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?

My sister worked like anything to BF her baby in NICU (she was in patient also, had pre-eclampsia). It didn't work sue to abbies digestive probloems, he kept vomiting milk and the effor of expressing was making her ill. What was she supposed to do, discharge herself and popm to Asda?

Encouraging BF yes, forcing it? No thanks

Where this 'idea' seems to fall down is when a Mam is planning to feed (as I was) and then is unable (I got sent for a scan,suspected blood clot, injected with radioactive dye,therefore unable to feed) and how do you get the formula to baby until someone can bring some?

Kentucky - giving free formula like that breaks all kinds of codes. Dont ask me which ones, I'm sure more knowledgable person will say.

My mum works on a hospital meaternity ward as a HCA and they also recently dedcided that they would no longer be providing formula.

I think it is a ridiculous idea and the hospital soon discovered that it was too, when they realised that every single woman would need her own sterilising unit by her bed and there is no room, each woman would also need room in the fridge for bottles and other stuff like a woman suddewnly deciding at 1am that she wants to formula feed and her husband trying to find somewhere to get some.

Anyway, in the end they scraped it before it even started and thats a good thing imo.

Agree with jimjams point also. My mum would have spent more time helping women sterlise bottles if the rule had gone through, when she could have been bathing a baby, helping a mum shower etc etc etc.

Nutcracker I think every single woman should have a steam sterilising station. When my eldest couldn't suckle and I was forced to express it was incredibly stressful trying to get a hold of milton's etc to sterilise the breast pump - and when the tub for the Miltons did arrive it was so old and grotty I almost had heart failure. Immediately sent husband out to buy a steriliser - only to be told that couldn't use their blooming plugs without getting BRAND NEW equipment checked over first. DUH. ( And all for the tiniest dribble of milk.) No blooming wonder I ended up FF!!! Thank God they had it in the hospital as dd had the jitters - of course there was no where in the hospital to buy formula on the way home and I didn't have a clue re how to measure out, sterilise etc. So not only do they NEED to supply or sell formula, but they also need sterilisers and CLEAN sinks to wash stuff in etc etc.
End of rant.

A bit off track here but relevant to MW's promoting certain brands etc. - I had fully intended on bf DS but he wouldn't latch on, no support etc etc so after 2 days in hospital and a starving baby I told the MW I wanted to ff him instead. She asked me which brand I wanted (SMA or C&G) - as if I had given it any consideration whatsoever and had no idea but she didn't pressurise me into picking either so I completely randomly went for the first one she mentioned - so I guess what I am trying to say is that MW's aren't necessarily pushing certain ones (despite the mousemat comment earlier) - but what would have happened in that situation if I had had to provide my own - an even more starving baby!

Hercules, it breaches the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes.

p.s. To whoever said babes could survive for days with bugger all - it depends very much on the individual - think it depends on how much adipose tissue they're born with.

IN reply to the tax payers money being used to fund formula. I am sorry but tax payers also formula feed.
Also saying that formula is potentialy harmful to newborns, I find particularly anoying, as potentialy a lot of foods that we all consume on a daily basis could be potentialy harmful and contain a lot of substances which could potentialy pass in to breast milk, which in the future may be proven to be harmful. So in theory nothing is perfectly safe for newborns. We all do the best we can for our children at the time.
I have no problem with funding formula milk for my children in hospital if it was needed.
Personaly I am just glad that two of my children survived their births for me to make the choices of how to feed, at the time they could have given them chocolate if it kept them alive. A lot of parents dont have that choice, so what does it matter what you feed your children just be thankful you can.

Actually there isnt really a problem with foods passing into breastmilk.

Firstly, this thread highlights how over-medicalised childbirth has become I think.

Secondly, my local hospital doesnt 'support' formula feeding and hasnt done since I was pg with DD which was 4 years ago. They did have formula there though, and, when one night I was at the end of my tether with DS during my 5 night stay, and asked for them to have him for a bit (as offered by a day shift mw), they said they couldnt, because I was b/feeding. They would take him if they could feed him with formula if he cried.

The women who formula fed their babies from the outset required far less support on the ward I was on, and sterilising equipment was fetched and carried to them as required. It was, to all intents and purposes - quicker, and easier for the nursing staff, than it was to support those who chose to b/feed. Unlike the 16 year old girl who was determined to b/feed her daughter, and hearing a mw say to her mother "I dont know why she is bothering - most girls her age never manage to b/feed".

Thirdly, I thought that it had been established that sterilising bottles and teats etc was 'unnecessary'. So surely not so complicated?

Fourthly, I'm a little uneasy about the talk of money. Its reminiscent of hotel service, which brings me back to the whole issue of over-medicalisation of childbirth.

Fifthly - if you choose to use re-usable nappies whilst in hospital - who is responsible for washing them?

Actually I didnt say there was a problem with food passing in to breastmilk. I said substances contained within food in the future could be proven to be harmful.

I believe they have shown there are some harmful chemicals in breastmilk from our environment but that these same chemicals are transmitted in much higher volumes through the use of bottles but the risk for both is not worth worrying about.

Well, you can take most medication and drink alcohol when breastfeeding so I find it hard to believe what you say about chemicals in food being harmful by being passed through mikl.

In my post I was refrering to, in the future, it could be found to have damaging substances. Not now.

Oh, well, personally I'll not worry about that now or let it factor into any decisions. You'd drive yourself barmy worrying about what if in the future.

"Unlike the 16 year old girl who was determined to b/feed her daughter, and hearing a mw say to her mother "I dont know why she is bothering - most girls her age never manage to b/feed"."

That is a truly shocking attitude. All the more reason to encourage her surely!

Well, I'm pleased to say Twinkle, that her Mum went absolutely ballistic. Told her in no uncertain terms that she was out of order, and, that she was going to complain about her.

Now, if I tell you that this mw had a 'reputation' for being a little blunt, uncaring, and harsh, to see her double back and grovel and apologise to this woman was really quite something.

I offered to back the mum up too, because I had witnessed the whole thing.

The same mw, had 'told me off' a week previous whilst i was in for monitoring, because I was 'laughing' with my DB who had come to keep me company in the day assessment unit.

ofcourse it is right to provide formula. congratulations to those who managed to breat feed but don't stand in judgement of those who don't.

Tax all proles!

Make them breastfeed, too!

If they don't, punish them!

Yes, that's the way forward, people.

Baaa! Baa!

Hercules1

Yes my thoughts exactly. I was just giving an other thought on what an other poster had said. As I have fed both ways it is just something that has passed through my mind.

I think they should make the ff clean out the toilets too, that'll save money.

Thekidsmum well said. I didn't get over not being able to BF by DD until I had my DS who I BF'd though soon found I had to mixed feed (with the support of a BF counciller - said if mixed feeding meant he still got some BF it was better than giving up completely, we were a complicated case and I am so grateful for her support when I felt guilty!).

My DD turned out to have a tongue tie and couldn't latch on, later found to have much more severe special needs. I couldn't BF her, soon she wouldn't FF either, had to be tube fed and now has a gastrostomy ( a tube directly into her stomach). She's 4 now and still hardly eats. Anyway, I was heartbroken from the beginning that she couldn't BF but totally agree with you, thekidsmum, that we should all simply be grateful to have children that we can feed by whatever method we chose, or have to.

I must say though, I was concerned that formula may not provide all the nutrients that BM does, LCP's etc, (I chose one that at least had those) but at the same time I have read stuff in the past about all kinds of chemicals in BM like dioxins (though of course there is bound to be chemical residue in FF unless it's organic). I am sure BM is still better, but sometimes you don't have the choice, lots of us were probably FF ourselves and survived, at the end of the day, we have our children. We should be thankful we have them, as thekidsmum said.

Spot on, JJ!

I've got a pal, she's due her third in April.

She'll be ff the baby.

She's got a son w/autism, age 4, and a daughter age 3.

I said, 'X, why are you apologising? Isn't your life hard enough?' and then, 'Do you need some help looking after your kids? Cuz I have time off, you know.'

FGS, hasn't the government got better things to do?