How about making formula free on prescription?

[crimplene]

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?

I dont know how much it is now but im sure it was easily £6.40 before ds came off it. I remember it went up quite a bit very suddenly.

FAQ you deffinately will notice the difference and with the healthy start vouchers depending on where you get milk you can get 3 x 2 litres for a voucher plus 18pence.

It IS readily available! I have never, whether working poor or on benefits, been too poor to afford formula. I have never been in a position where I would have considered for a second giving cow's milk instead to an 'underaged' baby. Stopping the shops selling it would not stop anyone who has decided to formula feed.

Coldiz i ment in circumstances that where similar to mine at that timew in mine and ds's life i honestly didnt have two pennies to rub together!!!
I NEVER gave ds cows milk underage hence why i went to social services to help me out so ds had the milk type he needed.

SMA White £6.89 (cheapest I've found) a tin now. On average 1 tin every 5 days, so it's costing me about £40 a month.

At one point it was costing us about £60 a month

Its gone up a bit since ds was on it then.

yeah it suddenly shot up about 50p a tin a few months ago, that was quite a shock to the system with regards to the budget

But shelleylou the systems for helping those who genuinely cannot afford the formula are already in place ... as they were there when you needed them. And even then you didn't try to substitute the milk - so the idea of transferring responsibility of feeding choices from the mother over to a General Practitioner really would smack of "Stupid Women, Always Getting It Wrong, I Suppose We'd Better Legislate Again!"

If we carry on like this, all babies will be raised in a kibbutz, with the mothers hooked up to milking machines as they work at sewing cloth nappies for 'redistribution'.

I think it went up that amount when ds was on it. I was really nice and told XP i wasnt sending milk/nappies as CSA took £11 odd a week of me for him having ds 2 nights a fortnight. I couldnt afford to supply all that aswell as clothes etc that he kept or ruined.

expat. I think this debate has become so riciculously polarised and I'm not always good at expressing myself - but all of us make some compromises in what's supposed to be best for our child and what is practical. My DS eats far too many chips. The choice between bf and ff is just that; and one of many choices we all make and it all gets blown up far too much - much more so than other things that are exually relevant to public health. Yes bf is better, but formula is a reasonable replacement - and it's far better that people are able to make a genuine free choice about how to feed their baby. I don't think that someone who choses to ff is misinformed - it just makes me think that something's wrong when bf rates are sooo low. I'll shut up.

why do i always get singled out in these threads when usually several posters have basically said the same thing before me?

I take that as a compliment expat

Crimp[lene, how would you feel if you could only get margerine on prescription?

Or frozen chips?

Olive oil and fresh potatoes are better choices, choices we make for our children as well as ourselves ... so how would you feel about having that food choice medicalised?

Yes, breastfeeding rates are woefully low, but don't forget that every person who chooses not to breast feed is a person, not just a formula feeder, not just a statistic.

if a woman has that attitude to breasts, then it's no wonder that some men have it as well. Everyone would be up in arms if a mother came on here and complained that someone had told her that breastfeeding was disgusting. They have done.

If a woman chooses to use her body for reproduction (as well as a bit of fun) and then refuses to use it to feed her child, then I do find that sad, yes. I'm not talking about women who can't (for whatever reason, and I include psychological/ social ones) that's even more sad, but those who won't because they want their breasts back for their own use.

I'll just bow out and settle down to weaving some more lentils into cloth nappies.

I don't care what you do, but I can feel sad that you choose not to give your child the only milk that was designed for it.
Just like I can be sad that it is considered pretty normal where I live to feed kids Irn Bru in their bottles, and to drown babies in cigarette smoke, even before they are born.

I find your aggressive attitude shocking, actually. You have no idea what my choices are, so how can you state that you would accept them without question? Why the need for all the effing and blinding? Why do you care so much what someone in cyberspace thinks?

I started off on this thread sticking up for crimplene who was getting quite a bashing, and seem to have attracted most of the venom myself.

Back to the lentils

Only skimmed but as someone who beleives wholeheartedly that breastfeeding is the best way to feed our babies, I still think formula has a very real place in our society, and that place should be readily available to everyone.

I don't see how I can say someone should BF, even if I think it's the better way, they might feel that in their family being able to get Dad to do the feeds (for example, there are many reasons!)is the best for their family and that formula makes it mroe feasible and that is not for me to make judgement on.

Also, to do this ridiculous proposition we would have to ensure that every mother who lived was able to receive the support and information she needed to BF successfully, which is enough of a task to hope for with the women who want toBF, let alone those who'd make the choice not to!

There are two main things, IMO, that need doing in infant feeding,

1)Formula manufacturers shuld have to make their milk in the best interests of the baby, not themselves, charge a low rate, practically 0% profit, and have to disclose all information re: what they contain/risks they have, plus submit them for regular testing against other formulas so we can see research to show which is best for our particular type of baby

and

2)All women be offered 100% full support by all HCPs; both before and after the birth of their baby to give breastfeeding the optimum chance of success, and if it doesn;t work for some reason, it be that the mother has chosen not continue for her own irreversible reasons, not because she has felt it is the only other option.

(I know it seems liek mroe than two reasons, but they are just sub-clauses)

Once these are fulfilled only then can we be sure anyone is BFing/FFing through their own choice and not pressure from external sources.

"how f*king rude"

"no fucking way should i have to explain to or beg a doctor for formula. "

"bullshit ! "

Of course I am pro-bf, who wouldn't be? (Apart from all those people, who, presumably formula fed their children, who have a go at women in cafes for feeding their child). I am not a militant breastfeeder- you don't know how I fed my baby, you just presumed. I have encouraged women who breastfeed, I have encouraged women who formula feed. I have not said anything disparaging to the parents of Irn bru fed babies who come into hospital to have their rotten teeth out. Mostly I keep my opinions to myself, but on an internet forum where virtually no-one knows who I am, it is "safe" to reflect a bit and only get into virtual fights.

I seem to be doing that a lot today. Maybe it's because my own mother has rubbed my nose in my own parenting inadequacies.

Well I swore I wouldn't get dragged into one of these debates again. But just to say, when you can't bf successfully no matter how hard you try, and you're shelling out over 6 quid a tin, free formula on prescription sounds pretty darned attractive. I'm not saying it shouldn't also be available to buy, but it sure adds insult to injury when shelling out 6 quid a tin is your only option.

I mean I could, and can, get unlimited supplies of free E45 or whatever to treat his dry skin, but I had to pay a fortune to be able to feed him. That's not right in my book.

i think it should still be available to buy too but i do think it should be available on prescription if you really can't bf. you don't have to be on a low income to get prescription for other necessities like creams and medicines so why should you have to be for formula if that is the only way you can feed your child?

Dry skin is a medical condition, therefore justifies free prescriptions.

Feeding a child formula may be expensive, but so is clothing them and providing other essentials...none of these matters are medical and do not justify free prescriptions.

yes but if a medical condition means you can't bf surely it is a medical matter.

Tongue tie is a medical condition in my book, excuse me. Albeit one that the NHS failed to diagnose in time.