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.

OP is sucking you all in . Basically trying to shame people…don’t engage is my advice!

I'm more meh about the plain packaging, I don't think it's shaming but I'm not convinced that the fancier packing in of itself is that enticing.

👏👏👏👏👏👏.

And that poor mothers couldn't possibly afford to buy forumla because they are poor. God forbid you want to buy Kendamil on a low income?! How on Earth can we possibly afford £12 a tub?!

I think just reading the comments on this thread shows how much we as a society have been brainwashed by formula companies.

Breat is the normal natural way to feed a baby and anything else is less then normal. How many of you realise how lucky you are to live in a country where formula is easily avaible and safe to use. This is not the case for millions of babies around the world.

Formula companies very cleverly, influenced the structure of hospitals wards in order to remove babies from new mums in the 60's and have managed to help continue the mith that a lot of women don't have enough milk to feed there babies, there are of course some who don't but do you really think it is as high as it is now without outside interference. One of the reasons breastfeeding support is so low in the UK is the influence of formula companies in lobbying the government not to spend funds on this aspect of health care (I wish they would ban lobbying for many reasons not just this).

Some western couture have fantastic breastfeeding rates, thanks to introducing laws that totally ban advertising and investing in breastfeeding support.

I actually think there should be a basic formula avaible that isn't made by a brand and is avaible at cost to all families.

Also infant formula has it's ingredients controlled so there is very little difference between brands. But even more scandalous is that they are allowed to do in market testing. Never buy a brand selling a new improved product as its totally possible that they have been given permission to test a new ingredient in there formula without any prior testing on infants (the only requirement is that the ingredient is fit for human consumption) Effectively testing formula on your own baby without you realising. Products have been pulled before after new ingredients where shown to be harmful.

Basically we shouldn't have to trust feeding our babies to companies who are only in it to make a profit. I feel the two are not compatible.

i couldnt believe the price of it when i had my son, i couldnt breastfeed as my breasts got infected for months so had to switch to formula, he would go through 3 tins a week usually and they cost £15 a tin .. thats £45 a week :O Obviously it had to be done but it was shocking when i thought about the fact that my whole weekly shop for myself was only £50 a week max for food drink and toiletries

Would you rather pay £6 for the same formula in a plain tub or £12 for it in a 'pretty' tub with a picture of a royal cow on it?

£12 obviously. I'm a thicko you see.

Are you denying that some people who use formula might struggle to afford it??

Let's reverse this:

We really struggled to breastfeed and couldn't make it work so decided to formula feed. But I walked in to the supermarket and none of the tins looked pretty, they were so plain and boring so I decided not to feed my baby anything at all.

(said no one ever)

I’ve just seen this post, @Thepeopleversuswork and I couldn’t agree more.

I FF my eldest as he was in NICU for the first 6 weeks of his life, it was hard enough to get him to learn to suck a bottle after his feeding tube was out, let alone a breast and I couldn’t pump as I had no supply due to early birth and stress. He couldn’t go home until he was feeding properly and gaining weight, the hospital had no problem with formula and giving advice on it. They wanted him gaining weight, getting strong and at home with me, not in hospital while I struggled with supply and getting hi
to feed.

I was 22 - when I took him to groups, I was surrounded by other first time mums in their 30s Who all BF and treated me like shit. I got comments about how of course I FF as I was sooooo young, poor me, lots of assumptions that I was a single mum on benefits (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I wasn’t), all because of the way I fed my baby. Bunch of sad cases.

Luckily, I’ve never been able to hold my tongue so used to tell them straight that I’d rather have a healthy baby at home with me and to worry about their own babies instead. It still riles me 22 years later.

The actual reason BF rates are plummeting is due to lack of access to proper support for BF.

Midwives on wards are so over run and Post Natal wards are so understaffed that there is no one to help a struggling mum BF. It's even harder to access that support once you are discharged from hospital.

Recovery from birth is hard and many hospitals now discharge as quickly as possible (sometimes even same day). So then you have a new mum, recovering from birth sent home and struggling to BF. Midwives are not all trained to check for tongue tie and in some cases the tongue tie is not considered severe enough for NHS intervention.

I know many mum's who turned to tik tok and instagram for help. Faced with all these lovely serene stories of peacefully BF babies. Huge misinformation. Only learning about cluster feeding on tik tok and insta.

Then there is the back to work drive. Most companies want mums back after 9 months to a year. Dad's get a couple of weeks paternity and that's it. A mum struggling with BF needs lots of support, some babies BF for over an hour and there is no-one to help mum.

The lives we lead now, many many new mum's live a distance away from family. So many no longer have "the village" of the olden days. So you have mum, sat along BF for hours a day, wondering if she's done anything wrong.

If anyone really wants to improve BF rates, they need to invest in proper post natal support, proper BF support services, get midwives properly tongue tie trained, allow dads longer paternity leave. Set society up so new mum's have much more robust support systems around them. However that takes time, money and thinking which doesn't exist for "women's health issues". If men were able to BF, I can guarantee the whole support services around them would be entirely different.

You're being sarcastic but isn't your real answer that you'd prefer £6?

That racoon has really cheered me up on this aggravating thread, thank you!

Sorry, @willywallaby can I help you? You've quoted me a few times in the last couple of mins, it's a bit strange.

With regards to your first point about me somehow denying people can't afford forumla? Where did I say thay exactly? There's plenty of help available if you are struggling. I volunteer for a food bank and can point you to some really helpful charities if you need support.

And no. I would obviously prefer to spend £12 for a royal cow 🙄🥱

for all the comments about people being 'shamed' for formula feeding, and about the 'breastapo', and breastfeeding women thinking they are superior etc, I don't think I've ever actually seen it in real life or even on here. I think it's people's defensive self-doubt and guilt being projected out. It has played right into the formula companies' hands as it perpetuates this idea that breastfeeding is an ideal but not a reality for many/ most - and that formula is almost the more 'normal' way to feed and anyone who ever questions anything around the low breastfeeding rates etc is somehow attacking these mums who are (genuinely) just doing their best.

It creates a false conflict that stalls meaningful conversation and stagnates any progress in breastfeeding rates. It's not even relevant whether 'breast is best', breastfeeding is completely normal, and formula is completely essential for anyone unable or choosing not to breastfeed. It's sad we can't even discuss this without the usual misogynistic accusations that anyone deemed 'pro breastfeeding' is somehow being goady, superior or nasty.

No company would ever charge £6 for formula, even if it was all made in the same factory and was all delivered to you in plain paper bags.

They make as much money as they can, because they can. If you FF you have to buy formula. You have to pay what it cost, there is no choice.

They want the biggest profit possible.

I am coeliac. It’s the same with GF food. You can buy a huge multipack of four types of normal biscuits in Tesco for less than £2.

If I want a biscuit, I have to pay £3 for a packet of 8 tiny biscuits because I have no choice. Companies know that and it’s a great way for them to make more money.

(And yes, I know, babies need milk, I don’t need a biscuit blah blah blah, but it’s the same example of capitalising on a need).

I find it quite insulting that there is an insinuation here that poorer mothers are somehow stupid and unable to do any research, and will therefore be swayed by pretty packaging.

It's not false conflict, just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist, even if it's just a feeling that those women experience themselves. You can't belittle that just because you don't agree.

Breat is the normal natural way to feed a baby and anything else is less then normal.

The use of the word "normal". How is that not stigmatising formula feeding or giving it a negative image.

@ThisOldThang They do, in a lot of places - or did. It's been strongly linked with cardiac issues.

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

To be fair, I was worried about this - mostly from posts here and on Facebook - but in 2.5 years of feeding, I had one weird interaction. That was all. And probably ten/fifteen mums coming over to congratulate me or say well done for feeding in public, etc.

I had a horrific breastfeeding journey; it was agony until 9 weeks and there was no support as to why. The midwives advice was well-meaning but shit; I didn't have the supply to pump, and we were pushed towards formula. It was HARD to reverse that.

In my NCT group, 7/8 breastfeed, but 3 didn't feed in public - they'd use wearable pumps all the time instead. Once the babies were 8 or so weeks old, they stopped feeding completely and bottle-fed. 5 of them stopped feeding at one, only 2 of us were still going at 2. For most of them, they stopped to TTC. The other one that stopped recently stopped because she's pregnant.

It's a tough place to be. The one who formula fed had to, and I know she feels constantly guilty about it, and wonders if it's impacted on her bond with her daughter. I don't want to make anyone feel more guilty, and it's difficult to reach the people who would never have naturally considered breastfeeding - like me, before the NCT, if I'm honest, I'd never seen anyone breastfeeding or considered it - and reaching people who are very sensitive to breastfeeding messages because they really wanted to breastfeed and couldn't for any of a variety of reasons.

This is spot on, in my opinion.

It's a non-existent rhetoric that only serves formula companies.

I think YABU, as baby formula is a product like any other. The purpose of product design and marketing is to sell more product. Personally, I never found baby formula packaging attractive in any way. I did however look at the ingredients in each before deciding which one I was happy to feed my child.

Not at all the same. In your not-very-clever gotcha the baby is not fed at all - in the post that you quoted, the baby was fed just via a different method.

I loath these goady threads and wish MNHQ would just ban them. You don't need to advocate for any woman but yourself, OP, we don't need your 'help'.

Breat is the normal natural way to feed a baby and anything else is less then normal. How many of you realise how lucky you are to live in a country where formula is easily avaible and safe to use. This is not the case for millions of babies around the world.

I think a lot of us just think the stuff about norms and biological norms is silly. Virtually all modern humans pick and choose when they want to do what's biologically normal and when they don't. We're all selective about it, you certainly included since you're on the internet voluntarily. And we do live in a society where formula feeding is entirely normal. One only has to live here to see that. This is why the arguments about normal are so unpersuasive.

Similarly, the idea that any woman would take luck into account is bemusing. Millions of women around the world can't feed their older DC a nutritious diet either, but presumably you've enough sense not to think we should be rationing our kids healthy food on that basis.

If you demand restriction upon restriction until producing formula is not commercially viable (my understanding is that supermarkets have already generally found producing own brands of formula not commercially viable) then there will eventually be no formula milk available - will that suit your aim ?

No formula available would be a crisis. Yes the producers of infant formula are businesses competing with each other. We live in a capitalist society.

Your plain packaging formula would require the NHS or similar to commission and retail the formula (as no brand awareness/no mark-up etc). Fancy doing the maths on the cost of that?

If parents wanted cheap no frills formula then supermarket own brands would have been a success. Parents are very brand loyal with their infant formula and have every right to be.