Campaign to permenantly reduce the cost of formula

[londonbump2]

More competition is definetely needed!

I started on Aptamil when LO was losing weight and refusing feeds, he ws 2.5 weeks and I sent my dad to the shop to get him a ready made carton (had started expressing but didn't have enough to give him a feed). The Aptamil was the only one they had and since I knew NOTHING about FF I combi fed with that until he was 5 weeks before my mum visited and gave me enough confidence with the powder to do it, my local tesco charges £10.99 for a tub! Ages later I found two other places where it's £9.49, so it's not just the formula companies putting a huge markup! When my milk dried up (LO just completely refused and screamed blue murder at the sight of a nipple) I was going through so much I switched to Hipp which is £7.50 from superdrug and was using two of those a week until he was finally diagnosed with a milk allergy/intollerance, so £15 a week. Superdrug don't accept healthy start vouchers and none of the places within walking distance that do sell Hipp, so most of the time I just had to pay for it.

I think the big brands get away with charging so much because so-and-so used it and so did such-and-such and you were fed SMA so you'll feed your LO it. And of course with health proffessionals 'thinking' Aptamil is best.

Generic brands here would be great, competition is good, and those who can afford it will still buy into the big brands.

And lets add that the costs of trying to breastfeed should come down!! I spent hundreds that I didn't have on two electric pumps, a manual one, nipple shields, supplements, even those gel packs to bring your milk down, £15 for a bloomin nursing bra! Breastpumps should be available on the NHS to loan for people trying their best to give their LO breastmilk, when my pump went belly up I had to find the money for another one and by the time it'd came my milk had pretty much gone. I tried to hire one but couldn't afford the £40 a month, the NCT do a special rate for those on benefits but wouldn't hire it to me as it's 'not a long term solution, you should buy one'.

 

[Kristin52]

I personally it doesn't matter what the price is, we're all gonna end up paying for it anyway.
I pay roughly 40-50$ a month in formula, HOWEVER, my mom and in-laws help loads and are always picking up an extra tub of formula and big boxes of diapers so I'm lucky.

It's just a shame though, it doesn't matter to them because they're getting our money regardless, whether it be from our wallets or from the government and since it's a MAJOR essential to our children's lives, they'd price it at $50 per tub of container if they wanted, because they KNOW they'd have people paying for it to keep their children fed and happy and healthy.

 

[vintage67]

In the US, WIC has absolutely driven up the cost of formula, cereal and juice.
Because the companies are reimbursed at a lower rate for the "free" stuff it is giving out, other consumers pick up the difference.

I don't really understand this initiative because it is in the UK, and in the US with a free market system, only a boycott could cause any changes like they are speaking of, and obviously formula can't and won't be boycotted.

And Dizz. I get it.

 

[summer rain]

I think the cost of formula is much more in the states though than it is here. As others have said, I spent £9.50 a week with my son at the height of his milk drinking (just before weaning) which worked out at just over £1.30 a day which is less than I would be spending on food once he was on solids and I bought the most expensive brand. Although I'm sure formula is marked up considerably (how expensive can powdered milk be to make?) it is a commercial product and some sort of commercial mark up is to be expected. One thing I always wondered though is why we don't have own brand formula in the UK. Often, competition is the best way to drive down prices, not legislation which the companies will jut try to get round. How about Tesco own brand formula? More competition for the big UK brands is what we need I think.

As far as I know there is no law against own brand formula but the regulations in this country are so strict regarding content and ingredients that supermarkets and pharmacy chains don't see the effort needed as worth their while. I do vaguely remember there being Boots own brand formula that they only stopped making a few years ago and I've read that up until the late 90s Sainsburys made their own brand as well xx

 

[addie140910]

I am not sure where is the most appropriate place to post this and appreciate the mods may want to move it, but what do you think?

Baby Milk Action are supporting a petition campaign to stop the marketing of infant formulas and in turn reduce the cost of infant formula permenantly.

Details here:

https://info.babymilkaction.org/pressrelease/pressrelease30may12

This is because the cost of advertising/promotion is passed on to the customer (as with everything).

Would you prefer to see formula prices permenantly lowered or do you think there's a need for advertising?

I think they need to be lowered so EVERYONE can afford them. $25 / can when LO goes through a can a week WITH combo feeding is a ton. I cannot imagine if she was only on formula. She would probably go through double that. As long as the quality of the formula did not go down I would see an issue with less advertising.

Come to think of it I cannot remember seeing a commercial for infant formula in years. Hmmph.

 

[mummy3]

I was completely shocked at the price of formula!

I breastfed exclusively my first 3 but didnt expect my fourth to be as premature and just as little as she was, she was only barely 6lb at 3 months old and was failure to thrive. Her GI doc gave us no option but to fortify her milk with formula, thankfully we were given plenty of sample tubs but the cost of this high cal milk was $30+ a tub So yeah I very much feel esp for those who have no choice but to have LO on these crazy high priced formulas!

 

[babyhopes2010]

so they should!

 

[AngelUK]

Having hungry twins means that we go through the 900g tubs every 3 days! So yeah it would be nice to see the prices go down. Ok so breast is best and I totally agree with that but why does that mean formula has to be so expensive? It isn't as if ff was an unhealthy choice like smoking where they drive up the price constantly to put ppl off?

 

[babyhopes2010]

Having hungry twins means that we go through the 900g tubs every 3 days! So yeah it would be nice to see the prices go down. Ok so breast is best and I totally agree with that but why does that mean formula has to be so expensive? It isn't as if ff was an unhealthy choice like smoking where they drive up the price constantly to put ppl off?

EXACTLY!

I dont think putting price up or keeping in the same encourages BF.

90% of women would like to or are or have BF. sometimes its not a choice!
I had to FF my baby so why should it have to be so expensive;

i think its disgusting that its 'illegal' for hospitals to sell formula!Bloody ridiculous

 

[summer rain]

It's not illegal for hospitals to sell formula? All the ones around here sell the RTF cartons in the hospital shops and restaurants?! Different NHS trusts have different policies but it doesn't mean something is illegal nationally if a particular NHS trust doesn't allow it. Xx

 

[Sideways 8]

I just learned from this thread that advertising formula in the UK is ILLEGAL? Why?

 

[Mamoosca]

I don't mind paying 7.99 or even 8.99 for a tin of formula. What bothers me is the cost of milk for babies dealing with reflux etc. £11+ for a tin?!?! seriously?! and that only used to last 5 days.

So I don't mind paying but I think if your LO has a medical issue there should be something in place to stop companies charging way more for comfort milk etc.

 

[SnuggleMum]

I just learned from this thread that advertising formula in the UK is ILLEGAL? Why?

Because marketing of formula has been shown to have a negative impact on breastfeeding rates.

This is the WHO code on marketing if breastmilk substitutes:
https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf

Different countries implement it different, in the Uk only some is law - you can advertise milk for older babies for example.

 

[Pielette]

I just learned from this thread that advertising formula in the UK is ILLEGAL? Why?

They're not allowed to advertise infant formula in case it encourages women to FF rather than BF. They get around it by advertising follow on milk so in essence we pay for advertising anyway.

 

[Sideways 8]

I just learned from this thread that advertising formula in the UK is ILLEGAL? Why?

Because marketing of formula has been shown to have a negative impact on breastfeeding rates.

This is the WHO code on marketing if breastmilk substitutes:
https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf

Different countries implement it different, in the Uk only some is law - you can advertise milk for older babies for example.

Really? I dunno. Coming from a mom who chose to ff, I don't remember any of the commercials for formula swaying my decision. I had made up my mind to ff a while before I ever became pregnant. And, in my opinion, it's none of the government's business how I choose to feed my kids anyway.

 

[summer rain]

It's illegal to protect BF rates and FF mothers before the law was made in the mid-90s formula companies were making even more false claims than they do now and these did not help mums who chose to FF make an informed decision as to which brand to use, also companies used to be very aggressive in their marketing emblazoning their logo all over hospitals and GP surgeries. Formula companies arent ethical at all so even though I have used formula in the past, I support the ban. In the US you pay for first stage formula advertising by formula being considerably more expensive than here. BF rates were much lower in 1990 than they are now, around 57% at birth to 81% at birth as we have now, also. So yes it seems restricting the advertising and promotion of stage 1 formula has helped to push up BF rates. There are some mums who are really not sure to FF or BF and unethical marketing by formula companies can sway them to choose formula and then in many cases cause a lot of anger and regret when those mums discover later that the grandiose claims of said formula company were not true. All the formula companies here are allowed to advertise on their own website and via mum and baby clubs and they often get hold of BFing mums details in an unsolicited way and harass them via email and post with mail shots suggesting their baby probably isn't getting enough milk via BF but combi feeding is a great option. Knowing full well that combi feeding will eventually lead to stopping BF and mum hopefully choosing their brand. Xx

 

[londonbump2]

I don't mind paying 7.99 or even 8.99 for a tin of formula. What bothers me is the cost of milk for babies dealing with reflux etc. £11+ for a tin?!?! seriously?! and that only used to last 5 days.

So I don't mind paying but I think if your LO has a medical issue there should be something in place to stop companies charging way more for comfort milk etc.

It's rediculous! We tried comfort milk before hydrogenised milk which was £10.99 a tin, I think Euan's Aptamil Pepti costs the NHS £17 a tin, nutramigen is about £35!! Soy, lactose free etc are all rediculous too.

 

[jenniferttc1]

Having hungry twins means that we go through the 900g tubs every 3 days! So yeah it would be nice to see the prices go down. Ok so breast is best and I totally agree with that but why does that mean formula has to be so expensive? It isn't as if ff was an unhealthy choice like smoking where they drive up the price constantly to put ppl off?

EXACTLY!

I dont think putting price up or keeping in the same encourages BF.

90% of women would like to or are or have BF. sometimes its not a choice!
I had to FF my baby so why should it have to be so expensive;

i think its disgusting that its 'illegal' for hospitals to sell formula!Bloody ridiculous

Our hospital provides formula for the entire stay if a mom formula feeds her baby. The formula companies give it to them for free to promote their product. But this is in the US. Or atleast my hospital does. They kept trying to push it on my when my son was jaundice. Thankfully I didnt give in

 

[summer rain]

Having hungry twins means that we go through the 900g tubs every 3 days! So yeah it would be nice to see the prices go down. Ok so breast is best and I totally agree with that but why does that mean formula has to be so expensive? It isn't as if ff was an unhealthy choice like smoking where they drive up the price constantly to put ppl off?

EXACTLY!

I dont think putting price up or keeping in the same encourages BF.

90% of women would like to or are or have BF. sometimes its not a choice!
I had to FF my baby so why should it have to be so expensive;

i think its disgusting that its 'illegal' for hospitals to sell formula!Bloody ridiculous

Our hospital provides formula for the entire stay if a mom formula feeds her baby. The formula companies give it to them for free to promote their product. But this is in the US. Or atleast my hospital does. They kept trying to push it on my when my son was jaundice. Thankfully I didnt give in

Most hospitals in the UK still provide formula for free it is only a few that have stopped. The hospitals around here claim to have a policy of only offering formula to BFing mums for medical reasons but the reality is a lot different. The midwives really push formula top ups here and consequently most women leave the hospital combi feeding xx

 

[LeeLouClare]

I would like the supermarkets to be able to put formula on promotion - they're not allowed at the moment.