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Original poster

Did anyone else see the piece in BBC news about follow on milk?

127 replies

differentID · 22/07/2009 18:50

here

It was hidden away at the bottom this morning and I thought it was very interesting. Lots of common sense in the ruling.

OP posts:
Northernlurker · 22/07/2009 18:55

Oh good! Those follow on adverts drive me crazy!

PuzzleRocks · 22/07/2009 18:56

Hoo-bloody-ray.
Me too NL.

KirstyJC · 22/07/2009 18:58

Yes - and I hate their current advert too, with the baby sitting on a picnic rug with a nice little 'aura' around him which stops the little girl's sneeze from getting on him - highly misleading .

It's like the orange glow they used to show if you ate ready-brek - I ate loads of it when I was a kid and I never did glow orange!

Seriously though, I think they should ban all advertising for formula. It just isn't necessary - people know it exists, so they can choose it if they want. (It's not exactly hidden away on the supermarket shelves). Advertising it this way implies that you are making a good health choice for your baby by using formula instead of bm. For people who aren't fully informed, this is misleading. For people who are fully informed, they will choose formula if they feel it's best. They don't need adverts playing on guilt.

Original poster
differentID · 22/07/2009 18:58

I piss my dh off by shouting at them "Bollocks" whenever they come on

OP posts:
PuzzleRocks · 23/07/2009 05:26

do you think she ate lots of ready brek?

differentID - DH now shouts with me.

NormaSknockers · 23/07/2009 08:32

Uh! Oh Puzzle it's to early in the day for that kind of shocking photo, I didn't even have my sunglasses on or anything

Glad I'm not alone in hating these adverts!

fishie · 23/07/2009 08:40

hooray. i really hate that advert "how time flies" ie you freak for bfing past 2 weeks.

thegingerwhinger · 23/07/2009 09:39

I hate the one with the huge beaker of milk. Don't know which formula it's asvertising though the so the advert doesn't work that well!

2shoes · 23/07/2009 09:51

I like them, I think it is good to remember that not everyone BF's and good to see there are other things out there(even though most people would realise it is all just a marketing ploy)

OrphanAnnie · 23/07/2009 11:15

"good to see there are other things out there(even though most people would realise it is all just a marketing ploy)"

TBH I agree, I breast fed until mine were 3 years old but also used follow on forumula because I knew it was better for them than cows milk with the fortified vitamins.
I do think they ought to credit us with a bit more common sense and trust mothers actually do know best.
However I also think they should stop formula milk tokens to people on benefits and put it on prescription instead, that targets people who can least afford to buy bottles, sterilizing equipment etc and who's babies could most benefit from breast milk.

2shoes · 23/07/2009 11:17

no they shouldn't
when I had ds we were on benifits, the last thing I would want to do is explain to a doctor why i needed a script, doctors would then try and cut costs by trying to convince you to not bottle feed.
it should be left as it is.

KingRolo · 23/07/2009 11:22

Well at the moment (from own experince and from what I read on here) many doctors and HVs seem to try to persaude mothers to bottle feed at every opportunity after the baby is a few weeks old so that would be a nice change. They might start giving mothers some proper support to establish and continue feeding.

MrsTittleMouse · 23/07/2009 11:23

I hate the one with the Dad - "I promise to do all the nightfeeds" etc. It is so obviously targetted at newborns, only the picture at the end has anything to do with follow-on milk. After all you wouldn't promise to do all the night feeds magically at 6 months, would you? You'd be doing them already if you were that involved. And at 6 months you'd be hoping that they'd sleep through soon.

2shoes · 23/07/2009 11:24

I like that one too

OrphanAnnie · 23/07/2009 11:29

"try and cut costs by trying to convince you to not bottle feed"
Yeah that would be their motivation wouldn't it, nothing to do with the considerable health benefits to the baby

StealthPolarBear · 23/07/2009 11:32

"And at 6 months you'd be hoping that they'd sleep through soon. "
Ha!! You might hope, but (IME) you'd be wrong!

tiktok · 23/07/2009 11:35

Doctors don't know enough about infant feeding to be able to decide which babies need what - I agree, let mothers decide.

But they should decide with good information - not the rubbish that is (illegally, now) included in the TV ads.

OrphanAnnie, you're a case in point!

There is no evidence that follow on is better than cows milk for toddlers. If you think it is, then I'm afraid you have been watching too many adverts!

For babies over six months and up to a year, there's a case that follow on as a main drink might be a tad better than cow's milk, but this would not make much difference to your babies as presumably breastmilk was their main drinks. After a year, there is really no benefit in follow on at all. I mean, there's no harm in it, and it's a perfectly OK thing for kids to have - but it is not 'better'

OrphanAnnie · 23/07/2009 11:45

Then the reps from cow and gate and sma etc would have to go in and train the GP's on their products just as they currently do with every other drug on the market.
I disagree that the benefits of follow on milk are equal to cows milk, they are fortified with iron which cows milk is not and is often lacking in breast milk.

SoupDragon · 23/07/2009 11:48

The ad that makes me actually want to run amok with a lethal weapon is the "healthy babies are happy babies" one. That voice! The fury it awakens in me is dreadful.

Yes, the large beaker of milk p*sses me off too. I thought that the iron in follow on milk was often simply excreted, undigested, by the bay anyway.

SoupDragon · 23/07/2009 11:51

If your child needs the stuff in Follow on milk, you really should to take a look at their diet.

KingRolo · 23/07/2009 11:54

From one year old shouldn't babies - bf or ff - be getting iron from other sources though? Like meat, fruit and veg and if they don't eat enough of that stuff it's added to breakfast cereals.

SoupDragon · 23/07/2009 11:54

I found this quote by googling

"It's like saying; Hey you'd have to eat a full cow to get your daily vitamin c intake, but you can get it all in our handy chemically fortified little burger!"

KingRolo · 23/07/2009 11:54

X-post SD

2shoes · 23/07/2009 11:55

OrphanAnnie doctors do try and cut costs.

MrsTittleMouse · 23/07/2009 11:55

In my experience too Stealth, but all the books say that 6 month old babies sleep for 10-12 hours a night and 3-4 hours in the day, so someone's baby must! I certainly wouldn't choose a product on the basis that babies who drink it are up all the night after 6 months.

It's such a lovely idea too, you so rarely see a man, for example, changing a nappy in an advert. But they have made it so misleading!