yes it's the same for me..... it's not the fact of not getting the formula for 'free' i.e not having to pay for it........ it's to do with the segregation of ff and bf mummies. the fact of it not being available to ff babies but still available to bf mothers who are having problems, this is not treating everyone equally. It seems like more and more ff mummies are being made to feel bad for their 'choice'

but whatever. lol. Xx

If this hospital had not have provided formula - my daughter would be dead by now.

I intended to breastfeed, to at least try to do it with an open mind on either side (I hate militant pro-bf people, I hate militant pro-formula people, I just didn't want to faff on with bottles). However I didn't plan on going into labour at 33 weeks, I didn't plan on going down to the hospital with stomach pains and being diagnosed with a slow rupture of my membranes and giving birth to a premature baby and not getting home for nearly a fortnight now.

I also didn't plan for having a massive battle involving hours on a breastpump to even get my colostrum supply going... or the stress of the hell we're going through here affecting my breastmilk supplies... or the fact that a 33 weeker doesn't have a strong enough suck reflex to feed effectively.

I didn't plan for, ask for, or anticipate any of this - but my baby arrived, needed feeding through a nasal tube - and yes, the hospital gave her formula to top up the meagre breastmilk I've been able to produce - and are still doing so.

I'm unable to leave the hospital as we're classed as self-caring within the ward - how exactly do you expect me to go get some formula to pay my own way? In addition - in the time since I was admitted - we've paid over £40 in carparking charges, £30 for the bedside TV service just to keep me vaguely sane, and probably well over £30 on things like sandwiches because the food for adults is completely and totally inedible. Add in the fact that I do ALL her feeding, changing, caring, record keeping of food taken - I'm saving the NHS a flaming fortune by being a 24 hour carer for her in here - to the utter and total destruction of my own mental and physical health - and it's an experience I will probably never ever get over and heal from.

So yeah, bash me as a drain on resources because however many hours I spend chained to a breast pump I can't fully sustain my daughter with the supply I have and I need it topping up. Hell, at least the hospital's providing ONE of us with edible food.

So yep, sit there smugly with your starter packs bashing everyone else.... I have cringed having to walk from the nurses' station with a bottle of formula (to top up my breastmilk) and a teat in hand - I've felt the eyes and the sneering glances... but what else exactly do you expect me to do? Wind the clock back and put her back in my stomach until 37-40 weeks? I'd give anything to be able to do that, for her to come out as a normal baby, to latch on and feed, or to be able to roll up at the hospital bottles and cartons in hand - but life for some people has other plans... so just think who you're staring and sneering at - because there might well be one hell of a story behind them.

Huge hugs of support to you Dizz! Many of us in this forum have been through similar issues and struggles! Hang in there! Formula saved my babies life as well with my first son. Blood sugars dropped to 18, he almost went in a coma. My drops of colostrum weren't going to fix that!

Take care!

Aww hun xx

i have chosen to ff an called my hospital to see how many bottles of pre made they recommended i bring only to be told they supply it an WONT let me use what i bring in so there is no point.

i spoke to my midwife about this who said they get it for free and by them providing it they can make sure its sterile and safe.

my hospital is also pro breast feeding and if thats what you choose to do they will do all they can to support you.

I too did not ff in hospital through choice. My boy was a c section, I lost a lot of blood and I knew he was getting nothing from me. The nurses kept saying 'oh you dont produce much, just what they need' Still my child screamed and screamed.........they even got a paed down at 5 am to check him over. Nobody listened to me saying there was nothing coming out of my breasts!!

The next day we were both in tears still no help.............finally a lovely nurse came on and saw my distress, she got a pump and tried to help me. I produced nothing! Finally someone believed me and I was 'advised' to give him formula, they were not actually allowed to advise me but they did. He was fed and finally shut up after being starved for the best part of 2 days!! xx

I think hospitals SHOULD provide formula, the truth is some babies will need it. However, I do take issue with hospitals providing the ready to feed bottles that are so easy to use but also ridiculously expensive when you leave the hospital. After my delivery me and LO had a prolonged hospital stay, and it was soooo much easier to just pop a nipple on one of those ready to feed bottles than continue to struggle through breastfeeding. I think if the hospital provided me with powdered formula and I had to boil my own water in the middle of the night and sterilize and clean my own bottles like I had to when I got home, it would have given me a different view on formula feeding while in hospital.

I remember that nestle came under-fire for this very issue not to long ago :

Groups such as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and Save the Children claim that the promotion of infant formula over breastfeeding has led to health problems and deaths among infants in less economically developed countries.[3][4] There are four problems that can arise when poor mothers in developing countries switch to formula:

Formula must normally be mixed with water, which is often contaminated in poor countries, leading to disease in vulnerable infants.[5] Because of the low literacy rates in developing nations, many mothers are not aware of the sanitation methods needed in the preparation of bottles. Even mothers able to read in their native tongue may be unable to read the language in which sterilization directions are written.

Although some mothers can understand the sanitation standards required often do not have the means to perform them: fuel to boil water, electric (or other reliable) light to enable sterilisation at night. UNICEF estimates that a formula-fed child living in disease-ridden and unhygienic conditions is between six and 25 times more likely to die of diarrhea and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than a breastfed child.[6]

Many poor mothers use less formula powder than is necessary, in order to make a container of formula last longer. As a result, some infants receive inadequate nutrition from weak solutions of formula.[7]

Breast milk has many natural benefits lacking in formula. Nutrients and antibodies are passed to the baby while hormones are released into the mother's body.[8] Breastfed babies are protected, in varying degrees, from a number of illnesses, including diarrhea, bacterial meningitis, gastroenteritis, ear infection, and respiratory infection.[9][10][11] Breast milk contains the right amount of the nutrients essential for neuronal (brain and nerve) development.[12] The bond between baby and mother can be strengthened during breastfeeding.[10] Frequent and exclusive breastfeeding can also delay the return of fertility, which can help women in developing countries to space their births.[13] The World Health Organization recommends that, in the majority of cases, babies should be exclusively breast fed for the first six months.[14]

With all due respect, Mr Mom, this has what to do with what?

We are talking about hospitals in western countries providing formula for infants; not debating a company's practice in a 3rd world country.

Some will never miss an opportunity...

It would be utterly impractical for hospitals to get everyone on the maternity ward to make up bottles from scratch. In the ward I've just been staying in there were sterilisers set up for those who needed them - mainly the long termers like us who were expressing - to sterilise breast pump bits in between feeds (and the odd person using nipple shields or, again like us, trying to makes sure they could transition between the hospital provided teats and whatever they were using at home - ok I was being over prepared but didn't want to arrive home and realise she wouldn't take the bottles WE had)... and even that, for about 10 families max at a time took up a lot of space and staff time in changing and cleaning the sterilisers each day... to do that for every single mother and baby who arrived on the ward, including those jammy gits who got to do the 6 hour turnaround - would be insane.

I understand the logic in why they do the tiny bottles and teats - but most people haven't spent the blooming weeks on one of those wards we've had the "pleasure" of... and like I say, I couldn't eat the food for the time we were in there (we're hundreds of pounds down over the time we were hospitalized) as it was utterly inedible - so at least one of the patients got fed!