Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

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

Original poster

is it right to provide formula on maternity wards?

271 replies

nappyaddict · 13/01/2007 02:04

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?

OP posts:
Plibble · 13/01/2007 12:53

Also- I think it is a good idea to have a couple of cartons of formula and bottles at home anyway, just in case for some reason you can't breastfeed and the shops are shut. Personally I felt having this back-up helped me relax enough to breastfeed (knowing the baby would get fed no matter what). If you have the stuff at home anyway, then it's no problem to take it to the hospital.

sandcastles · 13/01/2007 12:54

Thanks lulu!

lissielou · 13/01/2007 12:54

lol

ok, fresh start-
an awful lot of women - myself included- fully intend to bf. i didnt even buy bottles etc coz i was so sure that id bf. coz of the way ds's delivery went i was too weak/ill and spaced to bf and after 2 days of both of us being in tears i decided to ff. the mw's were vile about it, the implication being that i had let ds down. why should ff mums be penalised for making that decision we pay taxes too. it was bad enough that when i was rushed back into hosp when ds was 2w old and again at 5w i wasnt allowed to take him with me coz i wasnt bf, and i was in hosp for over a week both times. i just think that ff mums are given a crap deal by the mws anyway

lulumama · 13/01/2007 12:55

agreed soupdragon. i am happy to pay for formula , but not in hospital. especially if i get fed and my older son would receive hospital food too

Ceebee74 · 13/01/2007 12:56

Have to agree that it seems a tad hypocritical that the NHs won't provide food for a newborn but if they were admitted again for whatever reason, say a day after you took them home, then they would provide food - seems ridiculous.

Obviously they have to provide 'food' for babies that are admitted - for example we took my DS (ff) to hospital at 4am one morning when he was 7 weeks old - as if we were going to pack up the steriliser, equipment etc to take just in case he was admitted! He was admitted and stayed in hospital for 6 days and bottles were provided then (though he was fed on a drip for 3 days - are they going to charge for that aswell????) In fact, the hopsital he was transferred to for his operation actually supplied nappies aswell.

SoupDragon · 13/01/2007 12:56

But you could extend that argument to nappies, breast pads, maternity towels, wipes... they provide similar items at other times so why not now.

Plibble · 13/01/2007 12:57

Lissielou - I fully agree that noone should be vile about how you "choose" to feed your baby. As long as the baby gets fed, it is up to the parents to decide what to do. What the hospital are supposed to do is explain the benefits of breastfeeding (so you understand your options) and then show you how to FF (or at least that is what it said on the noticeboard at my hospital).
But I don't think that asking mothers to bring in formula is an attempt to make them feel bad or to penalise them. It's just cost cutting.

JARM · 13/01/2007 12:57

im with custy on this one.

I would expect any child of mine to be fed in hospital REGARDLESS of their age.

lissielou · 13/01/2007 13:04

but shouldnt the reviews be made in administration not on the wards

Wheelybug · 13/01/2007 13:05

Mind you, when I was in having dd,the food that was provided was so terrible DH did bring me supplies in from home....

Jimjams2 · 13/01/2007 13:07

How are they going to sterilise it all properly? Utterly ridiculous. I'd like to see a newborn cope with steribottles- they're huge. I presume a dehydrated newborn will cost more to deal with than a well fed one. Extra work for the midwives as well- as c-section mothers are in bed for 24 hours after birth in many hospitals.

They don't provide all food though. They were unable to provide ds3 with any food when he was in hospital in October as he is on a gluten free diet. They needed 24 hours notice (although they still couldn't provide anything 24 hours later either so not sure how ong it would have taken to get something appropriate). Unfortunately he didn't provide me with any notice of his seizure.

JoolsToo · 13/01/2007 13:08

yes but ALL patients are fed, every single one, male and female

food is a basic human requirement for survival - breast pads and like are not.

lissielou · 13/01/2007 13:09

exactly. its hard enough getting used to being a mum, being in hosp is supposed to be to make things a bit easier (mws around etc)

JoolsToo · 13/01/2007 13:09

in the 70's the formula arrived in bottles (iirc?) and then chucked away after use (being poor I saved a stash to use at home )

so sterlising wasn't an issue.

lissielou · 13/01/2007 13:10

and what really inscensed me was the word unable!! it just seems so unfair

saralou100 · 13/01/2007 13:13

if i planned on ff and was asked to supply the formula i wouldn't mind, i'm asked to provide everything else at the end of the day and i'll be paying for it when i get home so what is the big difference?

it would be interesting to know how much a hospital spends on feeding peadiatric in-patients and how much the formula costs to validate this arguement.

Jimjams2 · 13/01/2007 13:13

That's what they do now as well JT- mini sized ones- you can't buy similar ones ready sterilised at the moment- the ones in boots are huge, with medium teats and leak everywhere- no good for a newborn at all. So I guess you'd have to take them in and sterilise them in there- which just sounds like its a complete contamination risk to me- hospitals are hardly the cleanest of places. God knows how the bedbound are meant to do it. No doubt an idea dreamed up with a manager who hasn't ever fed a baby in his life.

Jimjams2 · 13/01/2007 13:15

The hospital ones come with milk in them as well don't they. I suppose people bringing their own in could bring the cartons- but then they'll be people who want to save the other half of the carton for another feed (they're expensive), so they'll be open packets of milk lying around etc. Think its a ridiculous idea.

vnmum · 13/01/2007 13:16

i agree with hunker and soupdragon. i can also see both sides to this argument. if people plan to ff then yes it would be educational for them to bring everything in with them, that unfortunately is a pitfall to ff in the amount of stuff you have to take with you places. also if the steribottles and ready made formula is too expensive for poor people then BF would be even cheaper than ff anyway.

i also agree though that for emergency admissions or women who want to bf but for some reason cant then they will need to be able to buy formula or something as obviously babies cant go unfed.

i also agree that fewer women might bf longterm if they have bought all the formula and bottles etc as they may be more tempted to start top ups etc because they have the stuff in the house, therefore bringing bf to an early end.

if it is cost cutting then buying formula could be an option as then the nhs wont be out of pocket.

another idea, with all the money apparently saved by this, the hospital could employ a bf counsellor to provide the necessary suppport to new mothers regarding bf. this of course wont be the case if it is a cost cutting exercise rather than an educational one as they claim it is

JoolsToo · 13/01/2007 13:30

JimJams yes those ones way back were small bottles

skibump · 13/01/2007 13:53

Of course hospitals should provide formula, and help with how to use it. The most important thing here is that the mums and babies are as happy and healthy as possible.

I was lucky, got lots of support bfing and also the back up of formula (and help with that) being there if needed. I'm still bfing at 10 mths, which I definitely wouldn't have been otherwise. It's the HELP and SUPPORT you get that means you make a decision that's right for you & your baby, not someone trying to force you into something.

2 of my friends couldn't bf for very good medical reasons and were given no help at all - oh, except from the hospital cleaners. That can't be right

SoupDragon · 13/01/2007 14:01

But Jools, they would provide, say, incontinence products for in patients should they require them so why not nappies for babies? They're not a basic requirement for survival but they are needed. It's an interesting debate though - where should the line be drawn?

MerlinsBeard · 13/01/2007 14:08

Not read the thread but i don't see a problem with providing formula. Its amothers choice how to feed her child and pressure should not be put on either one way be it breast OR bottle.

If formula is supplied though it should not have a brand name on as that is blatant advertising

and before anyone asks...i formula fed my first and breastfed my 2nd, each time feeling pressure to use the other method....??!!

hercules1 · 13/01/2007 14:10

How would that work though not putting a brand on it? I would need to know exactly what my child was drinking.

LadyOfTheFlowers · 13/01/2007 14:11

um yes. very right to provide it.
i bf and ff.