to think baby formula should come in plain packaging?

[Yoyoyozo]

Fancy packaging is used to inflate prices and extract more money from parents with phrases like 'premium' plastered on the tin. Parents shouldn't be made to feel guilty for not buying the most expensive, well-marketed brand.

Yes, parents can make their own informed decisions, but clever marketing is proven to undermine this.

A report published in The Lancet (2016) unveiled that aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes is undermining efforts to improve breastfeeding rates

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2.pdf

No, this is not equating infant formula to tobacco! The aim is to prevent exploitative marketing practices that undermine access to impartial information on infant feeding.

I see your point. If attempts are made to restrict advertising and marketing of a category of products, it seems logical to ask whether the packaging should be included in that, since their shelf presentation is a big part of a brand's visibility and image.

But TBH, with all the brands using the follow-on milk loophole to advertise in a way which is barely perceptible as different from actual baby formula adverts anyway, to me the packaging is almost neither here nor there, in comparison.

Get used to it. Every single thing to buy for a child is a choice like this.

I'd say no other thing is a choice like this. There is nothing comparable.

Why don't you think food in general is comparable?

It's easy to point the finger at formula for undermining breastfeeding rates but imo that's looking at the problem entirely the wrong way around.

Some bigger issues affecting breastfeeding:

Social attitudes. Breastfeeding would be far easier if people didn't stare/comment.

Availability/quality of breastfeeding support. It's hard to access and misinformation is rife eg mums advised to block feed for underweight babies to access "hindmilk" and then supply plummeting. Mums not advised how to increase supply or relactate when breastfeeding "fails".

Ask mums who felt they failed to breastfeed and they will all give one of the above two answers, imo. Not "formula is pretty"

Formula is available across the developed world but breastfeeding rates vary widely in those same countries.

We are terrible here at it (in the uk). Nearly half of babies aren't breastfed at all by 6-8 weeks.

I could rant at length about why that is (there are more reasons than the main two I mentioned above), but it's not the beauty of formula packaging.

Suggesting it is, belittles the real grief and regret many mums feel when they feel they "failed" to breastfeed. You're implying that mums are that silly and frivolous that a shiny blue box would lead them to make decisions they profoundly regret.

The formula is a safety net which makes dropping breastfeeding seem easier, yes, but that's regardless of what it looks like.

For me it's same/same. Then you buy childrens' food for a 1 yo same issue.

The most expensive pram or feeding bottle also signals "best". Every baby and child thing tries to convince you to spend just a bit more. Often without reason.

The advertising is pretty plain and so no I don't think that needs to change. What does need to change is the severity of the BREAST IS BEST labelling on it as it's really damaging to struggling mothers

The only thing pain formula packaging might change is the distribution of formulas that people buy. It won't affect breastfeeding rates, obviously - no woman is swayed to formula by the packaging.

I mean all other baby/ toddler food is compatibl with their bright packaging and pouch designs!

Don't be silly people have been buying bright packets for decades but you want to put formula in "grey " tins next you will have them under the counter like a packet of cigarettes.

Also I know you said it's not about equating formula and tobacco, but in reality it does. Cigarettes are the only product I can think of in plain packaging, is there anything else? It would imply that formula is actively harmful which of course it isn't, it's a perfectly valid choice.

Completely agree, we were swayed to cow and gate because they sent a free cow cuddly toy when I was pregnant because i went on a 'what freebies are available?' binge one night 🤣. Honestly I had never considered formula feeding but dd just wouldn't latch on. She screamed bloody murder at every attempt to breast feed. In the hospital, they told me I had no choice but to give her some formula and asked me which brand we would be using. Cow and Gate was the only brand I knew, because of the cow. Their advertising/packaging didn't sway me to FF but when breastfeeding failed, it did sway me in which brand I used.

Trust me, if breastfeeding was an option, the little cow or packaging would not have made me ff instead. I EBF my second for 10 months, she got BF straight away.

I agree, sort of, I actually think it should have stricter marketing restrictions, as they do give misinformation which is unhelpful. I don’t know if you remember the Nestle baby milk scandal as an extreme example of that, but I still boycott them as a brand.

However, I also think the issues around breastfeeding are way more complex and part of it’s about the easy, everyday support you have access to. For everything from position to sleep to latch to when to worry (and not to) to breast changes, that advice makes such a difference.

Im pretty leftie though, so much more inclined to partially agree.

For context, bottlefed baby 1 due to not enough evidence around medication I was on and breastfed baby 2, who still breastfeeds at night as an older toddler.

edited to add: The difference between food and formula is it’s exclusively the only thing you feed your baby for a period of time. There doesn’t need to be a market competition to make sure brands have the right nutrients etc. In that sense, OP is making a pretty standard observation.

Op you do know that formula tins are not that attractive they are yellow/blue/whatever with the brand and other information on it I don't think they are allowed to be bright and colourful, parents want to buy the best formula they can for their babies they usually go with recommendations or trial and error not packaging. It sounds like you just want regulation formula for all.

My wife persisted with purely breast feeding for eight weeks. During that time our 5lb 14oz baby failed to gain weight properly and fell down the percentile charts.

We switched to formula and our son rapidly gained weight, my wife's mental health improved immeasurably (i.e. no longer a suicidal 'failure') and our son was a happy and content baby (as opposed to constantly screaming with hunger).

I'm really quite opposed to the zealous 'breast is best' ethos that blames mothers for a biological issue - i.e. poor milk supply. If breast milk is going to be pushed this hard, the NHS should start prescribing Domperidone to those that need it.

Everyone knows that breast is best. It is crammed down our throats at every opportunity.

We don't need you or anybody else to make us feel worse with your assumptions that we formula feed because of something so fucking frivolous as packaging on formula.

I think banning the adverts for follow on milks would be better. I and I suspect plenty of others didn't even realise that they weren't advertising newborn milk. The existence of those milks and their adverts makes the ban on advertising first milk completely pointless.

I thought the message had always been that formula is so tightly regulated therefore all formula is practically the same. The midwives said this, the NCT leader said this, books said this. Packaging is pretty irrelevant. Some people buy branded food, some buy supermarket own food, it’s just down to preferences.

Before we get all riled up about that, let's discuss large food companies unethical treatment of mothers and baby's in less well developed countries.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/17/nestle-adds-sugar-to-infant-milk-sold-in-poorer-countries-report-finds

Completely disagree. FF is a viable and valid alternative to BF for those who can't or don't want to BF for perfectly good and valid reasons. If you put it in plain packaging and make it even more "shady" than it is already presented it you will increase the misplaced guilt and sense of failure that some mothers feel for using formula. That is far far more important. As has often been said on here, once past the baby stage noone can tell and noone cares what milk a baby had.

What about the woman who choose not to breastfeed so want to see the options and have the money to spend.

I had zero intentions of breastfeeding beyond the first few weeks yet had to hunt for the information regarding which is the better formula.

You could allow companies to competitively price the formulas if they can prove the money is reinvested in research. Also closest to breast milk should be banned tell me the benefits your product gives not try and cozy up with the breast is best lobby.

I think it would be more helpful to provide fast support to women who want to bf. I was desperate to bf my DTs, and my inability to definitely made a massive contribution to my pnd. Plain packaging would have made me feel even worse, like I was buying ‘bad’ for my babies whilst I was already in a dark place.

Absolutely agree with this.

I used formula because my child wouldn’t take to breastfeeding and was losing weight, not because of a fancy package.

You’re ignorant.

Yep this .