So is formula milk UPF?

[bumgripes]

It is, right? I mean, the ingredients list certainly is. And it’s listed on the BBC website as an UPF.

Going to be interested to see if this influences the BF/FF debate now that it looks like awareness of UPF is about to skyrocket. Does it even matter when they’re only on it for about a year? Does that fact that it’s an UPF actually add any info to the pre-existing evidence on BF/FF?

Women are allowed to be proud for breastfeeding. I sure am. It was really really hard in the beginning. And to still be doing it now. I'm proud of my body. To be able to feed my child. It's an amazon thing.

Amazing*

And sure enough!

It is an ultra processed food and for that reason it shouldn’t be promoted.

That's faulty logic.
The pros and cons of breastmilk and formula are known and nothing to do with whether the latter is a 'UPF'. Any alternatives to breastmilk which existed before formula may well not have been classified as 'UPFs' but they would be inferior to formula.

baby formula being upf is true but that's irrelevant when mummy is not able to BF.

baby food on the other hand... even those expensive so called organic pouches.... UPF and really not great... much better to puree stuff in bulk and freeze in ice cube trays

😂

@ErrolTheDragon I think you make a great point I hadn’t thought of.

Obviously if you can’t breastfeed (for whatever reason, I EBF and I can’t say it was great for my mental health) then formula is the thing that has literally been designed for babies to eat, it is lifesaving and it is what they need.

To be honest what I was partly wondering is… UPF is a thing because it’s profitable, right? It’s a commercially profitable way to mass produce food. I wonder if the current upf formula makeups are actually the ONLY way to make breast milk analogue, or just the most convenient ones with the greatest profit margins? No sodding idea obviously because I’m not a food scientist or nutritionist. But it’s not like all the pressure has to necessarily be applied to nursing mums. If there was a market for less processed formula, would someone miraculously invent it?

And....??

It’s like bloody Beetlejuice, you only need to say ‘breastfeeding’ once and they appear 😂

That really made me laugh!

Yes it is! However, it is considered far better for babies than diluted full cream milk (2 parts milk, 1 part water) with a spot of added sugar which was considered a perfectly acceptable way of infant feeding right up to the 1960s!

But the DIY approach with normal milk and sugar (woohoo just 2 ingredients) is considered much riskier!

I don’t think you could made formula without some sort of processing. I suppose the least processed version would be fresh pasteurised cows milk with the added vitamins and minerals. The issue with this is shelf life and ability to manufacture and get to retailers. With normal milk it’s a quicker process to get from cow to fridge.

If you can’t breastfeed formula is the safest alternative to give. It being an UPF is really irrelevant.

There could be an argument to talk about it being UPF where ff is a total choice. Even then it would just be one piece of information that a family would use to make a decision.

@CecilyP I have a baby book from 1951 that gives that recipe for feeding a newborn. But then it also recommends orange juice from 2 months and an enema if the baby cries a lot …

Oh, wait a minute? Isn't it natural and normal and most women can do it?

It's either amazing, or it's normal. Which is it?

The thing is, trumpeting formula as a UPF isn’t going to cause a huge increase in bf.

It’s going to cause a huge increase in unsafe, unsuitable, significantly worse but ‘less processed’ breastmilk alternatives, and thus an increase in poor infant health.

@egowise something can be both natural and amazing.

It can be both :)

So being at home with my baby, with no milk coming out, y of expected me to take my twins to the GP for their medical advice on what to do? What should I have done over the weekend whilst I waited for a call back?
I'd think that was SS remit really. "I didn't buy any formula because I couldn't get in to the GP for them to advise it"

Well if it makes our government take infant feeding more seriously than it can only be a good thing.

They did take it seriously in 1975 when a large number of infant feeding products were withdrawn from the market and feeding instructions were removed from tins of carnation milk. Which left the modern formulas, modified to be more like breast milk, the only alternative for mothers not breastfeeding.

@cantkeepawayforever that’s a good point. If more families decided not to use for formula because it’s UPF either the formula companies would try to ‘create’ an alternative or someone else would.

The only saving grace here is that infant formula is so tightly controlled here that it wouldn’t be able to be marketed as a breastmilk substitute.

Good luck with even getting an appointment these days!

Although formula will never be like breastmilk.

I breastfed my children. My choice

I was bottlefed. My mother's choice. 70 years later I'm still here, and so far, touch wood, no serious health issues.

Just let babies be fed by whatever method suits the mother and child.

Boots have recently got in to trouble for advertising infant formula for up to 6 months. Good!