Just in case anyone thought watered down formula was only a 3rd World problem.

[foxytocin]

I found this sad incident while looking for something else. here.

It makes me wonder why governments don't do more to more for formula manufacturers to set a price more in line with the costs they actually have.

this is a good one.

a small brand company in the US has won a lawsuit against a big brand one based on false advertising

but: Formula costs $17 a can for the regular stuff and $25 for organic. this is the cheap stuff too.

yes, and that one reinforces the fact that all formulas are basically the same!

walmart store brand formula is cheaper than enfamil by a huge margin. when will people in the UK wise up and demand the same from ASDA?

thanks TIY, i was starting to feel a bit kooky talking to myself here.

I was wondering if people in the UK thought that this topic doesn't matter to them.

After all with Asda being owned by Walmart and all that....

and yes, all formula is pretty much the same so why pay a bomb for their 'specialness.'

It's called cognitive dissonance I believe. The idea that if you pay a greater cost (not necessarily money - time, comfort, convenience and even pain also count) it creates a psychological tension which you resolve by convincing yourself it was worth it and you got something really valued out of it.

Oh I like the sound of 'cognitive dissonance'.

Its a problem here in the UK as well. My sister found out her daughter and some of her friends regularly watered down their babies formula to make it last longer. As a result, my great nephew went from a huge big bouncy boy to a skinny little thing that cried all the time. On top of that the poor babies were weaned almost exclusively on yoghurt and toast. All this while my niece was supposedly being kept a close eye on by her HV as she was a high risk for PND!

Unfortunately she was living a long way away from my sister when this was going on. They eventually moved back in with my sister, she found out what had been happening and started feeding him properly. He went from a fractious unhappy little boy to a happy smiley contented one in just a couple of weeks.

It never occurred to my niece that watering down the formula would mean it no longer contained everything her little boy needed in the right quantities and she is normally an intelligent, well educated girl.

Thankfully, some good has come out of it, in that my other niece (first niece's sister) has learned from what happened, has chosen to exclusively breastfeed her little boy and is doing fantastically.

Boots used to do a cheaper formula, i'm not sure why they stopped, when i asked someone they said it was because it didn't sell.

Shocking . Moosemama, words fail me, I cannot believe that someone would be so stupid as to water formula down without seeking advice.

I know thedollshouse. We were completely stunned. It seemed to be a sort of cultural thing that this particular group of mums had got into the habit of doing and were encouraging each other to do.

Its not as if my niece is even alone in all this. If she had needed money for formula or nappies or anything for that matter, she knew all she had to do was call me or my Mum or her Mum or her Dad, none of us would have seen her or my great nephew go without, in fact all of us often did help out financially.

Goodness knows what the situation is with her friends and their babies, I know some of them aren't as lucky as my niece and don't have the same amount of family support.

Like I said though, at least niece number two has her head screwed on right, she is doing great with the breastfeeding and is intelligent enough to realise that she is doing the right thing for her baby as well as saving the money she would be spending on formula. At the same time she is the only one of her peer group that has chosen to bf and so is promoting breastfeeding as an option to other young mums in her community. Its a brave girl that swims against the tide in my niece's world so she's to be applauded. Needless to say I/we are very proud of her.