so why do sma do bottled water in hosps or do I know the answer already?

[morocco]

dull topic no doubt but would appreciate some feedback cos I want to bring it up at a few meetings - opinions please.
on our recent trip to paediatrics with dd for bronchiolitis we were given a bottle of water with sma advertising all over it and a teat (ie shouting baby formula to my biased eyes). amusingly dd didn't have a clue what to do with a teat but gave it a good chew (yes, just like my nips then).
anyhow, this got me thinking. our hospital is going for baby friendly status and I see this kind of bottled water thing as sending a few subtle messages to families. first off, endorsing sma as a good choice of formula cos the hospitals use it, secondly pushing the whole formula message. quite possibly I am getting too much up my own arse about it. do let me know
so should I ask the hospital to ditch the sma water and use non branded stuff instead or is it no big deal?

It's Cow and Gate jars of sterilsed water at our hospital and farleys, cow and gate or sma bottled milk. Personally, couldn't give a rats ass about the bottled water and what it had branded onit coz it certainly wasn't going to have any influence over dd and dh and i weren't going to see a jar of water and associate that with a choice of feeding method and subsequent formula brand! Can see how it can get your goat but think if someone can be swayed in ther decisions by that then...

Yes you should ask them to ditch it.

Absolutely you should.

It is against the Baby Friendly Guidelines

it is a big deal really, subtle endorsement and branding
why were you given the water bottle ? was it like a sample , or offered as a drink?
hope DD is better now, bronchiolitis can be nasty

thanks for the link stripeymama, it's really helpful, I'll definitely bring it up then. 'thanks for treating my daughter wih fab doctors and latest medicine, not meaning to be picky but . . .'
yousaidit, tell it as it is. I'd never seen sma water before, can you buy it at the shops as well? I was so cynical about it cos I've never seen it, b ut then I guess I've never looked either. tap water for mine

it was a drink, lulumama, not that she did very well with it really, luckily she was still bf although not as strongly as usual. she's much better now, they thought she had pneumonia after the xrays but she picked up fast. it's funny the way my mind works under stress, first thought on seeing sma water 'omg, I can't belieeeeeve it'. keeps you from worrying about other stuff i suppose.

No, you can't buy it at the shops!! That's the worst bit!! I can't find it anywhere, and at the mo, dd id rather poorly and we are, bind though it is, having to use sterilsed water still, so to find an aladins cave of it in hospital really wond me up! And i can't steal off the nhs. Dammit! Yes, sorry not to mince words, but i'm going from angle that it was there when we really needed it after a stay in hopsital and it could have had a picture of an old mans buttocks on and i wouldn't have cared

Wond? wound, ahem!

i suppose if it was a distraction from DD being poorly, it was a good thing. but SMA water?? why does a baby need branded water..? oh,i know!! to make mums think of SMA if they start using formula, or tell other mums about the cute bottles of SMA water, so that if they are thinking about formula, they think of SMA

cynical, moi?

Bronchiolitis can be scary - hope she keeps on getting better and bf is the best thing yada yada!

SMA will be providing the water to get around something or other, I bet. It is hardly going to be out of genuine concern and altruism, they are a huge company with profits to think of.

Oh, i'm under no illusions sma and cow and gate have no interest other than profit, but when you need sterilsed water asap and lo and behold, there is sterilsed water at your immediate disposal without need for prior request, kettle boiling etc then it is a small blessing! Basically, even if it wasn't a 'high street'company, the wards can't make up and pre-pack / preapre sterilised water, it wouldn't be feasible, a pharmaceutical company would then provide it and have some contract with nhs to supply it. Are we all going doen the same road that this is sterlised water provided by a company that is on the wardsm, and not basic tap water just branded to be posh?

C&Ped from a post I made on another thread:

doh, it might help if I actually C&Ped . A similar formula company tactic I have encountered:

When ds2 was three weeks old he was admitted to the neonatal ward for 3 days with a suspected neonatal infection. I was in with him, of course, and on the first morning a nurse brought me breakfast which included something called 'bf juice' manufactured by Nestle. A little bottle of fruit juice with a sachet of powder with it. The nurse proceeded to explain how it was really important to drink the juice because of all the vitamins in the powder which were important for bf. I responded that IMO this was actually a cynical technique to contribute to the 'atmosphere' around bf of it being something dreadfully difficult and needing lots of special nutrition and paraphernalia, and to present the manufacturer as bf-friendly. She looked thoughtful and said 'oh yes, actually you're right really'.

but you don't need sterilised water to make up formula. you need any old water which has been made hot enough to kill the bacteria which is in the milk powder. so they are really really out of order with this.

and i am absolutely horrified that a hospital would give out bottled water with teats on. [sheltered life]

at 'bf juice'.

Agree with you totally.

I work in a hospital and although we used to have the sterilised water for babies, we no longer do. People still come and ask for it though.

yousaidit

are you carmenelectra? (apologies if it's not the done thing to ask - don't answer if so!)

I feel deja vu coming on!!!

jeez
they WILL try anything won't they

oops x post too slow - sorry !!!

fishie, if your post was re mine, the water wasn't for milk, it was the only fluid for days (and i mean days) where dd v poorly with various infection / virus were down to syringing sterlise water due to major irus / germ limitation. yes, the formula milk is ok with any preheated water but ti ensure steriliased, this definately wasn't the appropriate action. Please, don't think i've fallen for any subliminal ploys!

we have these little cow & gate bottles in use throughout the hospital, not just on paeds/neonates. Sterilised water is needed for certain types of artificial feeding (tube feeds directly into stomach) when in hospital due to the risk of Legionella in tap water. Each time the water is used, only 50-100mls is needed - ie a little c&g bottle. The alternative is a whopping unbranded 1 litre bottle which costs more.

What I'm trying to say, is that there may be no alternative to branded water as I'm sure that is what would be used in the interests of cost effectiveness if there were.

Why did you think she was me?!! Cos of the thread the other day?!

Im not getting roped into a row today, just wanted to say we havent used those bottles of water for yonk and i was under the impression no one else did either.

[snort] at bf juice and witty response to nurse
agree on the sheltered life, fishie, me too, I was pretty aghast. obv I need to get out more.
I'm guessing they only hand out the bottled water as a drink in itself rather than as something you mix with formula but could be wrong. carmenelectra, do you think it would be ok in a hosp for the babies to just drink tap/boiled water instead? [interested and seeking info]

It's not blaitant advertising. It's just that all the formula milk manufactuers make sterilised water in a sterile bottle. It's like normal everyday brands having a different product range

Carmenelectra, by 'she' do you mean me?????!! And v.l.c: i'm nowhere near chester so would be very suprised if you know me! But waving back to you, but a more gormless 'umm i'm waving but i don't know who you are' way