Maternity unit to charge £1 per bottle of ready-made formula

[stressheaderic]

I was pretty dismayed today to hear that in my local area, one of the hospitals is now charging £1 for each bottle of formula that you use post-birth - the tiny pre-mixed glass bottles with the long rubber teat.

When having my DD last year, we were told not to 'save' bottles and to use a fresh one for every feed, even when she'd only had a tiny amount. Can't think how many I used - maybe 10-15 over the duration of my (short) stay?

I remember the young girl in the bed opposite me on postnatal had no partner or visitors - she had no money on her and my DP bought her a Coke and a sandwich at midnight when he was getting me one that very first night....can't help but wonder how she'd have managed :(

NHS cuts running deeper than I thought I guess.

Re mothers who have just given birth, Even if you want to formula feed there is no reason why you can't get the baby latched on enough to get some of the colostrum and then move on to bottles in a few hours. Newly delivered babies want to suck but they are not properly hungry as such.

The bottom line is that maternal and infant health is improved by breastfeeding. It is in the public interest to increase breastfeeding and you will not increase breastfeeding rates just by wishing that will happen but still doing everything exactly as we have for years. Some changes have got to be made.

mad4boys www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393353/Hospital-restricts-free-formula-baby-milk-newborns-encourage-mothers-breastfeed.html I know it is the daily mail but it is written........

tbh when I had my dd I was sort of surprised that if you were going to formula feed that they would give you formula, I think it should be available for emergencies really ie if mum or baby is poorly but tbh if mum has already decided not to bf then she should get used to paying for formula!

well i dont read the daily mail!

i think its fine.

newborns only need a few mls of colostrum

if someone wants to give their baby a bottle, why not purchase it? why would that person expect to get it for free when there is colostrum sitting there in their boobs? don't blame

if there is a medical issue, then that is different.

might actually make hospitals offer good breastfeeding info and support instead of getting the midwives to shove boobs in baby's mouths.

Agree with what people are saying about there being no provision for each mother to store her own formula, bottles etc, though there could be a communal steriliser, I suppose. I can't imagine staff being happy about having to make over a 'kitchen' area to bottle preparation though - I presume that's why they supply those extremely expensive/unecological disposable glass bottles full of formula in the first place - to cut down on mess and the risk of contaminating feeds.

But I'd be very interested to know what went into the planning for this hospital to change policy like this. Is it merely cost-effectiveness or is there also a pro-bf agenda? (Disclaimer: am as pro-bf as they come, was until recently a BFC student but have reluctantly had to give it up for various reasons) And I'd also worry about parents 'using up' the rest of the bottle in a subsequent feed, at that price. Can see people being tempted not to 'waste' it, given how costly it works out at, compared with formula you buy in the shops. There's precious little feeding advice in hospitals, be it bf or ff.

just read more of thread -

what northernlurker said (not a mw though)

wormshuffler i had an emcs but breastfeeding went fine in hospital - did the birth crawl and biological nurturing - he found his own way to the boob - with a little nudge or two . very calm way of initiating breastfeeding (both googleable). i just relied on the midwife to lay DS on my chest when he woke when i was all hooked up and catheterised and a bit dopey?!, but actually once out of recovery, i could lift him out of his cot each time he woke up surprisingly ok, bit stiff but could do it.

please don't worry (and make it clear in your birth plan) and good luck ...

so the midwife that yelled at me, 'that baby needs formula or it'll be in special care' and didn't help me feed her although i had never bottle fed a tiny baby before would charge me for the privilege?! (ridiculous)

Concordia that sounds hideous . I agree that would feel/be entirely unjust.

Even if you want to formula feed there is no reason why you can't get the baby latched on enough to get some of the colostrum and then move on to bottles in a few hours.

Nonsense. What if you have no colostrum or baby won't latch? What if baby had swallowed loads of meconium and needed feeding? Yeah, I had all these problems. And some people are completely phobic to any kind of feeding, even just for the first few hours. If you say that, in this case, formula should be free and bottles provided, then I agree with you. But in hosps where no formula is provided, I imagine that would be pretty difficult.

If your baby needs formula for medical reasons, the hospitals have it free of charge. DD had it when being tube fed in SCBU.

Cold water sterilising equipment was also freely available in my hospital - I used it for the pumping kit. The tub just sat by my bed and either DH changed it every day or an MCA would.

Producing no colostrum must be very unusual and is surely a medical issue? So formula would be provided free.

A baby who can't latch can be fed colostrum by syringe, so doesn't necessarily need formula.

If by "phobic to feeding" you mean wants/plans to formula feed, then they should bring their own.

They're just talking about this very issue on Radio 4 right now.

so if a newborn is bottlefed you are saying mothers should pay for the formula even tho they are in hospital as a patient.

what if for example a mother has a homebirth, she is then happy bottlefeeding but for some reason the baby has to be admitted. could be any minor thing, i know here hospitals are cautious and often admit or readmit babies that are only a few days old if there are any concerns ie not weeing enough, infection in belly button

should the mother then have to take her own formula? i mean given that the baby may be only afew days old she would still technically be able to bfeed, her milk would be there, or certainly a bit of colostrum? should she be made to breastfeed or pay for formula?

at what point would it be ok for the baby to have formula in hospital if not for a newborn? many babies are in hospital at some point in the first 6mths and if bottlefed that formula will be FREE as they are a PATIENT!

the newborn is a still a PATIENT, regardless of the fact that it could be fed from its mothers breasts, if she cant or doesnt want to the infant shoudl still be treated as a seperate individual and therefor is entitled to FREE nutrition!

or else you will be saying that all small babies admitted to hospital should have to pay for their formula, or their mothers forced to begin tyring to bfeed or relactate?

Is the newborn the patient on a postnatal ward, or is the mother?

If a baby is admitted to hospital in should be fed. On a postnatal ward though they feed the mother, the mother can feed the baby.

rita they are BOTH A PATIENT, both have to be seen by a dr and discharged!

the mother can feed the baby but she doesnt have to and shouldnt be made to or pay!

ANY patient in hospital is entitled to FREE nutrition, its a basic provision of the nhs for christs sake! to say that a mother MUST bfeed or pay imo is undermining a key part of that philosophy

I'd actually say that no I am not a patient until they start poking me with drips and wotnot. In the words of Mary Cronk, they are in fact my professional servants. . As women, we either want autonomy in the birthing process (which imo includes breastfeeding) or we don't.

And unless the baby is ill, then no they are certainly not a patient and will be fed by my boobs. Unless there is a medical emergency, in which case, one or both of us turn into a patient and then if needed formula may be administered. But it would have to be a 'medical emergency' in which case the formula would be life saving. Otherwise, why pay for it when there is food sitting there in the boobs??

but they are a patient and entitled to nutrtion if a mother cant or does not want to provide that by bfeeding then the baby shoudl be fed for free.

ie when i had my dd i has taking citalopram 10mg for previous pnp and had been under the care of a consulant whohaving researched it said it was fine and that it would also be fine to bfeed whilst taking it. i asked if i had a straighforward birth (as i had previously) would we be able to go straight home despite the medication, dr said yes.

but when my dd was born ona sunday they were ABOUT to discharge me and her and then a registrar noticed i was taking citalopram and immediately said that i shouldnt have taken it when preg an couldnt bfeed, i challenged this but as it was a sunday there was no one else to speak to and the registrar insisted taht he wanted dd to be kept in on a post natal ward to be observed for signs of withdrawl! despite the fact that i knew this wouldnt be an issue as did the midwives, he was very clear he wanted dd to remain in the hospital and if i took her home it would be against his advice and i would have had to sign a form saying so and he would have called SS (ironic as dp works for them!)

as it was i stayed in and bfed her, but if she was being made to stay in she was a PATIENT and as such entitled to free food, if i wasnt bfeeding then that formula should have been provided for free as she was a patient, they wanted to moniter HER, as they do with all newborn babies, (they usually have a chart for each baby ie if they have weed/pooed/ fed etc and temp observations)

it doesnt matter if the mother can bfeed, she shouldnt be made to feel she should or then be charged for formula when the baby is a patient in its own right and as such entitled to nutrition.

babies are patients until discharged, be that by a dr or a midwife who is allowed to perform the paed check (some are now allowed to do so) and as such they are entitled to free nutrition.

I really don't see what the big issue is - if a mother chooses to use formula then it is going to cost money. The NHS provides the basics (food for the mother so she can feed her baby) - if you choose an alternative, expensive way to feed your baby I don't see why the NHS should pay. Just like if I didn't want to eat the hospital food I could have sent DP to the shop to buy me something else.

well if you take that as your basic premis then all babies should be bfed when in hospital even older babies who are admitted through illness and if not they should be charged for their formula which is a ludicrous principle.

they are a patient and we do not HAVE to bfeed, the baby doesnt have a legal right to bfeed, but it does have a legal right to nutrition and as with all other patients basic nutrition is provided free on the nhs, thats all formula is basic nutrition which a baby is entitled to.

The NHS pays for food (and a lot more besides) for all kinds of patients who might be said to be their of their own volition: lung cancer patients who've smoked for 40 years, chronic alcoholics, sporting injuries. It seems to be nonsense to restrict the availability of formula, the only nutrition available for a newborn whose mother, for whatever reason, is not breastfeeding. And yes, a siginificant percentage will be those who choose not to breastfeed. I really don't think this is the way to improve breastfeeding rates. It's just another stick to beat women with. It wouldn't happen if men had babies.

Except in rare cases mentioned below the provision of formula is not a medical need. The NHS cannot afford to cater to parental whim for free. Providing formula free of charge is undermining breastfeeding and thereby potentially compromising both maternal and infant health.
No baby is going to starve because of this change - but many may actually benefit.

really northern lurker you think it will help bfeeding?!

i very much dobut it, maybe if there was PROPER bfeeding help and support to mothers that want it and need it, maybe if HV and midwives were better trained and the same goes for drs, like the one i met that tried to tell me i was wrong to bfeed whilst taking medication. I KNEW better, but some other mother may have listened to his wrong advice.

start chaning the way medical professionals are trained with regards to bfeeding, start adressing cultural and social issues that mean mothers dont want to/feel they cant bfeed but dont simply charge newborn babies for nutrition.

i am sure the meaning behind it as a policy is good, but in practise it will do little to change bfeeding rates and simply further stigmatises those who chose or end up bottlefeeding.

and as for 'catering for parental whim' i am pretty sure that its more than a whim, like i say look at the reasons WHY people dont bfeed, dont make out like they simply cant be bothered (and yes there are probably those that cant) but for many it really is NOT that simple.

For those that 'it is not that simple' for - formula will be provided free of charge to meet the medical need. Changing the attitudes of medical staff cannot be done in isolation. PArental attitudes need to change and this is part of that change.