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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Reducing the price of first formula milk

115 replies

starsintheireyes · 23/02/2012 10:07

Please can someone link me to to some info about this, I was 99% certain its illegal to discount first milk in shops yet my local store is selling sma gold for 20p

OP posts:
Gribble · 23/02/2012 11:49

They are selling it off at 20p, obviously its nearing out of date or they arent stocking the line anymore so hardly a promotion. Either way it will probably be binned.

Do some posters think it would be better for this shop to throw away the FF rather than sell it for 20p and save some parents a bit of money on a product they are using anyway? Unless some posters really think that women are so stupid that they will stop BFing because they can get a few cartons of SMA for 20p? Hmm

Gribble · 23/02/2012 11:50

Love - it doesnt say that on the packaging

sheeplikessleep · 23/02/2012 11:52

Reducing a price of a product is a promotion.

The law has to be simple in order for milk manufacturers to not find loopholes.

This isn't about 'discriminating against ff mums' as has been said upthread. It is about not promoting first milks.

loopydoo · 23/02/2012 11:53

loveisagirl - many hospitals give donated breastmilk or mothers milk where possible. Prescirbed formula for babies who cannot be breastfed or how need to have extra for medical reasons, are given special milk prescribed by a paeds doc. Of course hospitals aren't promoting bottle feeding.

For those who say who cares about the law, it lets people buy cheaper formula; would you say it's okay to be over the legal drink/drive limit? That's a law and if you break it, you suffer the outcome. People selling baby formula have to abide by the law. It is a law.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 23/02/2012 11:54

Fair enough. I saw it somewhere as it stuck in my mind at the time and made me loyal to that brand.

I have also seen cartons sold off cheap, not the boxes. I guess I assumed that it was approaching sell by date and the supermarket was treating it like any other reduced item. I had no idea there was a law preventing them from doing that.

loopydoo · 23/02/2012 11:56

I saw my local small supermarket reducing it last year so I simply went up to one of the supervisors and in a really nice way asked her if the shop were aware of the law. She said they weren't but thanked me - she would tell the manager. The next day, the discounts had been removed. Nobody got into trouble and they now know the law.

MamaMaiasaura · 23/02/2012 11:57

wannabe different opinion is fine, it's the nasty comments to OP that are unneeded and bitchy

blackoutthesun · 23/02/2012 11:57

''many hospitals give donated breastmilk or mothers milk where possible. Prescirbed formula for babies who cannot be breastfed or how need to have extra for medical reasons, are given special milk prescribed by a paeds doc''

not where i live they don't, dd had to go on a special milk for reflux. no one would give me a script for it. it cost me nearly £10 a tin

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 23/02/2012 12:01

loopydoo - i wasn't seriously suggesting they were, just adding to the debate. And in my hospital, I can guarantee no donated breastmilk was offered to me. I was simply given pre-sterilised bottles of Aptamil and told that's all they had. I don't know how they made the decision to offer that to mothers.

It wasn't on prescription either.

sheeplikessleep · 23/02/2012 12:02

I also agree with Loopydoos approach, particularly if a small corner shop, and giving the benefit of the doubt initially. It's certainly what I would do.

wannaBe · 23/02/2012 12:09

you can hardly compare drinking and driving with a bit of discounted formula. Hmm seriously what a ridiculous comparison.

ButHeNeverDid · 23/02/2012 12:12

WannaBe .... its the law isn't it.

Murder
Drink driving
discounting formula

No difference Wink

Gribble · 23/02/2012 12:22

I think the difference between 'promoting' formula as a product and selling some off at 20p is that if companies are allowed to discount formula then there will always be a brand on promotion at any given time. So someone not sure about BF or FF may well think "oh well at least there is always a brand of FF going cheap I could use" (disclaimer - I personally do not think this will make someone who genuinely wants to BF change their mind and FF instead)

Selling off a few tubs of formula at 20p isnt the same IMO as an active promotion to entice people into brand loyalty, it is obviously a short term price reduction because its near dated or the line is being discontinued in that shop. The alternative is that it will be put in the bin. People buying this 20p a tin SMA will be using that brand, or other FF anyway, so why would anyone begrudge them a bit of a bargain? Especially as they may well spend the £8 they saved on the baby Smile

loopydoo · 23/02/2012 12:31

wannabe obv. the consequences of breaking those different laws is completely different, however, they are still laws.

loveis obv not all hospitals do this then. There are only about 17 breast milk collection centres iirc. here

Also, if the doctors prescribe the special formula, then I'm sure you can get it repeated once you're home.

Also - don't forget that families who are on benefits, can claim formula milk vouchers.second para on this page

loopydoo · 23/02/2012 12:34

Also - the para at hydrolised protein formula

sheeplikessleep · 23/02/2012 12:36

Selling something off cheap and reducing a price is still promoting it, whether it is being promoted countrywide or in just one store.

I don't begrudge anyone a bargain.

I begrudge the promotion of first milks.

sheeplikessleep · 23/02/2012 12:38

Also, given the unethical marketing practices of formula companies in the past and in developing countries, I also feel a simple blanket 'no promotion at all' law needs to be just that.

Having a law with loopholes (i.e. maybe in this situation we can sell it off cheap) opens the floodgates totally for formula companies to market inappropriately.

tiktok · 23/02/2012 14:27

There is nothing in the law to stop a formula milk manufacturer deciding to sell their product at a permanent discount - that would prob mean ceasing to give away 'free' tat like soft toys, pens, notepads to mothers and HCPs; ceasing to run their 'carelines' which take phone calls on anything to do with mother and infant care; winding up their 'baby clubs' ...in fact stopping all the marketing that gives no actual unbiased information to mothers but which is all about promoting their product.

Instead of ridiculously high prices for what is modified skimmed milk powder dressed up in a cute can, mothers using formula milk would pay a permanent low price for the product.

A temp. discount is a promotion - and as such is against the law. It falls under promotion of first milks. The rationale is to protect the choice to breastfeed, which is often fragile and subject to many influences. People saying 'this is not going to influence mothers in any way - how patronising!' are making the error that everyone is equally informed about infant feeding issues, and I can tell you they are not.

If someone wants to/chooses to/ has to use infant formula, then of course they should be able to find the product easily. But there is no reason for them to be ripped off. A permanent low price of 20 p a carton, and no marketing, would not be illegal or undesirable. But a discount is a promotion - and that's against the law.

Happenstance · 23/02/2012 14:35

Yes i think the law is wrong and unfair, and i'm passionate about breast feeding, but unfortunately nearly died after having my baby and was unable to breast feed, due to time in hospital and medication i was on.

I also work on supermarket tills and find a lot of the people who buy formula use their healthy eating vouchers to pay for it (fair enough) so not really helping promote breast feeding is it.

loopydoo · 23/02/2012 14:55

happenstance the law is not there to say people cannot formula feed; it's there to stop formula comps from promoting their infant formula and to protect the healthy benefits of breastfeeding.

This thread is not denying that people can choose to feed their baby formula or breast.

ElphabaisWicked · 23/02/2012 15:02

I wasn't informed. I was told by family and friends that formula was just as good as breastmilk and I remember seeing a big article in a baby mag about formula too (I found out the company were taken to court for this ad about 2 years later)

I also distincly remember seeing stuff in a bounty type mag my mum had when I was 5 and my brother was born. I played babies with my dolls planning meals from the Heinz baby jar sample menu they printed and and the baby milk ads.

I'm pretty certain this influenced me and I am intelligent with a degree etc etc. Just had no experience of babies until I had dd.

it is people like me who need protecting from this mis-information.

tiktok · 23/02/2012 15:07

happenstance, of course you and your baby needed formula and of course you should get it and find it easily - all the law is saying is that it should not be promoted. Healthy Start vouchers are usable for formula - this is fine, and legal, and is not a promotion.

Elphaba - many, many parents are not aware of differences or even aware that there is a difference. I ask parents in antenatal classes what they think formula milk is....very few know. Some think it is dried breastmilk.

Southseagirl · 23/02/2012 16:18

I couldn't bf and had to use formula, it's terrible how expensive it is and it varies from shop to shop. Let's be realistic no one chooses to ff because they can get formula at a low price because unless people don't realise it BREAST MILK IS FREE! A law against promoting formula is logical but trust me it DOES impact on people like me who were not expecting to have to buy it and then needing to buy it. The price of formula makes zero difference to choosing to use it and as a previous poster said it would be fair and better if all first stage formula was the same price. I actually cried the other day when I accidentally spilled a load of powder down the sink, please think about the people who have to buy formula when you make these complaints because I don't really see who you think your benefitting?! Your taking money straight from a parents have and putting it in the till, for what? So u can feel smug?!

loopydoo · 23/02/2012 16:59

southsea we're not not thinking of people who have to buy formula; it's about the supermarkets going against the law about promoting babymilk.

If you feel that strongly about it, you could campaign to permantly reduce the cost of all formula and theintroduction of a cap that stops it going above a certain price. That's how you do something positive about it if you feel strongly.

In the meantime, we will still disagree about the law thing - it is illegal and therefore wrong.

I wouldn't ignore strapping the kids into the car seat and dh woudln't dream of diddling the taxman etc because they are against the law.

This isn't about us being mean to parents; it's about sending the message to supermarkets and shops about the illegal promotion of first formula.

SoupDragon · 23/02/2012 17:14

I wonder why one of the formula companies hasn't permanently discounted their product? Surely that would be a far easier way of drawing people in than all the scientific some and mirrors.