Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

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

How about making formula free on prescription?

135 replies

crimplene · 03/05/2008 19:34

I've been wondering whether making formula free on prescription help solve some of the problems around the formula/ breast battle.

I'm sure this has been sugested before, but I'd be really interested in whether anyone else thinks it might help, or whether I've missed the point somewhere. I know it's not very likely to actually happen.

If formula were put in its proper context; it's there for when our bodies don't work properly for whatever reason (like insulin in bottles if your pancreas doesn't work properly) there wouldn't be any more stigma attached to using it if you need to than an antibiotic - but you'd only do it if you need to. There wouldn't be anything to be gained from promoting it to consumers and the packaging should be about as unglamourous as any prescription medicine. Parents using it would have to be given proper instructions on how to make it as safe as possible by the prescriber. There would obviously still be the difficulty of companies promoting it to doctors.

In this context, it wouldn't seem like a 'lifestyle choice' and that would have to level the playing field as far as bf is concerned. It would have the added benefit of getting the (couple of) mothers I've met recently who decided that the government vouchers go further if you spend them on cow's milk from birth, to actually give their DCs formula.

Or does anyone bf solely because it's cheaper?

OP posts:
Original poster
crimplene · 03/05/2008 20:53

tissy. I suppose that's what I was thinking about. That it would have to be in a hypothetical world where bfing was the norm, but that women who ff are supported, as everyone who could realistically bf got the right support and was able to do so - and when someone was advised to ff, it was not because of lack of resources/ ignorant healthcare workers, but because that was the best advice in that case.

When I read threads about women struggling to bf and return to work I wonder what happened to feminism; it seems outrageous that we should be expected to return to work so soon and that we just somehow put up with it (not talking about those who prefer to go back sooner). I'm also, obviously, really upset that there are quite a few babies now in this neck of the woods who don't even get formula as a result of the existing policies.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:04

how about leaving women alone to make the choice they feel is best for their bodies?

just for once.

Original poster
crimplene · 03/05/2008 21:11

expat - even if it's giving babies cow's milk form birth?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:13

it either is or isn't a woman's right to do what she wants with her body, crimplene.

she has the right to make choices about whether or not she reproduces at all.

she has the right to say no to sex she does not want.

she has the right to vote.

on and on.

so why all of the sudden does she lose the right to do what she wants with her boobs because she's had a child?

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:15

nail on head, onepiece.

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:15

her body, her choice.

SmugColditz · 03/05/2008 21:17

Yes crimplene, even that, although there hasn't been one recorded case of a newborn being given unadapted cow,s milk for YEARS, so quite why you felt the need to set up a straw man I don't know.

There are >

Multitudinous reasons why people do not breastfeed.

History of sex abuse against the mother involving her breasts/nipples is just one.

I can't imagaine telling my doctor about something like that ... can you?

Should she be made to try anyway?

Should she have to lie?

Original poster
crimplene · 03/05/2008 21:21

Yes, this goes back to my analogy with the pill. I do think it's quite reasonable to decide to ff, much as it's quite reasonable to take the pill, if that's your choice.

You do lose quite a few 'rights' (or maybe freedoms?) you previously enjoyed when you have a child anyway. I've lost my 'right' to go out all night until dawn without telling anyone where I am - for example, so I'm not sure how relevant a discussion of rights is in this context.

OP posts:
Original poster
crimplene · 03/05/2008 21:23

SmugColditz. No I think she should see the doctor and ask for a prescription for formula because she wishes to ff. You don't normally have to go into the (possibly equally painful) history of why you don't want to conceive if you ask for the pill.

OP posts:
FAQ · 03/05/2008 21:25
tissy · 03/05/2008 21:26

expat, you have a point, but should "her body , her choice" extend to her baby, who does not have a choice about what food it gets?

Our society at the moment doesn't adequately support breastfeeding- there are loads of mothers who would breastfeed if they could, would feed for longer if they didn't have to go back to work, would be happy to feed in public if people didn't sneer at them. All these things could be improved without stigmatising those who choose not to.

"my body works just fine thanks but there was no way did i want a baby sucking from my breast all day. my breasts, my choice what i do with them. no fucking way should i have to explain to or beg a doctor for formula."

this is a really sad attitude- like it or not, this is what breasts are for.

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:27

'You do lose quite a few 'rights' (or maybe freedoms?) you previously enjoyed when you have a child anyway. I've lost my 'right' to go out all night until dawn without telling anyone where I am - for example, so I'm not sure how relevant a discussion of rights is in this context. '

No, you don't. You simply chose to give them up.

Others don't. Of course, there are consequences to their choices, but we don't force women, or people in general, to live what others consider the type of life that is felt best for them outside the confines of the law.

So you're effectively forcing a woman to justify a choice she is making about how she uses her body to a healthcare professional, which as Colditz and many others have pointed out, there are very valid reasons for restricting this.

emma1977 · 03/05/2008 21:29

Turning formula into a prescription-only medication medicalises what is essentially a social choice matter. I agree HCPs could do with more info with regards to helping mothers make choces about infant feeding.

Contraception is a medical matter, which requires knowledge of a patient's medical history and a clinician knowledge of methods available to prescribe and advise on safely.

Nancy66 · 03/05/2008 21:29

The pill is a medicine that changes hormonal balance and supresses the natural function of your body (ovulation)- doctors need to check blood pressure and medical history before prescribing it.

I don't think there is a stigma attached to formula feeding - only on Mumsnet

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:30

'but should "her body , her choice" extend to her baby, who does not have a choice about what food it gets?'

It does to the baby's life! She can elect to terminate and be done with it until 24 weeks and this is her right.

But somehow that's secondary to how she decides to feed her child?!

Get real, people!

You're talking about women like they are milk machines and not people who are allowed to make a valid choice and don't have the intelligence to do so.

I'm starting to find all these threads a bit chilling and insulting, to be quite frank.

Original poster
crimplene · 03/05/2008 21:30

I'm not talking about 'forcing' anybody to do anything - certainly not anybody justifying themselves

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:31

Thank you, emma. Much better put than I have done.

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:32

You are forcing htem to justify themselves if you force them to go to their GP to get a prescription for formula.

SmugColditz · 03/05/2008 21:32

If formula is given out by the doctor to whoever goes and says they wish to formula feed, then what the hell is the point?

I thought your point of having the doctor prescribe it for those who need it was that only those who can PROVE they need it should get it. Otherwise, it's just one more thing on the endless to do list of dealing with a newborn - Go to GP and get prescription.

If it was going to be as easy as deciding not to breastfeed, how does that make it different from now>?

FAQ · 03/05/2008 21:35

god just trying to imagine what a nightmare it would have been over the last 10 months if everytime I got low on formula I had to traipse the 40 minutes (20 there, 20 back) up to the doctors to get a prescription, that's not including the time stood in the chemist waiting for it............when I can either pop down the corner shop (10 minutes total there and back) or Morrisons (1/2hr there and back)...

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 21:36

but FAQ, you must not have understood that you were not doing what was best for your child, surely ?

shelleylou · 03/05/2008 21:41

If people are that short on money due to unforseen circumstances they can get help from ss.
When my ex up'ed and left and i wasnt due to get paid for another fortnight or was waiting for my IS to come through SS helped me out to get the basics for ds, formula milk and nappies and a very small amount of food. Even waiting for that help would have been a lot easier than trying to get an appointment at the doctors for the same day.

I know the stigma attached to SS but I contacted them out of concern for my ds and they did a lot to help me emotionally and pyshically through a very hard isolated time.

FAQ · 03/05/2008 21:41

fuck that, DS2 is by FAR the most confident of my children and DS3 not far behind him. DS1 (the BF one) still painfully shy and sensitive at times

shelleylou · 03/05/2008 21:42

Theres always the route of formula companies decreasing the price to make it more readily available to some people.

FAQ · 03/05/2008 21:44