Is it illegal for shops to reduce the price of formula milk?

[theSuburbanDryad]

Went to buy petrol the other day and on the counter were some cartons of SMA Gold reduced to 50p each.

I didn't think it was legal to reduce formula milk as it's offering incentives to buy formula which is against the marketing codes?

I exclusively bf for 3 months, and went to combined bf and ff for another 3 months, reverting to exclusive bf once DS was weaned. I considered using ff earlier, but was put off by the cost, and carried on longer with exclusive bf/expressing. In hindsight I'm very glad I did, and actually wish I'd not used ff hardly at all.

Had I seen a promotion offering formula at 50p, especially with a time limit on using it - then I would have reduced bf earlier - so I think this is one of the reasons it should be discouraged.

Thanks CMO, 19(e), i believe?

I think as well that the big brands would use discounting as a way of raising the profile of their product generally. And we really, really don't need bloody C&G, SMA and 'Nurture' (snigger at the name) forcing themselves into mother's consciousness any more than they already do... with their cuddly cows and their cruddy manipulative tv advertising......

If I could make just one change to the law, it would be that the formula companies have to declare what's in the milk.

Instead, as a new mum giving formula you aren't allowed to know what you're putting into your baby because the companies won't tell you, and you can't make an informed choice because there's no information.

I hate this argument that formula feeding undermines breastfeeding.

It's like saying people shouldn't be allowed/encouraged to be SAHM because they undermine working mothers.

No it's not. If you decide to be SAHM and it doesn't work out for you you can change your mind, and vice versa.

formula feeding doesn't undermine breastfeeding anyway. The promotion and normalisation of formula feeding does.

But formula feeding does undermine breastfeeding. The MN boards have tons of stories from people who mix fed and then found that the mix feeding damaged their supply so much they had to stop bf - and months or years later, they're still in bits about it.

And again on a commercial scale, obviously formula advertising undemines breastfeeding. That's the whole point. Why on earth would formula companies spend millions of pounds promoting their brands if they didn't think they would sell more formula that way?

And I think - but tiktok probably knows for sure - that the biggest users, oz for oz, of formula aren't people who chose to ff right from the off, but people who started bf and then (for whatever reason) switched over.

If I ran a company I wouldn't spend money on advertising unless I was sure it would increase my sales - would you?

Good point.

"It's like saying people shouldn't be allowed/encouraged to be SAHM because they undermine working mothers."

But encouraging people to be SAHM would categorically be bad surely if being a SAHM made your brain shrivel to the point you couldn't change your mind and go out and rejoin the workforce at a later date....

So as well as undermining it in symbolic terms it actually damages it in real terms..... breastmilk is the biggest single competitor to formula, and it's free and it's a better, safer 'product'. No wonder the formula companies have to spend squillions of quid on bigging their products up.

What I'm saying (in a very long-winded way!) is that

• most formula feeders didn't actually choose to formula feed originally. It's obviously in the formula companies' best interests to swap as many people over as possible. Whether they swap happily or unhappily doesn't concern the companies.

• even the people who choose to ff don't have access to good information when it comes to choosing a brand. So they'll make choices based on cost and convenience and the picture on the tin - not because they're thick, but because they have to make a decision somehow and they can't make one based on quality.

... so basically, everyone loses out except the companies making huge amounts of money out of this.

I'm ranting, going to stop now! I just get a bit (!) wound up when people on these threads assume that we're all in charge of the choices we make when it comes to feeding babies.

Sadly we're not - these people have new mothers over a barrel basically. You can only be immune if you're an exclusive bf-er and those are a tiny minority.

That's why they have 'follow on' milk isn't it? A way to get round the law.

I admit to being taken in by follow on milk with dd2. I managed to bf her for 6 months, but then changed to follow on because that's what I thought you did!! I even had hv etc.. saying, "Well done for getting to 6 months.." etc.. Like it was the end!

I think it is preposterous to suggest that women who formula feed are "treated like second class citizens" when it is breast feeders who are mocked and pointed at in public, asked to cover up and leave cafes and restaurants.

IMO, FF is seen to be the norm in most of the country and if you as a FF feel like a second class citizen, I suggest that this is your own feelings projected onto other people.

FF doesn't undermine breastfeeding?

From the MilupaAptimil website:

"Your guide to bottlefeeding

Feeding your baby by bottle can really help take the pressure off, allowing the responsibility of those tiring night feeds to be shared. This also gives dads a great opportunity to bond with their baby even more closely.

Plus, if you're planning to go back to work, it'll be essential to get your baby used to bottlefeeding and being fed by someone other than you."

What - dads who bottlefeed bond more closely with their babies than the fathers of breastfed babies?

Breastfed babies have to have a bottle if you go back to work?

Errr.... well that's utter crud. And very, very undermining of breastfeeding.

And that's just one example - I could find hundreds.

I would like these websites to be dismantled because the information they give is seriously, seriously manipulative and partial.

I found my 'cynical old bag' alarm going off in Sainsburys the other day when I saw a formula (I forget which brand) labelled very simply in clear writing on a plain tin as 'Breastmilk Substitute'

And I thought, how very accurate, that's what they should all say

and then I thought, I bet it's a marketing wheeze to capture the mothers who try to bf but end up ff and feeling bad about it

(Actually now I think about it it was Aptamil)

its sad that it has come to this
i FF am the most persecuted
NO i Breastfeeder and the most persecuted.

its a shame the argument isnlt about the law in question. with my limited knowledge i think that its down to a 'cultural shift'
formula isn';t cigarettes - and that is how it is being treated.

of course mis labling and outright lies should be dealt with harshly - just like if a kit kat said it gave you the equiv of 5 a day - laws nee to be in place for this. sure they do - not specifically for formula though.

i dont think there is a FF on MN who wouldnt say - of course we kjnow breast is best.

education, support and a cultural shift in society cost money - your money public money.

this is the way to go IMO.

Totally true that mothers are influenced by which brand to buy by price but not if they should to breast or bottle feed in the first place, anyone can work out it is cheaper to breast feed.

I was influenced to buy one brand as it was the first to do the little cartons that were handy in emergencies. I didn't give up breast feeding because of it though.

I think the fact that many still choose to formula feed goes a little bit deeper than discounts and prices, it has a lot more to do with societies attitudes.

Perhaps instead of photographing discounted formula milk or "illegal" signage you could campaign for better facilities for those who wish to breast feed when out or something more positive like that. Go and photogragh the nappy changing rooms where if you want to feed in private you have to sit in a glorified toilet cubicle next to a nappy bucket and a badly positioned bottle warmer.

Good points, Custy.

The problem as I see it is that the formula companies are doing their best to bring about a cultural shift in the opposite direction - and they have bigger budgets than most govts.

I think govts try and address this through law because a) in a limited way, it helps stop the companies from making "5-a-day" type wild claims and b) because they can.

But if I were in charge of the budget I guess I'd go firstly and mainly for support for those who want to bf - since the stats say that most women give up sooner than they want to.

2nd priority for me would be to make more info available to ff-ers, for a start better labels on the tin, so they can make real choices.

Evangelising would be pretty low on my list tbh, and saying "breast is best" would be a hanging crime - it's such a pointless and useless slogan.

welliemum what do you mean that formula compaies should have to tell you what is in their formula? Aren't there ingredients on the tins?

btw- what is immunofortis? I have googled, but getting nowhere!

No, they don't have to say what's in the tin except in very vague terms.

(Does someone have a tin handy to quote from?)

eg, someone mentioned "Immunofortis" a while back - this is just a made-up name. What exactly is it? What exactly does it do in the body? What exactly are its potential side effects? No-one knows.

A cough remedy you can buy over-the-counter at the chemist has more transparent testing and ingredient listings than formula.

Isn't it a foodstuff? How can it not have the ingredients on? Is it classed as a medicine?

I can see why it is illegal to have a special offer on formula, but why on earth shouldn't shop keepers be able to sell stuff that's near it's use by date for cheaper than normal price???

Why not have it so that it can be reduced in price but just not promoted with a big bright sign and a display?

I can't see someone who is not FF their baby starting to FF purely because there's a bit of money off.

Crossposted eachpeach

Immunofortis was being discussed on MN a while back and I also did a search to find out more - was none the wiser though.