'healthy start' vouchers promote formul feeding

[buttonmoonice]

im a tad annoyed here. mt df is a single mum, so therefore entitled to benefits and healthy start etc. she is currently preg with dc4 and when asked how she intends to feed the baby she snorted and i quote ' why the hell would i consider bf when i get free formula'.
just made me think if she had to pay for the formula herself she may have considered breast feeding.
and maybe if the healthy start scheme was not in place a lot more babies might be getting a healthier start by being breast fed. i no this is not for everyone, some mums cant breastfeed, so maybe the scheme should be that if formula tokens are needed they are provided when asked for?

SO by your reasoning it's mums on benefits bringing the breastfeedign rate down because they get these wonderful free vouchers?

You couldn't be more wrong. The vouchers are there to be used for fruit and veg or formula. As I understand it, you have to get the formula from set places, for eg the baby clinic, rather than handing them over in shops. So yes, in terms of monetary value I suppose you do get more from them if you use them to get formula rather then veg. But lets' be honest, unless she has a sneaky business on the side selling formula on the black market she's not exactly quids in.
People choose how they want to feed their children. I am single and on benefits and still breastfeed my soon to be 2 year old son. And I am entitled to claim healthy start vouchers but I don't, because I can't deal with the judgement of feckers like you when handing them over in the supermarket. So well done you.

To be fair then smallishsheep you don't actually need them.

'agree with colditz; this is a person who would trot out any old excuse '

I don't why she needs an excuse at all.

WHy do I not need them? Because I breastfeed? Do you really think they ask you that question on the form when you claim? Of course not, because then they would be promoting formula, if they were only given out to ff mums. If you mean I don't need them because I manage to get by without them, fair enough I suppose. I can budget well enough to buy fruit and veg.

so i would get £3.10 a week for dd? that wouldnt even keep her in oranges for a week, never mind the other fruit and veg she eats!

not exactly rolling in it if they get them then are they?

You don't need them because you manage without.

www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

There is no separate scheme for milk or any kind any more.

Clinics stopped stocking formula a while ago - there may be one or two still doing it, I suppose.

Healthy Start vouchers help all families on low income; I don't think there is any evidence that removing formula as an option would increase the no. of women breastfeeding. In the UK, money is not a factor in whether people breastfeed or formula feed.

That's a whole other debate though Posie. I am entitled to them, as are lots of people, all parents on benefit I believe, and low earning parents. But yes, I do not claim because I can manage without. As I'm sure lots who do claim could really. It's an odd scheme. I do see that it's a good idea, to give a voucher that can only be spent on healthy food. But I can manage to buy that with the rest of my benefit money. I would choose to buy the fruit whether it was 'free' or not.

samllishsheep, perhaps you can give me some tips on money managing.

"£3.10 a week for each child aged over one and under four"

i have one between one and four, i am pregnant so would get another for me aswell, but if i wasnt pregnant then dd would still eat the same amount of fruit/veg iyswim.... i spend £3 a week on blueberries alone for her!

Posie, I hope I didn't come across as smug. Not my intention at all. When I had ds I had all sorts of mail about the healthy start vouchers I could claim, but I didn't feel, in good conscience, that I could take them. At the time I was on maternity leave from a full time, though low paid, job, and fully intended to go back. Redundancy put paid to that and I have been on benefits for just over a year now. Maybe I should have claimed them, I don't know. But my dc get fruit regardless, I think for a lot of people, as they are only meant to be used for healthy fruit, it may be the only fruit their dc get, and that has to be a good thing. That sounds very patronising, and it's not meant that way. I take out of the system atm while I'm looking for a job. It made me feel a little better, I suppose, for my own reasons, to know I wasn't taking that extra bit that I didn't desperately need.

Not at all, some people are 'doers and managers' and some aren't. When I read your posts I have a vision of someone going somewhere, on the road to success and with good morals....you remind me of my mother (in a good way!).

Shops are not allowed by law to exchange the vouchers for anything other than healthy fruit and veg and formula / milk. So where all this exchange for fags and booze is coming from I have no idea!

At the end of the day its a womans right to choose how to feed her baby if she decides to breast feed or use formula its her decision and noone elses business!!

The amount you get in vouchers is hardly worth getting so envious of!!

Ah posie
That's cheered me right up after nights of no sleep and the sudden realisation I have no chocolate in the house
As for the money, I have very few outgoings, no car, all bills are direct debits, and I am a charity shop wonder. I've had a pretty shitty 2 years to be honest, but am deffo on the up now. I've realised that noone is going to hand me a wonderful life on a plate, so I'm doing my damn best to get it for myself and my children. I'm just hoping I can get a job soon, a year of looking and no luck is enough to get anyone down at times

I don't think they "encourage" formula feeding (which is ridiculous anyway, as others have said if someone wants to bottlefeed they will anyway regardless of income) if anything they "encourage" breastfeeding because BF mums get £6.20 per week, yes it's only to spend on fruit, veg or milk, but if you are buying those things anyway then it's an extra £6.20 not spent on shopping.

I believe that the supermarkets accept them on most things because it's simpler. I often end up spending mine in the co-op and it's a huge faff, because they do it all properly, I have to go around and pick out my fruit and veg, estimate the price because it's cheaper to buy loose, I get to the till and have to separate out my items into eligible and non-eligible. Then it invariably comes to £6.05 or something, and they won't accept it for a smaller amount because their tills don't like it, so I have to run back and get another pint of milk or a single lemon or something, all the while holding the queue up, and leaving DS unattended at the checkout. Then when I finally have the correct amount the cashier has to call a supervisor to authorise it. Queue is getting longer and longer. It's embarrassing.

I can see why the bigger supermarkets just say screw it and accept them for anything. (Sometimes they say you have to have at least bought some fruit, veg or milk within your shopping) They probably count them all up at the end of the day and it is easily covered by the amount of fruit and veg bought by everyone else shopping there.

Anyway formula feeding/breastfeeding decision is very rarely made on monetary terms in this country, if you look at the socio-economic data, more well-off families tend to have breastfed babies and poorer families tend to formula feed their babies. On a general level of course. But it suggests that most people don't take the cost into consideration when making a decision.

If this woman is smoking and boozing maybe she should stick to FF