Sullwah, while I've got every sympathy for new mums who find themselves in your situation, bog-eyed with tiredness and stress trying to care for their tiny new babies, my heart sinks at the thought of all those hundreds of thousand of extra bottles that will inevitably end up in landfill sites if disposable bottles become the norm: it's all our children who'll have to deal with the mess we're making of the planet. People have rubbed along just fine without chuckaway bottles so far and you've got to draw the line somewhere!
Also wanted to comment that first time mums who are bottlefeeding should have been shown how to make up feeds by a midwife before being discharged from hospital. If this hasn't happened then this is genuine cause for a complaint to be made.
Plus - ready made formula (recommended as safer anyway for newborns)?
And am I being unfair to question how difficult is it for two adults to work out how to add an appropriate amount of water to a steriliser, stick the bottles in upside down and either a) plug it in or b) put it in the microwave? It's not like having to put together a flat pack wardrobe is it?
"It is scandalous that more information on formula feeding is not available pre-birth"
There is plenty of information available on formula feeding, if you seek it out. But there are also very sound reasons for not formally teaching all mums, including those who intend to breastfeed, about how to use formula, as part of an antenatal education package. We've discussed this issue on this board many times.