No formula milk available from foodbanks

[CaraDuneRedux]

Times article:
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/food-banks-ban-on-formula-leaves-babies-to-go-hungry-tcghd25gm

Maybe someone cleverer than I am can do the share token.

But in a nutshell, in order to follow Unicef guidelines, food banks like the Trussell Trust are refusing donations of formula, so as not to be guilty of encouraging women to give up breast feeding.

Note that we are not talking about the infamous bad old days of formula companies handing out free samples on post natal wards so that women never start to breast feed.

We are talking about families where a decision has already been made to use formula, and where the mother's milk has therefore stopped, who then find due to change in circumstance (eg. job loss during the pandemic) that they are unable to feed their babies. They can't magically restart breastfeeding at this point - the choice (given the 5 week delay between starting a UC claim and receiving the first payment) is formula or starvation.

Are others as horrified by this box-ticking piece of insanity as I am? What can we do? How do we exert pressure on the foodbanks to get them to help the people they were set up to help (rather than pursuing some Unicef-approved tick of self-righteousness)?

@MiddlesexGirl

UNICEF guidelines are for all countries including the UK.

Yes, I get that - but they're also based on the idea of protecting babies in the worst case scenario of a country without clean drinking water, where only a tiny fraction of the population have access to the facilities to sterilise bottles adequately, where your local grocery store may well have tubs of formula from a dodgy supplier which cuts corners on the ingredients (e.g. the Chinese baby milk scandal a decade or so ago, where powdered milk was contaminated with melamine). To apply those rules blindly to a country which does have clean water, most people with access to washing facilities, legally controlled food standards, to the extent that the rules prevent perfectly safe help being given to people who need it, is what seems to me to be short-sighted.

I started this thread not to try to start a BF versus FF battle, or a "how shocking that the wrong people are doing the wrong things" (apologies, parts of my OP were clumsily worded) but more in the spirit of "there appears to be a crisis, right here, right now, which something needs to be done about."

There's already been one post upthread with what I think could well be "best practice" locally, where foodbanks, the council and health visitors work together to ensure that families in need get formula within the day.

But it appears that this is not happening across the whole country, and my question is this: What do we do about it to help get the families who need help with formula access to this help, regardless of where they live?

@Ahorsecalledseptember

anti I am very pro breastfeeding. I would love to see breastfeeding rates improve and I would advocate it to anyone, and I still think that is awfully unfair. She doesn’t have to justify her reasons.

I agree that it should not be anyone's business why she made that choice and she does not have to justify her reasons. She openly gave her reason in the article. And she has now been quoted in an article in a national newspaper that is being used to undermine very sensible advice from UNICEF, and the article is unfairly making them seem like the bad guys.

I wonder if she directly told her story to the times, or if they picked it up from somewhere else? I hope things are better for her now, sounds like things we really tough for her and her family.

I do passionately believe that more mothers should have access to bf support. None of us know what support was available to this woman in her area. But we do know there is a lot of information online, and freely available resources like the breastfeeding helpline. I got loads of useful support from a couple of facebook groups.

@HokeyWokey no of course they are not stupid. But many simply don't realise. I work in maternity care and have lost count of the number of people I have worked with and cared for who didn't know the differences in different stages of milk and who have inappropriate mild to their child. The array of products available is really confusing!

But the fact remains that unicef guidance for food banks absolutely does allow distribution of formula milks in emergency situations. Perhaps there has been misinterpretation of guidance

But anti, her reasons are perfectly good, because they are her reasons. The only reason anyone needs is ‘I didn’t want to breastfeed.’ I really want TO breastfeed - that works two ways.

It is different when somebody is considering breastfeeding and can’t because of lack of support or (say) pressure from others. But if someone does won’t want to I do think we need to respect that.

The healthy start vouchers are only there for people on income support, universal credit, CTC with an income of less than £16,190 or less a year JSA or ESA. It’s not hard to see how a couple with one earning say £23,000 and the other on SMP might struggle, is it?

@Ahorsecalledseptember

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland because those vouchers are only there for those claiming benefits! If you are working, even on a much-reduced income due to SMP, what do you do?

Or if you're on a very low income.

If you can't afford formula, you would contact your HV? That's a health issue for the baby.

At the moment you look locally for your local covid support group/s.

Patchy aid across the country is always an issue, often made worse by communication issues. The support may be available but how to put those in n ed in touch with those who can help?

We use Facebook, other SM, posters round town, every organisation we can think of across town and STILL people don't know we exist.

And that is before you get to issues of fear of being seen as failing, or pride, or lack of English, etc etc.

What YOU can do is probably based on funding out what is available locally and spreading the word.

Nationally? Pick an organisation that suits your outlook and support them. There are very many of them doing a lot of good work. But no one of them can access everyone in need. It's far harder than you might think!

Analysis by The Equality Trust can, today, reveal that the richest 1,000 people in the UK have:

Increased their wealth by £66 billion in the past year alone (2017 - 2018) [1] Increased their wealth by £274 billion in the past five years (2013 - 2018) [1] Increased their total wealth to the staggering sum of £724 billion, which is significantly more than the poorest 40% of households combined on £567 billion.[2] Dr. Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director of The Equality Trust commented:

“Our annual Wealth Tracker research in recent years reveals that a vast amount of the nation’s wealth has been captured by a tiny number of people. This is economically illiterate, socially poisonous and politically dangerous and draws a harrowing picture of UK inequality. It should be a source of national shame. At the same time, many will be wondering why they have not seen their wages increase over the last five years, or why despite working hard and working long hours, they are struggling to put food on the table. The UK’s appalling wealth inequality is a gross injustice and a dire threat to our economy and social cohesion. If wealth continues to gush upwards, then opportunity and hope for future generations will steadily be strangled. This is a recipe for resentment, social division and, potentially, disaster. This fawning over obscene wealth is downright scandalous in a society where foodbank use, child poverty and inequality are damaging lives on a daily basis."

A very low income, stella. £16,190 a year or less.

Can you honestly say you wouldn’t struggle on an income of £16,500 a year? I would.

The breast feeding mafia get everywhere.

It takes on average 2-3 months from applying to receiving vouchers.

The healthy start website says you receive vouchers within 2 weeks of application being received & you can apply when pregnant.

@Ahorsecalledseptember

A very low income, stella. £16,190 a year or less.

Can you honestly say you wouldn’t struggle on an income of £16,500 a year? I would.

Of course people struggle on very low incomes

The point is, if you are in an emergency situation where you can't feed a baby, then you need to contact health or social services for support. It isn't safe or viable for babies to rely on volunteers/charities to dole out vital supplies.

The breast feeding mafia get everywhere

There's always one

in order to follow Unicef guidelines

How lovely for something to not (supposedly) be the EU's fault, just for once.

If you are working and on a low income, you are already eligible for income support, working tax credit, child tax credit, housing benefit/equivalent elements of UC.

Healthy start vouchers are then in addition to that. Its dedicated extra money for formula milk (or other milk, fruit & veg).

what more do you want?

Social services are not a hand holding service to dole out baby milk, they are far too stretched for that. Health visitors are well and good but actually getting hold of one and formula milk in a reasonable timeframe to feed a baby is another matter!

Far more sensible for someone contacting a food bank and needing formula milk to tell the volunteers the milk their baby normally has and for them to provide it.

Since when was everybody on a low income eligible for income support and those other benefits? Stop being a fool loveisland.

I think sometimes there are people who won't be happy until the government provides:

• high quality housing
• all meals
• all utilities
• clothing

To everyone, absolutely free of charge. And benefits on top.

If you aren't eligible for those benefits your income isnt that low.

Look I know it isnt perfect but there has to be SOME element of living as a healthy NT adult that involves SOME responsibility for yourself and your family?

@StellaGib no we didn't qualify for any benefits or vouchers at all, aside from child benefit & obviously maternity pay after DD was born. We went to the CAB & they did a benefits check, they said we should definitely get something, given how low our joint income was ( we only got my Maternity pay, plus child benefit). But because I was legally in f/t employment, albeit on maternity leave, & on a couple of pound an hour above minimum wage, we qualified for absolutely nothing. DH didn't even qualify for JSA because we should have been in too high an income bracket. We weren't even able to pay rent, council tax & utilities. The CAB were appalled but there was nothing they could do except for offer us food bank. They asked us how much food we had & when said we'd half a bag of rice in the cupboard they sent us home with an enormous bag & a box of food to see us through Christmas, we just broke down in tears. We had to take turns carrying them, as we had baby DD with us as well, we don't have a car, it's a mile home & I'm disabled (I wasn't quite as ill back then though). DH carried the box ahead, then came back & we brought the bag together, & so on. A stranger helped us the last part of the way when he saw us struggling.

I wanted to go back to work early as we needed the money, & the CAB advised me I'd be better off p/t as I'd qualify for benefits, but my employer really screwed me over, refused to discuss anything. I had to go p/t when I went back anyway as DH was in college retraining by then, & due to my declining health. The petty bastards.

DH didn't even qualify for JSA because we should have been in too high an income bracket

JSA has a non means tested element, so this sentence makes no sense whatsoever.

The whole point of food banks is they are a stopgap in an emergency, I think feeding a baby is as salient an emergency as you can get so no I won’t be happy unless it is confirmed this can be provided.

It really doesn’t take a hugely amount of complex thought or coordination to say to somebody “and as well as needing an emergency food parcel for three days, there is a four month old baby who is bottle fed - what formula milk does she have?” and nip out to Boots.

It really isn’t asking the world.

@NoSquirrels

There is a provision already set up for families needing formula, though. It’s recognised as vitally important so Health Visitors can help people access this.

Can’t read the article without the share token but I disagree with your premise that it’s a UNICEF box-ticking exercise.

Exactly. Formula is available outside of food banks.

ahorse how? How can a food bank, dependent on donations, hold just the right amount of just the right formula, in date, ready and waiting for the asking? How can we do that and still have enough resources to fulfil our primary purpose?

It's not what we do. It's not possible for many banks... lack of shelf space for one reason, can't afford it for another. We do not claim to be the one stop shop for people in all need!

Bluntly it is not our issue. We do something else. We help as we can but we are a good bank not a formula bank.

I've yet to see OP post evidence that there are babies in the UK genuinely being diagnosed with malnutrition or starvation due to inability to access formula.

Food bank use is an issue in the UK and we have huge issues with income inequality, low wages and benefit delays. But I dont think specifically that lack of access to infant formula is an issue.

A journalist will always be able to find an isolated, exceptional case, and report on it in a way that leaves out half the information, to make it seem scandalous. It's how to sell the story. It doesnt mean there is a really a serious widespread issue here

Healthy start vouchers are 6.20 a week. That doesn't really cover formula.
Formula is pretty expensive.