I personally do support this in theory, but this can conflict with breastfeeding promotion. The NHS probably see it that if formula is just there, offered and available then mother's might not atempt or persevere with breastfeeding. I think its good that breastfeeding is being supported and promoted, and if a women is umming and aring about whether to BF or FF then I think she should be encouraged to at least try breastfeeding. However even after fully BF my first I was 100% sure for my own personal and family reasons that I would FF my second, and in cases where mothers's are 100% sure they will FF and it is outlined in their birth plan etc then I dont see why free formula shouldnt be offered. I brought my own formula to hospital when having DD2 even though it turned out it wasnt neccissary that I do so. I guess Im torn on this issue and can see both points of veiw! xx

i agree somewhat, they do sometimes not provide formula to 'promote' breastfeeding, which is a good thing..... BUT.....
i think if a mother wants to formula feed she would have already decided that she wants to and wouldnt just decide cos the milk is free/handed out.

i know for me during this pregnancy how i will feed my baby has literally been the biggest thing on my mind and i've not taken it lightly my decision to ff.

maybe in order to promote breastfeeding more, instead of taking the free formula away from mums who decide to ff, why not concentrate more on providing support in breastfeeding?? i hear so many stories of women not getting any/enough support

Having said that tho.. I dont actually care either way but i do think there should be some in hospital just incase a mum changes their mind. I dunno It was provided at my hospital but i dont think i would of been offended if they told me in advance that i would have to provide my own. bah i dunno i guess to me free formula is the norm around here, it deffo didnt influnce my choice on how to feed MY baby

Not to be argumentative but that logic doesn't make a lot of sense to me. So, a mother intending to BF doesn't bring bottles and sterilizer to the hospital for obvious reasons yet it isn't guaranteed that she will be able to bf for all kinds of reasons once baby arrives...so it's ok for the hospital to hand out free formula to her? Why not just tell her she will have to have someone run out and bring her all the supplies she needs or else tough luck, baby won't get fed. What is good for one surely must be good for any patient in the hospital whether they choose to BF or not.

Ultimately, a woman will make her own decision about how she wants to feed her baby whether formula is available or not for free at the hospital. BFing women should not be entitled to more support than one who has to FF for whatever reason and by not supplying formula (which is no different then the hospital providing you with food to eat) it perpetuates the idea that FF mothers are somehow less than those who are BFing and that simply is not true.

Babies are patients. If they need to be fed then there should be formula provided. I had planned on BF so I had no bottles or formula with me. My hospital waited a long time to provide formula and I saw a lactation consultant everyday during my stay. DS just did not want to nurse and his blood sugars dropped so he was taken to the NICU. I was still given the option to nurse but as it wasn't going well he wasn't recovering and I had a traumatic EMCS where I was under GA and had a hard time recovering so at night I often just chose to stay in bed and DS was fed formula. The nurses in the maternity ward bitched about the NICU nurses and how free and easy they were with the formula but they were just trying to get my son off of IV. I was grateful for it too.

The free formula did not dissuade me from giving up on BF. I went on to combi feed for another 2 weeks. It was my sons failure to thrive that made me make the switch.

My husband already had to pay for his own meals (fair enough as he wasn't a patient) but that was very costly in of itself. Never mind the daily parking fees. Our hospital only gave us a sample size that lasted our trip home. It's not like they were giving us a month's supply. I think it should be a given that the formula is free during the baby's stay in the hospital.

I don't know if anyone can confirm this but I think unless your baby is admitted to nicu or scbu they are not technically a patient at the hospital.

Bf is really tough at first and I can see how readily available formula might cause some mothers to switch. The only reason I continued bf was that my oh knew how important it was to me and refused to go get me some formula when I was at a low point with it.

they are classed as a patient here in the uk. i dont see why they wouldn't be?? when they've been delivered by doctors, received injections (vitamin k), in some cases resucitated at birth, given oxygen etc, observed and monitored by medical staff, everything recorded and documented on hospital notes and they have to wear a wrist bracelet. of course they are a patient. you dont have to be ill to be a patient ---> pregnant women aren't ill.

also... if they weren't a patient they would be able to freely come and go from the hospital (obviously not on their own!! lol) without being discharged!

I think it should be available to any mother who asks for it. It is the parents choice after all. It isnt the hospitals choice to make. Formula wasnt provided at my hospital as a given, but if a mum didnt have any or changed her mind, they still gave it to her.
They didnt ask me to pay for my toast so why should i pay for my babies milk!

My hospital provided formula. They also sent lactation consultants, sometimes a tag team of two at at time, into your room day and night.
With both my children.

Probably more this time than last.

Yes but if a mother chooses to make the switch because she finds it difficult then that is clearly her "choice". Maybe the real issue here is not the free formula but the possibility that there is not enough effective support for mothers who are having difficulties bfing while in the hospital. The fact is that every new mom needs support regardless of how she is feeding her baby and that seems to be in short supply the majority of the time. The tactic of not providing formula to encourage bfing even when that encouragement is not wanted or not useful due to medical conditions etc. is another bullying mechanism in my opinion.

I have to say that I haven't heard of the baby not being counted as a patient at the hospital unless they are under special care. That seems a bit odd to me.