Should maternity units provide formula?

[hunkermunker]

Or should you have to take it in with you if you're planning to ff?

I can see both sides of this - but what's your experience and how did you feel about it?

Yes, I feel they should provide formula, but ideally treated as "medicine", i.e. only given after you've had a proper discussion with a skilled professional. Then it would be everyone's own but fully informed choice. This is probably less of an issue for subsequent births, but more important on your first.

They should have it. They provide everything else your newborn needs! And I have both bf abd ff so am not anti anything.

Can you imagine if you went into labour suddenly and left your tin of formula at home

My concern with women being required to bring in their own formula is that lots will choose to bring it in 'just in case' - in the same way that lots of women buy tins of formula, sterilisers etc in case breastfeeding doesn't work out.

In the middle of the night when you're fed up with breastfeeding there is then no need to ask a midwife/MCA for a bottle, which also means that you lose that point of contact where in an ideal world the midwife would be able to give help with breastfeeding.

I think that any successful policy will have to combine a number of things - getting all midwives and MCAs trained in good breastfeeding support (I start work as an MCA in a couple of weeks and will have had no formal breastfeeding training, yet will be expected to help women), discouraging formula top-ups in those crucial first few days (which means better education of paedeatricians), restricing access to formula milk in hospital as well as much better support when women leave hospital.

Re: providing bottles, steriliser etc: my local hospital has the second highest rates of MRSA in the country, and in all the times I've been to the maternity/children's ward since having DS two years ago, they have never once been stocked with alcohol hand rub or even soap in the toilets. Even if I were to consider FFing, I wouldn't consider it a safe place to make up feeds!

Mind you, I'm lucky in that I never had problems BFing DS so didn't have to worry about it. I know someone who was recovering from a section and trying to BF in the middle of the night. The MW on the labour ward refused to help with BF (said she was too busy) and when in desperation the mother (who was on her own as outside visiting hours) asked for some formula, she was told they didn't have any. So what exactly was she supposed to feed her baby? (In the end I think she texted the DH who came with some formula, so she never got a chance to BF.)

Yes they should, because women should have a choice and be able to change their mind at 4:30 in the morning and not have to send someone out to find an open shop.

The ward I will be working on did consider changing it so that mothers had to bring their own formula, but the idea was scrapped as it was too complicated. Every bed would have had to its own sterlilising unit next to it, and mnidwives and hca's would have spent a big portion of their day teaching women how to sterilise everything etc etc.

Also ironic LOL at "they provide food for the mum (she has a choice of menu)" (not at my hospital, and what they do provide barely qualifies as food) and "They provide everything else your newborn needs" (again, you have to take in absolutely everything the baby needs, from nappies to blanket).

no they shouldn't have formula on these wards. i'd rather the state invested in proper bf support for new mothers rather than lining the pockets of formula companies.

and they (the companies that make it) shouldn't be allowed to call it anything other than "breastmilk substitute".

bf rates will never go up while ff and bf and are seen as equally valid choices supported by the state. the state should encourage bf and discourage ff

bossykate, i couldnt breastfeed due to medicine i have to take, so should my baby have just not been fed, or can i say i dont want my tax money going towards bf experts because they are no use to me?

No they shouldn't provide it. If you want to give your baby artificial milk, provide it yourself.

They should, however, have the necessary equipment to sterilise and prepare milk (be it formula or EBM)

Nancy if you knew you couldn't breastfeed due to medication (though not many medications disallow from breastfeeding), you could have taken your own formula into hospital could you not?

I think it's giving mixed messages to say "Mothers should take their own FF to hospital" yet "Mothers who have a stock of FF are less likely to BF". Of the people I know who FF, the vast majority planned to BF. So should they have taken their own formula to hospital, or not?

Absolutely Meg, which is what I was trying to say in my post and why I do think formula should be provided albeit with restricted access.

I have always been a fan of BF and support it (and have managed for the first time ever to be still BF'sing ds4 at almost 9 months as only fluid he gets with solids)
a massive achievement for me

but having to give up bf for ds1 was a massive psychological issue for me, he just wasn't growing (was allergy related we know now) and he dropped to about 4 lbs at a good few weeks old. had this happenee in hospital I would have been in an even bigger mess. Plus DH struggled ahrd enough to get the petrol to visit us there on and off for 6 weeks (preeclampsia etc), fiding the cash for formula on top would have meant forgoing those visits I think.

And of course my sister who struggled to BF but baby couldn't tolerate it in NNU ....

so on balance I think it should be provided. One variety (well of normal dairy anyhow) but there

If they planned on breastfeeding, no they shouldn't have taken their own to hospital, of course not.

FF = formula feed BTW, not formula

Formula should be (and is) available for babies who require it under unforeseen circumstances and it is impossible or impractical for any to be brought in by a relative/friend (i.e. during the night, or directly after birth if mother is indisposed). It should not be provided for people who just don't want to breastfeed.

I really fancied a KFC after giving birth but the buggers wouldn't give me one!!! tantrum

so faerie what about people who really cannot bf? medications etc? or where there are psycholicald reasons (that happens)?

it will alienate mums frm the MW services and push mums who want to FF away from medical care I think.

I think we should be working towards formula free by providing more support for women in hospital at all hours. I think there should be more education about expressing milk and donated milk should be offered before formula. I personally would much prefer my baby to have donated breastmilk than formula if I was struggling at the start. I don't think formula can just be removed without providing that support but in the meantime I do think access to it should be restricted in some of the ways that people have mentioned such as having to sign a form or speak to someone first etc. I have heard too many stories of women being offered formula before being offered help because the midwifes don't have the time.

"so faerie what about people who really cannot bf? medications etc? or where there are psycholicald reasons (that happens)?

it will alienate mums frm the MW services and push mums who want to FF away from medical care I think"

If you don't want to FF, bring in your own formula. That's pretty simple.

Medication is normally known about pre-labour so again, provide your own.

If it is a problem that occurs post-birth then yes of course formula should be provided if that is what is needed to prevent a baby from starving, but it should only be provided until some can be brought it by a relative or friend.

i am split.

i dont think it should be avialable for normal deliverys etc, but n special circumstances yes it should.

dd3 had formula in scbu. it wasnt my first choice tbh, would have rather she had been breastfed fully but her blood suagr levels were too low and i felt pressured into allowing the tube and formula. though they wanted to give her a bottle but i was adament that i didnt want her to have a teat.

had dd4 at home, so had none of the feeding issues from the hospital.

I actually found out there is a pre-birth breastfeeding group locally. i did an informal q+a there a couple of weeks ago, was very informative, and i am pleased there is pre and post birth breastfeeding support here now as it wasnt available when dd1 was born, and with dd2 had mioved from the area, and with dd3 i was mainly unable to access daytime support groups.

absoluetly yes. I hovered between bf and ff, ff was actively discouraged to the point where a MW was expressing from me for colostrum (which i found terrible).
It was only the sensitivity and common sense of a nursing auxiliary that led me to bf successfully until I came home and the community MW's fucked it up again.

Anyway for those who cannot, or dont wish to bf regardless of their delivery experience should have the choice

formula feeding is a choice that women are entitled to make

and saying that you can only formula feed with the blessing of the NHS etc if you have a complicated delivery, or you only get one bottle of free milk and relatives have to bring the rest etc etc you are effectively discriminating

i wholeheartedly believe the issue is not the provision of milk , but the lack of correct breast feeding advice accesible to all before and after birth.

But mosschops, they would have the choice. No-one is asking that noone be allowed to give their babies formula in hospital, just that if you wish to for non-medical or emergency reasons to provide it yourself. Like if you wanted to feed your newborn a Big Mac through a straw they wouldn't provide that either.

"Medication is normally known about pre-labour"

Not necessarily. Or, like in my case, I had to sleep a certain amount of hours per night if I wanted to stay off certain medications (I exclusively bf for the first couple of weeks). I took the chance staying off meds, knowing that, would it be impossible to sleep enough whilst bf-ing, the hospital would have formula on hand. If I had to decide definitively in advance, I might have just done formula as that would have been easier (if I had to take bottles, formula, sterilizer etc with me anyway, practice how to use it in advance, etc etc)

So no, sometimes knowing there is backup makes it easier to try bf-ing first.

oh come on, faerie, let;s not compare formula to a big mac

how about this.. the NHS stops providing maternity pads to laboring women... after all, you can buy your own..and with the money saved , pay for more breastfeeding support? or stop providing bedding for the newborn cribs? you cna bring your own. or stop providing tea & toast after the bihrt? or stop providing inco. pads to go on the bed, you can buy your own?

there are lots of things that could be brought from home by the mother to be, that the NHS provides, why stop the provision of formula?

lots of other things that could be cut out first IMO