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)?

I don’t remember seeing any formula marketing when I was pregnant but decided to use formula as it was the best choice for DC’s, me and our family. I bought the brand most readily available at our local supermarket - marketing didn’t come into

When I was formula feeding I didn't really pay much attention to formula advertising either. However when I was breastfeeding I felt like I was bombarded, I would be sat up at 2am scrolling through facebook having a bit of a tough time and every other advert was for formula, you would hide one company and another replaced it.

Advertising is often quite subtle, they can't directly advertise infant formula so they find other means, follow on was invented for the sole purpose of bypassing advertising laws. Formula companies sponsor courses for HCP and pop thier logo on the paperwork and HCPs form an unconscious bias towards that company. Leaflets advertising a free cuddly cow/polar bear/whatever when expectant parents sign up to the companies 'parenting club'. Of course the cuddly has the company brand on it which then gets taken to play groups etc for other parents to see.

It should absolutely be a woman's choice but how many women would choose to breastfeed if they weren't subject to so much information? Loads, that's why formula companies spend so much money on advertising. I respect a woman's right to do what she likes with her own breasts, but where is the respect for women who want to breastfeed?

And a Murdoch rag stirs up ill-feeling against the sector of society trying to do something to help struggling people. Just like the story about the "Corrie star" who kidnapped her granny from the care home turned into a demonisation of carers.

Media manipulation at its most brutal.

@Ahorsecalledseptember

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.

Have you tried to get formula from a health visitor and found it's taken too long? Or is that a guess?

Most food banks need a referral from another organisation anyway You don't phone them and ask them to pop to the shops for you.

In the same way that fresh produce is provided, samphire, they have monetary donations alongside donations of food/toiletries etc. These are used to buy things like bread, and other things that are needed but would either go off or they don’t have in stock / enough of.

I think the issue is that formula milk is obviously expensive, I would love to see more women decide to breastfeed. But not all women can and besides, it isn’t something you can decide on retrospectively.

[quote InFlagranteDerelicto]@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.[/quote]
Was your HV unable to help with feeding your baby?

stella, is it really beyond imagination that someone who can’t afford formula can’t afford to top up their phone, for instance? I’ve been trying to pin down a midwife for the past week, it’s not their fault, they are overstretched, but it’s a nightmare.

And absolutely you can’t just ‘rock up’ to the trussel trust, but you can to smaller ones. There are also a few routes to getting a food bank voucher, whereas with a HV that’s obviously just one organisation.

@Ahorsecalledseptember

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.

Why is it better to expect volunteers to pop to the shop for a stranger in an emergency, than to expect society to have a safety net available for starving babies? Health & social services that we all contribute to through taxes rather than relying on donations?

@funnylittlefloozie

And a Murdoch rag stirs up ill-feeling against the sector of society trying to do something to help struggling people. Just like the story about the "Corrie star" who kidnapped her granny from the care home turned into a demonisation of carers.

Media manipulation at its most brutal.

Spot on Funny

Fresh produce???? Bread???

You have no idea!!

Seriously! No idea!

There are so many confounding issues you have not taken into consideration.

Why is it better to expect volunteers to pop to the shop for a stranger in an emergency, than to expect society to have a safety net available for starving babies?
Health & social services that we all contribute to through taxes rather than relying on donations?

It's not.

In an ideal world I would like the social services safety net we had 15, 20 years ago back again.

But we are where we are, with getting on for 4 years till the next election (please, please, Starmer, make the Labour party realistically electable by then), a global pandemic raging, businesses going to the wall, people becoming unemployed - and people need help now.

The government need to step in and provide cheap or free baby formula for people on very low incomes , when I was a baby there was national dried milk , we also had juice with vitamins .

@Ahorsecalledseptember

stella, is it really beyond imagination that someone who can’t afford formula can’t afford to top up their phone, for instance? I’ve been trying to pin down a midwife for the past week, it’s not their fault, they are overstretched, but it’s a nightmare.

And absolutely you can’t just ‘rock up’ to the trussel trust, but you can to smaller ones. There are also a few routes to getting a food bank voucher, whereas with a HV that’s obviously just one organisation.

And what if you live somewhere where there aren't multiple food banks in walking distance, that you don't need a referral for and don't need to call?

I live in a fair sized town, but there is one foodbank. You need a referral and they only give out food two days a week. That is not a good system to rely on if you need emergency formula to feed your baby.

I have always been able to speak to a GP or HV on the same day I called them.

I think I might have slightly more idea than you do, samphire

Food banks do not just stick a load of stuff in a box. Sometimes they do, of course. Sometimes, they will tailor what the family need. There is no reason whatsoever why formula milk shouldn’t be part of this. No good reason, anyway.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

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.

I don't know the intricacies of how they calculate JSA. I know that DH didn't qualify for contributions based JSA, as he'd been unemployed for too long (had received income based when he first lost his job, but it had ceased). He didn't qualify for income based JSA, apparently because our joint income was assessed on my hours of employment, rather than our actual income, i.e. the money we were receiving in the bank each month. Maybe there was an error or a misunderstanding somewhere, I don't know. Anyway the upshot was that he didn't get any. And we didn't have enough to live on, it was about £700 per month. Like I say, we went to the CAB & they confirmed we were in fact getting the correct benefits. They rechecked it because they couldn't believe it either. We were just in a gap. Hence the massive bag & box of food that we struggled to carry home.

I’m aware of that stella, but what’s your point? That the system isn’t perfect so let’s abandon it altogether?

If only marketing was allowed so people could be made aware that a cheaper supermarket brand was just as good as the aptamils of this world- alas, it is not

Who is going to pay for that marketing? The cost will be passed on to the parents, formula companies wont take the hit. All of the formula tins are there on the shelf with price labels. It will just mean that parents will pick the formula with the biggest marketing budget, which will not necessarily be the cheapest.

@Ahorsecalledseptember

I’m aware of that stella, but what’s your point? That the system isn’t perfect so let’s abandon it altogether?

My point is that food banks should not be giving out formula. It isn't a workable system.

With my first I didn’t see a health visitor once
They never contacted me and the clinic was quite a drive away.

@MandosHatHair

If only marketing was allowed so people could be made aware that a cheaper supermarket brand was just as good as the aptamils of this world- alas, it is not

Who is going to pay for that marketing? The cost will be passed on to the parents, formula companies wont take the hit. All of the formula tins are there on the shelf with price labels. It will just mean that parents will pick the formula with the biggest marketing budget, which will not necessarily be the cheapest.

The formula companies already spend an absolute fortune on marketing which they pass on to the customer. They do it via the backdoor, by advertising follow-on milk to create brand awareness.

All those soft-focus adverts for "Breast feeding gives your baby a great start, but once you're ready to move on..." for Aptamil? You don't think they're paying for it to raise awareness of breast feeding out of the goodness of their corporate hearts? Ditto bouncing Cow and Gate toddlers.

ahorse you may well do. I've only worked in one for just short of 20 years. I have a lot yet to learn!

If a baby is on formula and the family are low income they can get specific vouchers from the hv - for safety reasons and because there's several types food banks don't tend to accept formula (but we do take follow on milk).

Having said that, and agreeing with moving we do currently hold specific boxes/bags for specific individuals which include some medications, formula etc. But that can't be easily sustained and is only currently possible because of the covid group!

@jessycake

They already do, it's called healthy start vouchers.

@StellaGib I've no idea. She knew we were struggling to pay the rent, that my mother was buying formula for us, that I'd quit BFing with much regret due to DD being a determined biter who left tooth holes in my nipples, that I'd had urgent dental surgery with a general anaesthetic & had to pump for several days due to that which affected my supply, that I'd lost my milk & struggled to re-establish it with limited success, that I am chronically ill & although my symptoms abated during pregnancy (thankfully as the medication had been stopped as it causes birth defects; we were fortunate DD was born healthy, she was a surprise baby) but my symptoms were returning & the medication is passed on through breastmilk as well. Not taking it isn't an option. Despite all this, she never mentioned anything about vouchers. I don't know if she was aware we weren't eligible, or if she was just a crap HV. Probably the former, as the CAB did a pretty thorough check & they said we didn't seem to be eligible for any additional help either. I did ask about Healthy Start vouchers, but it looked like we were not eligible, on paper our income was too high. There was also a £500 maternity grant at the time, for prams & suchlike, but we didn't qualify for that either.

All those soft-focus adverts for "Breast feeding gives your baby a great start, but once you're ready to move on..." for Aptamil? You don't think they're paying for it to raise awareness of breast feeding out of the goodness of their corporate hearts? Ditto bouncing Cow and Gate toddlers

It's brand advertising. Advertising formula doesn't make a breastfeeding mum choose formula instead, it gives formula-feeding mums information about what brands may be out there. It's so patronising to say that women are so stupid that they will stop breastfeeding because of formula marketing. It's up there with telling pregnant women they can't buy a bottle of wine because they might drink the whole thing themselves. How about giving women some respect?

And it's massively patronising to say that food banks shouldn't give out formula because the mother should be breastfeeding. Her body her choice, not some middle class do-gooders'. Yes you tend to use the same brand with a young baby (I used SMA and Hipp with my ds) but it's not exactly difficult to ask a mum what brand she uses.

I have posted on here before about my local food bank refusing donations of sugar because poor people should not put sugar in their tea. They also refused to accept chocolate advent calendars until there was an outcry about it on my local Facebook page.

Foodbanks are obviously incredibly important to some people, but I am glad I don't have to rely on their patronising do-goodery.