To send this missive to Sainsburys...

[DonutMum]

The content of the note says it all. He gulped so mych air in his screaming that he STILL has wind.

"I am writing to complain about a ludicrous situation I found myself in at your Stanway Colchester store today. I asked the restaurant to fill a container with hot water so my baby's bottle could be heated. My baby, who is 5 weeks old, was screaming. I was told that they could not give me water due to health and safety law (!) and they would heat the bottle for me. Are you seriously expecting customers with children who find themselves in this position to be willing to allow a spotty nineteen year old boy to judge when a baby's milk is warm enough? In the event, the milk was overheated and my son continued to scream for a further ten minutes causing great distress to me and to him. This is totally unacceptable and I suggest you review your policy to allow mothers to have hot water and therefore judge for themselves when milk has been adequately heated. After all, I could have asked for a pot of tea with the tea bag on the side and used that hot water to heat the bottle. I also find it incredulous that health and safety "law" is given as the reason - it is quite clearly policy. Unless, you can point out where on the statute books this particular law is - "thou shalt not allow people to have jugs of hot water in case, in their infinite cretindom, they burn themselves."

Thank you for your consideration."

[KatieDD]

gagamama is absolutely right, back in the day when people could be trusted to heat up their own milk with a bit of hot water without issuing law suits if they tipped the hot water over themselves, then all was fine and dandy.
The babies are left screaming because common sense and personal responsibility has gone out of the window.

[pinkspottywellies]

The ones who say they can't warm it up for you is because if they take it out of your sight they could be accused of tampering/putting something in it. The ones who will take it but not give you a receptacle of hot water is in case you knock it over. (Don't tell the companies this or they won't be able to figure out which policy to use and will just ban babies )

[MsHighwater]

It's like I said, FAQ - an overzealous interpretation of the law arising from an imperfect understanding of it.

When a company cites "Health & Safety", they are not seeking to protect their customers/staff but the company itself. It's just that they often neglect to carry out a sensible risk assessment before formulating policy. I'm not just talking about Sainsbury's here, of course.

Anyone remember conkers being banned? Or hanging baskets?

[FAQ]

what I don't get is that some places will say

"we can't give you water, but we can warm it up for you - healthy and safety"

then others say

"we're not allowed to warm it up, here's some hot water - healthy and safety"

so which is it??? I had both while on holiday recently

[MsHighwater]

"It's people like you who make these kind of laws necessary"

Get a grip, gagamama. The OP complained. She didn't sue. And it's NOT a law, it's an over-zealous interpretation by a company of Health & Safety regulations.

[gagamama]

I used to work as a waitress at the restaurant of a child-orientated tourist attraction, and we had the same policy. However we did allow mothers to heat the bottle in water, but the bowl of water had to be behind our counter. There was also a microwave for customer use with disclaimers stuck all over it so say that customers were responsible for the heat of the bottles which came out of the microwave and to check the temperature before feeding.

You'd think this was common sense really, but some people will complain about anything. :hmm:

It's people like you who make these kind of laws necessary. YABU!

[sandcastles]

I am new to breastfeeding [didn't feed dd1, but am feeding dd2, 5 weeks] and I have a plentyful supply [which includes spraying & leaking profusely if she comes off ], so I try to avoid feeding in public for now. This means timimg things so dd will not need a feed while out or taking EBM [which she has at room temp, so don't have to worry about heating] with me etc.

But saying that, given the choice between waiting for a bottle to cool while watching my dd scream, leading to her becoming THAT distressed or getting my boobs out in public, I know which I would have done.

You really cannot blame Sainbury's for this, the "no hot water/no heating bottle for customers" 'rule' has been floating around for years. I know that many places wouldn't help when dd was ff [she is now 5], which is why I started giving at room temp!

[nappyaddict]

In future tell the "spotty 19 year old boy" exactly how long you want it heating up for. Some babies like milk warmer than others. About a year ago I heated up a bottle of milk to a temperature which I thought was ok cos that's how my ds would drink it. Woman moaned to manager saying if we were going to have such a stupid policy could she ensure that she didn't let "some kid who didn't have a clue about babies heat up bottles" had to bite my tongue with that one. So then the next time someone asked me I made it less warm and then got asked if i'd even bothered to put it in any hot water. You can't win. Now I always ask how long they want it heating up for.

[BitOfFun]

Expat, please do, I would love to hear your take on this - I think I have been quite out of step in enjoying the OP's letter and agreeing with it!

[expatinscotland]

i could comment, but i won't .

[expatinscotland]

i could comment, but i won't .

[ladymariner]

and there you go again, why do you feel it necessary to be so hostile to the op?

I agree the letter was a bit ott, and it is a pity that her baby was screaming, but how do you know that he hadn't woken up yelling? I know my ds used to open his eyes and then open his mouth immediately after, and I certainly wasn't "disorganised".

If she was in such a state like that then a bit of sympathy wouldn't have gone amiss, imo.

[KatieDD]

It's not the heating up the bottles that would make him ill, if the bottle was allowed to cool and then given straight away.
It's the heating, cooling and reheating which is not advised to say the least.
But if we are talking about perfection, I just put a boob in my baby's mouth and avoided the whole circus, shame the little one had to scream himself sick though because the mother isn't organised.

[ladymariner]

I always warmed ds' bottles up, not hot but warm, he never had a tummy ache from them.

But hey, we can't all be perfect

[KatieDD]

How would it be cold, it would be room temperature which is actually how you are supposed to feed milk.
You do not make up bottles, put them in the fridge and then heat them up and then wait for them to cool down. That might be why the baby has tummy ache/is still so unhappy.

[ladymariner]

It would still have been cold, katiedd, you'd have been better off buying her a flask to keep a bottle warm in!!

and then perhaps you could have helped her instead of having a go at her.

[KatieDD]

Sainsbury's are not obliged to help you to FF your baby, if you're not a first time mum then I'm surprised you're not more organised you must have come across this before. No way would I have let my newborn scream whilst waiting for a bottle to cool down, why didn't you go and buy him a carton of formula and take some responsibility. If I'd been in the cafe, I'd have gone and bought it for the poor little soul myself.

[PeaMcLean]

What a vitriolic thread. Calm down you lot and stop having such a go.

And the PFB comments are offensive. Were you never first time mothers?

(I have noticed that the OP is not, as it turns out, a first time mother but the point still stands about some of the assumptions on here)

[MsHighwater]

I think you have been given a ridiculously hard time on this thread. By all means, dial down the fury and concentrate on your logical argument - which is sound imo - and your letter is more likely to be taken seriously. Also do change incredulous to incredible for the same reason.

[LynetteScavo]

DonutMum that letter is quite hysterical.

If your baby is likely to need a feed when you are out, can't you take warm water, and then add the powder?

On line shopping is probably the way to go for you.

[ravenAK]

Bung a carton of ready-mixed formula, & a clean, empty bottle in your bag, if there are situations where you prefer not to bf.

If dc regularly has bottles, get him used to room temp ones.

[greenlawn]

They will wet their pants laughing at that letter. Sorry, but they will. I used to work in a supermarket as a teenager and anything that came in with the slightest hint of hysteria went on the staff noticeboard for the staff to have a good giggle about. In fact at the staff Christmas party they used to make a point of reading out the funniest complaints.

If you really want to complain, keep it very brief and very factual. References to staff personal appearance aren't going to help you.

[samsonthecat]

Just thought everyone would liketo know that Cafe Nero will supply a flask of boiling water for heating bottles.

[BouncingTurtle]

We probably wouldn't need some of these 'pathetic health and safety laws' if we didn't live in such a litigious culture.
Don't be so quick to spout 'Health & Safety gone mad'.
The letter is overboard and unreasonable.
Sorry you had a shit day, donut mum but it is not worth getting stressed out about. You won't change their policy.