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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Naughty SMA

164 replies

showtunesgirl · 06/06/2012 20:28

info.babymilkaction.org/wyethroadshow

OP posts:
EauRouge · 06/06/2012 20:46

Thanks for posting, showtunes. That's unbelievable :(

Rowood · 06/06/2012 20:53

I have never been persuaded to ff my babies- I did it for personal reasons. Whilst I can see it is wrong I am also sick of having breast is best forced down my neck.

Original poster
showtunesgirl · 06/06/2012 20:59

This isn't just a "breast is best" thing. SMA by doing these expensive roadshows are actively hiking up the price of formula as well. This can't be right.

I don't care how people feed their babies but if you want to BF and someone is putting seeds of doubt into your head, this isn't helpful. Also if someone can't BF and have to / or choose to FF then it shouldn't be so damned expensive either.

OP posts:
planetpotty · 06/06/2012 21:02

Is there a cap on how low formula can be sold - I thought there was and that they can't do promotions ie 2 for 1?

TruthSweet · 06/06/2012 21:07

There's no lower price limit (or upper) but promotions can't be run by law for infant milks (birth to 6m). So formula manufacturers could stop all extra-curricular activities and charge a much lower price permanently - which would be better for all mums regardless of feeding choices/needs.

monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 21:15

agree re price, but c'mon does anyone REALLY think that this will make people who are successfully and happily BFing to switch to the expense of formula?

once you HAVE decided to switch though it can be really upsetting trying to get advice about FF or mixed feeding and being told off at every corner so I'm not against a few demos, what's wrong with knowing all your options?

hazchem · 06/06/2012 21:26

but it's not a demonstration is it. It's marketing under the guise of health advice.

Yes you should be able to access information about switching, mixed feeding, formula feeding but honest information is rarely provided by people companies that make money from what they are selling.

IMHO formula should be free. Take the ads out of it. Take the money out of it.

monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 21:31

I think its okay for manufacturers to give advice and demos about how to make it up
HCPs don't help
peers give you all kindsa conflicting advice
I think a formula company SHOULD have a helpline so you can ring up and ask if you are making and storing it safely

monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 21:32

yeah it should be free, but its very much not so are there really people who are able to BF well who will suddenly wanna splash out on it just because of a demo or a help line

surely only people who ALREADY doubt BFing will ring? if you're happily BFing away for free why would you?

BlackOutTheSun · 06/06/2012 21:34

Not seeing the problem tbh.

Either way no matter what you do, its going to piss someone off.

I thought formula companies do have helplines

hazchem · 06/06/2012 21:40

I don't think one single ad changes one single persons decision about feeding but by have lots and lots of ads we change the cultural environment which then changes lots of peoples minds.

Oh and for what it's worth breastfeeding isn't best it's normal.

midori1999 · 06/06/2012 21:41

The problem with it, IMO is that everyone knows formula is available, most people can get advice about it (it's on the WHO website for a start, plus the tins, plus the 'helpful' advice lines formula companies provide, even if you can't get advice from health professionals, which you can) and most people know plenty of people who have FF. Promoting it in this way only goes to further normalise formula feeding and it isn't the normal way to feed a baby and normalising formula does undermine breastfeeding.

I wonder if people were given the choice between this roadshow or a few pounds off a tin of formula every time they bought it, which they'd choose?

Of course, it's fine for people to feed their babies however they want, but that doesn't mean formula should be promoted as it's not really in anyone's interests except the people maming money from it.

Original poster
showtunesgirl · 06/06/2012 21:47

monkeymoma the problem is that you CAN be happily BF away and then you hit a growth spurt and you do start doubting if you "have enough" and start thinking maybe I'll switch to formula. Just have a scroll through this part of MN and you see over and over again someone wondering this. I was one of them.

OP posts:
monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 21:50

but the lots and lots of info you get is about breastfeeding, there's prescious little re formula feeding particularly if you mix feed!

yes I know people who FF but they all give different advice re storing and making up

chocoroo · 06/06/2012 21:57

I agree that information on safe formula feeding is not available. From the HCP's I met in DD's first few days I heard the following:

  1. You shouldn't make up bottles with boiling water, only cooled boiled water.

  2. I am not allowed to tell you how to get information on formula feeding.

  3. Your baby will prefer the taste of formula and drop her expressed milk feeds first. Expressing is really for emergencies.

The problem we have in this country is that there is no impartial advice available - the milk companies are out to increase their profits and HCP's are out to improve their BF targets.

mawbroon · 06/06/2012 22:00

You know who has just bought SMA?

Nestle.

Original poster
showtunesgirl · 06/06/2012 22:02

monkeymoma I agree that there is not enough info about FF but there is also not that much info about BF either and the info you DO get from a lot of HCP tends to be bollocks.

OP posts:
monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 22:03

giving info about breastfeeding encourages breastfeeding

HIDING information about formula, or the downsides of BFing does the OPPOSITE

e.g. me: BF for ages, wanted to quit but though, I could comprimise by mixed feeding for a while to prolong it a bit, got NO help with mixfeeding, felt exlusive BFing and expressing was not for me, so felt my ONLY choice was to exclusively FF because at least there was SOME info about how to do that. (turns out the formula made DS sick so had to go back to BFing but if it hadn't I would have exclusively BF rather than mix feeding due to complete lack of support for mix feeding!)

e.g. friend: exclusively expressed for an impressive lenght of time, was spending no time with the baby, was affecting bonding as DH did all the feeds and winding and she just sat and was milked! wanted to keep expressing a bit and "begin to wind down a bit". Went to the BF advisors at BF group, got snarled at to keep trying to BF (It was physically, mechanically impossible for her DS due to traumatic birth, and the child was now a couple of months old and had never BF, only expressed bottles), walked out of BF group and stopped expressing cold turkey

monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 22:04

..but thought I could...

monkeymoma · 06/06/2012 22:08

eugh my pregnant brain doesn't work!

"(turns out the formula made DS sick so had to go back to BFing but if it hadn't I would have exclusively BF rather than mix feeding due to complete lack of support for mix feeding!)" - ..I would have exlusively FF rather than mix feeding...

EdgarAllenPimms · 06/06/2012 22:18

companies that advertise have two aims

  1. to increase their share of the market
  2. to increase the size of the market

obviously aim 2) would mean getting people to cease BF sooner or not try it

TruthSweet · 06/06/2012 22:28

But how would a roadshow have helped - they won't be frequent enough or personal enough to deal with a mum and her baby's feeding needs (not unless the price of formula goes up exponentially to cover the cost of holding daily roadshows in each town with one-to-one feeding advisors).

When you needed help to formula feed you needed someone who you could contact and see at almost any time in your own home/local area and who could be trusted to give you impartial information. IMO a HV or GP or Nursery Nurse or Paed should be able to give you this information (who would give you this would depend on the circumstances).

Any HCP who says they can't give information on FFing is lying or lazy or doesn't understand their job - even baby friendly hospitals give out information on formula feeding, they even recommend that parents have an in home demonstration of how to safely prepare a feed using their own equipment! If your HCP wouldn't give you any info on it they need complaining about and retraining ASAP.

PurplePidjin · 06/06/2012 22:41

They're a company, trying to sell a product. Of course they're going to advertise and try and persuade people to buy their brand, how else will the executives get their six figure bonuses Confused

Ditto toothpaste, haemerrhoid cream, condoms etc.

It's a bastard, unfortunately we live in a capitalist society.

Pastabee · 06/06/2012 22:47

I agree with midori1999. This all just helps to normalise FF.

tiktok · 06/06/2012 23:59

Ensuring mothers who formula feed - for whatever reason - have good, accurate information that's not trying to sell them one particular brand over another is nothing to do with 'breast is best' or hiding information about formula.

Why would ff mothers and bf mothers and those who do both (the vast majority) not prefer ethical marketing of the product? What is ethical about roadshows, 'free' soft toys, newsletters, bibs, and other assorted tat designed to get you to part with your money, and to make you believe their product is better than another one?

There is no need for anyone who uses formula to feel defensive about this and to make as if a roadshow etc etc is somehow important for information.

Get real.