by all means crack on but no the "breast is best" manta has found its way on to another thread as if it wasn't loud enough to begin with.

The lack of education of the damage the constant pushing of breast feeding that can occur to the mental health of mothers is outstanding. People were literally falling over themselves to get me to breastfeed whilst I was in HDU hooked up to oxygen and drips having seizures whilst my baby was in NICU. They were offering to pump me full of yet more drugs to get my milk flowing. I was made to feel a failure. Oh so very natural.

It’s not only formula companies who have a vested interest in feeding methods. The NHS is also on a mission to increase breast feeding numbers meaning their method is often pushed in extremely inappropriate situations often at the determent of new mothers.

Most of the stuff stated as facts is often just a regurgitation of sound bites pushed by people with an agenda. Many of these ”facts” are based on generalisations with no consideration on cultural differences such as maternal and infant mortality rates, age/health of mothers, availability of fresh water, later diets and educational factors.

I'm always amazed more muns dont breast feed. It's free, great for baby, and helps to lose weight

Absolutely - breastfeeding offers many advantages, which is probably why 83% of pregnant women plan to do it. And yet many of those end up formula feeding. Given that formula wasn't their initial choice, is more expensive, less convenient when out and about, etc - that suggests to me that those women probably had a damn good reason for not breastfeeding. But try telling that to the militants on here...

it’s the mums who have no intention of breastfeeding who need the lectures, not the guilt ridden ones who literally can’t due to health issues or difficult births. We all know who those mums are. But I doubt the nhs staff don’t bother with the hard nuts to crack as they know they have no chance, so they keep preaching to the converted...

@ShowOfHands yes!

@fascinated yes!

As longs as mothers aren't supported to breastfeed when they want to, then I'm afraid yes breastfeeding is relevant to a discussion on making money out of feeding babies and the economic, ethical and practical implications of that market @amazedmummy

It isn't about whether a woman SHOULD breastfeed but about the way we support new mothers to exercise choice.

Reading judgement into that discussion is in part due to that lack of support.

I do feel like formula companies have a lot to answer for, so I'm not surprised that they would prioritise profit during this time.

I know these companies aren't charities and need to make a profit. However, the very fact that the price of something essential for some babies to live is hugely inflated is disgusting. Also putting the price up now when so many people are struggling doesn't seem ethical.

Or is it that 83% of expectant mothers tell their midwife that they plan to breastfeed, to get her off their back?

@fascinated might very well be true.
So many women are shamed for not wanting to breastfeed so they might say they intend to, to avoid the pressure.

I was very clear from the beginning about my intention to not breastfeed, still even after birth of DS, one of the midwives asked if I didn't want it. I gave her a very dirty look and said NO. It's not my style to be rude to people but it seems you constantly have to stand up against the pressure to breastfeed and it made me feel very defensive. I guess other women also get tired of it and choose the easy way by just saying yes to escape the nagging.

I know these companies aren't charities and need to make a profit. However, the very fact that the price of something essential for some babies to live is hugely inflated is disgusting. Also putting the price up now when so many people are struggling doesn't seem ethical.

And I think awareness of that is what a lot of people on this thread have been saying. Not pushing breastfeeding for the sake of it but pointing out that if you choose to FF, or have to because you have no choice, then you are at the mercy of a number of companies who are notoriously cunty, who don't have your or your child's best interests at heart and are profit driven. More conversation around that probably ought to be had with expectant mothers.

Why didn't you want to Honeybee?

@woodhill

I felt very uncomfortable about the idea of it. I didn't like it at all to put my body trough another round of discomfort and pain after pregnancy and child birth...English is not my native language so pardon me if my explanation sounds clumsy. Even in my native language it's hard for me to find the words to explain properly. I guess what comes closest to how I felt was that I wanted my body back. I didn't like being pregnant at all and I just wanted to feel like me again. I felt like a sort of vessel during pregnancy and felt if I would breastfeed that I was giving up my body again. I didn't feel comfortable with that.

Let’s not pick on honeybee. That isn’t what I was trying to achieve.

Oh god the dreaded s word. Support. As an older, middle class mother I had support coming out of my ears. Every single person in my life expected me to bf. Nobody in my family or friendship group has ever used formula. The midwives tried every position possible to get DS to latch but I couldn't do it myself so it was awful.

Then I was tied to him continually, unable to go anywhere that I couldn't lie down to feed (the only way he would latch).

My brain fell out, I had a huge mental breakdown, and well meaning people talked in hushed tones about me in other rooms.

I got treatment, moved on, went back to work, got DS established on a bottle and gradually things got much better.

He's 9 now and won't eat vegetables. Huge, strong as an ox, never had a day off school for illness in six years. I feel like running on to 'breast feeding support groups' and pointing at him and saying mate, you're all going to end up with one of these, and nobody on earth will give a fuck what you feed them.

It's a collective madness and it needs to stop. It's milk. A morally neutral substance that ruins the mental health of otherwise rock solid personalities like mine. My brother was weaned on watered down carnation milk and you honestly can't tell.

Thanks Honey😊 you have explained very well

@fascinated thank you.
I don't mind at all explaining why I didn't want to breastfeed

I think it is a bit like the fuss around “healthy eating”.

Eating should just be...eating. If parents consume veg etc without comment the kids will follow, but all this shouting about it makes it into a bigger deal than it needs to be.

'at the mercy of profit driven companies' oh my aching sides.

What purchases do you make for yourself or your family that aren't from 'profit driven companies'? It's just stuff. You buy it. The end.

Ah sorry Morris I hadn’t seen your post about the veg and the 9 yr old! Wasn’t a dig at you.

Prices are set by supply and demand.