is it right to provide formula on maternity wards?

[nappyaddict]

take a look

i personally think, this is wrong. yes we want to encourage people to breastfeed, but if a was admitted to the children's ward say at 6 or even 12 months old, we would expect them to provide food for that baby. they would not turn around and say you can't have any he/she should be having bm. so why should it be any different in a maternity ward?

if i go to hopsital i expect to be fed, i expect the same for any new born baby.

what do you think?

"educating women on how to bottle feed"

That's funny, because all the education I got from the hospital who has said this is "Feed her" & a pamphlet with lots of pictures of breastfeedng, but no real support!

I don't object to this, my argument is that the hospital doing it were crap with the support, so how do they think this is helping women to breastfeed? Because it put me off & had me in tears!

was the same for me too sandcastles. i had ds as my midwfie was going off shift and i didn't really see a fat lot of the new one who was meant to be looking after us.

she came along and said has lo fed yet. i said not really he keeps coming off. she said well if he doesn't have anything to eat you won't be allowed to go home, i better get you a bottle.

i foolishly thought i would be able to sort it out myself at home but because he had had a bottle he got even more frustrated at the breast than he had been originally.

however after i got the help myself through the LLL i did manage to breastfeed - well mix feed and did al ot of expressing - ds for 3 months. not long i know but cos of personal circumstances that was the maximum amount of time i could have breast fed so i did the best i could do.

so i do think they need to help women with this, but also with bottlefeeding. as a lot of you have said you wouldn't know where to start with bottle feeding.

its just the fact that everyone else gets fed when they are in hospitals, so why not newborns if the mother isn't going to breastfeed?

hunker poost what you're thinking .. you know you want to

nappyadict. I thought I'd be able to sort it myself when I go home too.

The fact is that I barely tried because I just had no idea. So I went straight to formula. As it was she needed a build up formula anyway.

I don't think it's right to remove all bottled milk. When I had dd3 I was determined to bf. She was born 10lbs 1 oz and was constantly hungry. I was feeding her almost every hour. After 24 hours, I was so tired, I threw my hands up and asked for a bottle.

I think it's just another cost cutting exercise posed to the hospital due to the non competent goverment. How can you keep hiring consultants at astronomical costs to come up with solutions to remove essential services that they obviously don't need? It doesn't add up. Consultant fees millions against savings on bottled formula milk tens of thousands?

Hunker, in the 2nd article it says..........

"Mothers-to-be who are unable or unwilling to breastfeed will not be provided with sterilised milk to feed their newborn babies"

So in answer to your statement

"women who plan to breastfeed will be given formula on the ward still, I'm sure"

No they won't! So regardless of whether you intend to bottle or breastfeed ALL expectant mums will have to take the parifinalia into hospital.

i wouldnt object to that per se if it was consistant.

if it was accross the board that meal had to be paid for i think the principle would be more understandable.

Couldn't read this without posting - of course they should provide 'food' for your baby, whether 1hr, 1 week or 1 year old when they are in hospital if you don't want to/can't breastfeed.

I dont know what I think of this one.

That's outrageous. and I think it will mean that fewer women breastfeed because they'll buy all the paraphernalia "just in case".

actually what they should do instead, is put formula vending machines in. it's not so much the payment (as long as it's not much) as the byo I object to.

i object to the principle of paying for a newborn when i wouldnt pay for a child who is 6 months old

only very few people would have to pay though. They do provide mothers with enough food for the two of them.

i think its disgusting. yet again ff mums are being treated as 2nd class citizans by the breastfeeding gestapo.

gestapo. I thought it had been officially agreed that these terms to describe people on mumsnet was not allowed.

if you are in an NHS hospital, why should you have to pay for formula..after you have paid tax etc....that would make it a stealth tax and a penalty for formula feeding......

I agree, custy.
When I had DS2 they would not provide ready made milk, so I had to pack my own bottles & formula & had to go to the nursery myself & sterillize all his bottles etc.
I remember one of the midwives showing an expectant mum around the hospital while I was busy making bottles & saying "We promote breastfeeding at this hospital & as you see, we make bottle feeding mum's work!"
I actually found that a bit humiliating tbh.

Sorry, not describing mumsnetter but very offensive to use the term breastfeeding adn gestapo together.

sorry, didnt realise mnhq.

it just makes me so angry, we all know the benefits of bf but its not always possible. why should we be penalised for this?

apologies hercules but i find attitudes toward ff offensive sometimes

I'm not mnhq. Please dont use such a vile and offensive term to describe breastfeeders. What you said is far more disgusting than I've ever heard a formula feeder ever bein called.

What if I said those "sick and vile forumla feeders abusers" ?

Then perhaps you need to think about your own attitude.

hang on a min, one woman on my ward was asked if she wanted her baby because she chose not to bf. i find that pretty offensive. it was a spur of the moment comment. i know you arent mnhq and i apologised straight away

Please see if you can point to me somewhere, anywhere, where a formula feeder is described in terms as vile as the gestapo.

and i wasnt referring to all bfers i was merely referring to the superiour attitude that SOME bf mums and mws take to ff.

Did this woman go on to afflict torture of appalling nature on anyone?