Would you sign a petition to make formula only available on prescription?

[FourArms]

I've just been sent a link to this petition.

I don't think there is any way this would happen now in the UK, but would it be better than the current situation?

The further petition details are:

Breastfeeding has always, and will always be the best way to feed a baby. If Infant Formula Milk is only available on prescription, it will mean that a mother will have to physically talk to her doctor about any issues (including physical, emotional and mental)she has with breastfeeding. This will mean that the incidence of breastfeeding will increase and the level of support that women have with their breastfeeding will also increase. It will also mean that there will be fewer illnesses in babies and young children, costing the NHS millions less in resources, and leading to a generally healthier population.

""However bottlefeeding in England is a massive trend, I think that's because formula is free for people on benefits.""

Call me stupid but is breas milk not free too, and not only to people on benefits? My guess is the reason why people FF and not BF have very little to do with the price of it.

Not in a million years.

thanks tiktok. i don't know what to make of that?!

NiceShoes - any progress on letting me know when I have linked to dubious research?

No?

Thought not.

Actually no because i dont have inclination to gallop around hyper-posting like you do...

NiceShoes: you make an accusation, presumably based on hyper-reading if not hyper-posting, seeing as how you made it so confidently. And yet you are not prepared to back it up.

The reason you don't do this is nothing to do with a disinclination to hyper-post.

It's because I have never posted links to 'dubious research', and you know it.

No need to apologise. Just staying away and shutting up will do

Answering OP only (and avoiding rest of thread as am sure will have degenrated into one of those bf/ff slanging matches debates): NO, I jolly well would not.

I am a very convinced breastfeeder, fed to 24 months yadda yadda yadda, but absolutely believe that is better for the baby to be fed with love from a bottle than in fear and loathing from a breast. A mother is much more than a wet nurse. I do wish that more babies were breastfed, and hope that the western world will shift back to bfing, but I would never enforce it.

TikTok,how bullying to tell other posters to shut up.I shall of course continue to post as i wish.Not as you wish

TikTok - I find your manner on this and other threads bullying, patronising and on occasions downright rude. You are obviously an intelligent and articulate person with a lot of useful info and advice to offer, so I don't understand why you act in such a defensive, reactive manner on this forum. This is a place to swap opinions and advice, and it is inevitable that all of us will disagree with the opinions of other posters at times. Even if someone has accused you of linking to 'dubious research', there are more mature ways of handling it than telling people to stay away and shut up. You don't have the right to tell anyone here to stay away.

I would be ashamed if I was genuinely bullying, Heidster and NiceShoes. I am (a bit) rude when people are rude to me.

Heidster: NiceShoes accused me of linking to dubious research, which would be v. hypocritical of me, since I had noted that someone else had SHOUTED something worthless and misleading she had read in the Evening Standard. I asked NiceShoes to back this accusation up with examples. This was mature of me, don't you think? This was not 'defensive', was it? It was challenging, since I am pretty confident she would not be able to find anything.

Whatever, she refused to back up her accusation, saying she could not be bothered.

So I was very slightly rude to her back.

That's all it was.

Must be boring for other people to read this, so I'll shut myself up now