Do you think that hospitals should provide formula milk?

[Lightworker]

Lellow c'mon - the ones that have argued that it shouldn't be provided have clearly stated it should be there for emrgency situations when something goes wrong with BF. Nobody here expects you to walk down to Tesco a few hours postnatally.

 

[smelly07]

Why dont the BF's who have a problem with newborns getting 'FREE' formula milk, just give yourselves a pat on the back that you have helped reduce costs to the NHS. well done!

thats not fair. there are both ffers and bfers on both sides of the fence. its not a them vs us thing.

it doesnt sound like it from some of the posts though. Its ridiculous.

 

[Wobbles]

The world is just a big advertisement ... hate the way it's discussed like a formula fed babies Mum was so naive she was suckered in by an advertisement or a little bottle given by the hospital when your baby is born I want that big 52 inch 3d television though

 

[Blah11]

Why dont the BF's who have a problem with newborns getting 'FREE' formula milk, just give yourselves a pat on the back that you have helped reduce costs to the NHS. well done!

thats not fair. there are both ffers and bfers on both sides of the fence. its not a them vs us thing.

it doesnt sound like it from some of the posts though. Its ridiculous.

yes but its not just coming from those who breastfeed so its not so wise to pinpoint.

 

[Sarah&Ady]

I cant remember who it was that asked earlier, but if I DID ff, and my LO was admitted to hospital now, for whatever reason, I would take my own formula. If it was an emergency, obviously not, but I would get some bought as soon as I could.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Finlands book, and provide donated milk to mothers who are struggling.

That's just not how it works. My Megan was admitted to scbu for a week and you were not allowed to bring your own milk in! There's reasons for this, obviously!

Ohhhhh... thank you, that answered something I mentioned earlier! I had c-sec under GA and was out of it for 1st 24 hours. Jamie was in SCBU and we had brought some formula in as a just in case senario. I had full intentions of BF by the way... anyways... he wasnt allowed to give it to Jamie, they refused and supplied some for him to give... think it was C&G? in a little pre made bottle with teat. He ended up being on these for a couple of days before I could express. Wonder why they wouldnt let us use the formula we had brought in??

 

[whoops]

Dani_tinks - maybe I didn't word my post clearly I meant formula companies are NOT allowed to officially advertise the first stage milk and by providing it for free to NHS (if this is true) they have effectively taken advantage of a loophole because if a certain brand FF milk is avaliable the mother is most likely going to continue with that brand of milk postnatally. Successful business don't do things for free without the intention of profiting somehow.

In my hospital, they provided C&G, SMA and Aptamil - the only three first stage formulas readily available here - and anyone FFing was asked which they wanted. So it was an equal market, iykwim - it wasn't just the one brand taking advantage of the 'loophole'.

 

[smelly07]

Why dont the BF's who have a problem with newborns getting 'FREE' formula milk, just give yourselves a pat on the back that you have helped reduce costs to the NHS. well done!

thats not fair. there are both ffers and bfers on both sides of the fence. its not a them vs us thing.

it doesnt sound like it from some of the posts though. Its ridiculous.

yes but its not just coming from those who breastfeed so its not so wise to pinpoint.

so the ones who FF who think they shouldnt offer formula in hospitals now or they should have to pay for it............what did they do when they had there babies refuse the milk offered to them? take in their own?

and BF are reducing the costs to the NHS....whats wrong with that now?

 

[GossipGirly]

I cant remember who it was that asked earlier, but if I DID ff, and my LO was admitted to hospital now, for whatever reason, I would take my own formula. If it was an emergency, obviously not, but I would get some bought as soon as I could.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Finlands book, and provide donated milk to mothers who are struggling.

That's just not how it works. My Megan was admitted to scbu for a week and you were not allowed to bring your own milk in! There's reasons for this, obviously!

Ohhhhh... thank you, that answered something I mentioned earlier! I had c-sec under GA and was out of it for 1st 24 hours. Jamie was in SCBU and we had brought some formula in as a just in case senario. I had full intentions of BF by the way... anyways... he wasnt allowed to give it to Jamie, they refused and supplied some for him to give... think it was C&G? in a little pre made bottle with teat. He ended up being on these for a couple of days before I could express. Wonder why they wouldnt let us use the formula we had brought in??

infection x

 

[dani_tinks]

I don't even know what other brands our hospital supplied, as I said, they wouldn't suggest any formula names to us, we just had to pick one out of the air and then they gave it to us.

 

[Lena]

Wow, this is a long thread. I think yes, it should be there for emergencies, but no it should not 'offered' unless really needed. It's your baby, if you know before you have it that you want to FF then you should get some formula & bottles and bring it to hospital. If you want to BF but don't succeed, it should be brought out for emergencies but shouldn't be offered straight away because it may discourage BFing.

 

[Blah11]

Why dont the BF's who have a problem with newborns getting 'FREE' formula milk, just give yourselves a pat on the back that you have helped reduce costs to the NHS. well done!

thats not fair. there are both ffers and bfers on both sides of the fence. its not a them vs us thing.

it doesnt sound like it from some of the posts though. Its ridiculous.

yes but its not just coming from those who breastfeed so its not so wise to pinpoint.

so the ones who FF who think they shouldnt offer formula in hospitals now or they should have to pay for it............what did they do when they had there babies refuse the milk offered to them? take in their own?

and BF are reducing the costs to the NHS....whats wrong with that now?

i just thought your post sounded very sarcastic and a bit catty.

 

[iceylou]

Dani_tinks - maybe I didn't word my post clearly I meant formula companies are NOT allowed to officially advertise the first stage milk and by providing it for free to NHS (if this is true) they have effectively taken advantage of a loophole because if a certain brand FF milk is avaliable the mother is most likely going to continue with that brand of milk postnatally. Successful business don't do things for free without the intention of profiting somehow.

In my hospital, they provided C&G, SMA and Aptamil - the only three first stage formulas readily available here - and anyone FFing was asked which they wanted. So it was an equal market, iykwim - it wasn't just the one brand taking advantage of the 'loophole'.

same here in mat hospital. i was more shocked that i had to bring my own nappies lol. 13yrs ago i didnt have to bring anything only vests and babygros.

the only company that pushed the hell out of me was eumoms!! join now, join now, sign up, did u sign up, when will u sign up, felt like smacking the idiot

 

[whoops]

I cant remember who it was that asked earlier, but if I DID ff, and my LO was admitted to hospital now, for whatever reason, I would take my own formula. If it was an emergency, obviously not, but I would get some bought as soon as I could.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Finlands book, and provide donated milk to mothers who are struggling.

That's just not how it works. My Megan was admitted to scbu for a week and you were not allowed to bring your own milk in! There's reasons for this, obviously!

Ohhhhh... thank you, that answered something I mentioned earlier! I had c-sec under GA and was out of it for 1st 24 hours. Jamie was in SCBU and we had brought some formula in as a just in case senario. I had full intentions of BF by the way... anyways... he wasnt allowed to give it to Jamie, they refused and supplied some for him to give... think it was C&G? in a little pre made bottle with teat. He ended up being on these for a couple of days before I could express. Wonder why they wouldnt let us use the formula we had brought in??

Health & Safety - the hospital has no guarantee that the formula you brought in hasn't been contaminated in some way. At least with their bottles, they know where it's been stored, they know where it was bought from, they know that it's been sterilised and if a baby does get ill from contaminated formula, then the cause will be determined much more quickly because other babies would have the same symptoms.

 

[bubbles]

This argument that keeps cropping up of "they provide meals for us, why not babies" is silly. There is a huge difference between an adult, who is ill and probably in there unexpectedly and a newborn. The biggest difference being food IS supplied free for babies. It's called BREAST MILK!! if you choose not to use what nature has provided for FREE thats your bad not the NHS'

Again I have highlighted the word choose as this is about making a conscious decision on how to feed your baby NOT because baby is ill/unable to feed or you are physically unable to breastfeed

Because you said so.

No, I had a choice my choice was formula THAT IS NOT MY BAD thats my right of choice.

Ignorance

please point out my ignorance

And the high lighted bit I felt needed to be there so I didn't get jumped on again by people not reading my post properly and thinking I was saying formula shouldn't be provided in any case

 

[Wobbles]

I cant remember who it was that asked earlier, but if I DID ff, and my LO was admitted to hospital now, for whatever reason, I would take my own formula. If it was an emergency, obviously not, but I would get some bought as soon as I could.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Finlands book, and provide donated milk to mothers who are struggling.

That's just not how it works. My Megan was admitted to scbu for a week and you were not allowed to bring your own milk in! There's reasons for this, obviously!

Ohhhhh... thank you, that answered something I mentioned earlier! I had c-sec under GA and was out of it for 1st 24 hours. Jamie was in SCBU and we had brought some formula in as a just in case senario. I had full intentions of BF by the way... anyways... he wasnt allowed to give it to Jamie, they refused and supplied some for him to give... think it was C&G? in a little pre made bottle with teat. He ended up being on these for a couple of days before I could express. Wonder why they wouldnt let us use the formula we had brought in??

I'd be worried about the lack of hygiene around my baby and the safety of the environment and everything whoops said so I am glad for my sake and other parents/babies this is not required. Plus when I was home (I was not allowed to stay on the ward with her ) the nurses would feed her ... the responsibly and being made accountable for this is just unfair on nurses.

x

 

[Sarah&Ady]

I cant remember who it was that asked earlier, but if I DID ff, and my LO was admitted to hospital now, for whatever reason, I would take my own formula. If it was an emergency, obviously not, but I would get some bought as soon as I could.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Finlands book, and provide donated milk to mothers who are struggling.

That's just not how it works. My Megan was admitted to scbu for a week and you were not allowed to bring your own milk in! There's reasons for this, obviously!

Ohhhhh... thank you, that answered something I mentioned earlier! I had c-sec under GA and was out of it for 1st 24 hours. Jamie was in SCBU and we had brought some formula in as a just in case senario. I had full intentions of BF by the way... anyways... he wasnt allowed to give it to Jamie, they refused and supplied some for him to give... think it was C&G? in a little pre made bottle with teat. He ended up being on these for a couple of days before I could express. Wonder why they wouldnt let us use the formula we had brought in??

Health & Safety - the hospital has no guarantee that the formula you brought in hasn't been contaminated in some way. At least with their bottles, they know where it's been stored, they know where it was bought from, they know that it's been sterilised and if a baby does get ill from contaminated formula, then the cause will be determined much more quickly because other babies would have the same symptoms.

Ahhh.. makes sense

 

[whoops]

Dani_tinks - maybe I didn't word my post clearly I meant formula companies are NOT allowed to officially advertise the first stage milk and by providing it for free to NHS (if this is true) they have effectively taken advantage of a loophole because if a certain brand FF milk is avaliable the mother is most likely going to continue with that brand of milk postnatally. Successful business don't do things for free without the intention of profiting somehow.

In my hospital, they provided C&G, SMA and Aptamil - the only three first stage formulas readily available here - and anyone FFing was asked which they wanted. So it was an equal market, iykwim - it wasn't just the one brand taking advantage of the 'loophole'.

same here in mat hospital. i was more shocked that i had to bring my own nappies lol. 13yrs ago i didnt have to bring anything only vests and babygros.

the only company that pushed the hell out of me was eumoms!! join now, join now, sign up, did u sign up, when will u sign up, felt like smacking the idiot

 

[Wobbles]

This argument that keeps cropping up of "they provide meals for us, why not babies" is silly. There is a huge difference between an adult, who is ill and probably in there unexpectedly and a newborn. The biggest difference being food IS supplied free for babies. It's called BREAST MILK!! if you choose not to use what nature has provided for FREE thats your bad not the NHS'

Again I have highlighted the word choose as this is about making a conscious decision on how to feed your baby NOT because baby is ill/unable to feed or you are physically unable to breastfeed

Because you said so.

No, I had a choice my choice was formula THAT IS NOT MY BAD thats my right of choice.

Ignorance

please point out my ignorance

And the high lighted bit I felt needed to be there so I didn't get jumped on again by people not reading my post properly and thinking I was saying formula shouldn't be provided in any case

Think it's pretty clear where I call you ignorant, sorry I have to explain that a second time to you.
"if you choose not to use what nature has provided for FREE thats your bad not the NHS'"

As stated my choice not my 'bad'.

 

[Blah11]

babies in scbu are different from regular healthy babies after birth. i understand why they provide milk for very sick and compromised babies.

 

[leash27]

I haven't read through all the replies to this thread as it started getting a bit personal around page 18 ish

When my LO was born, I was BF. I had an emergency section and was pretty much out of it but I managed to feed about an hour after he was born and to be honest, it was a relief that I didnt have to get up to feed him. There is no way I was in any state to be walking backwards and forwards to a kitchen to make bottles every few hours.

That said, BF didnt work out for us and Max is now FF, a choice I will stand by and defend til the cows come home as it works for us. Anyhow, Max was in hospital a few weeks ago for a hernia operation and they kept him in for a couple of days. During this time, the hospital provided ALL of his feeds using the same formula bottles they have on MAT wards. They offered several brands too. If Max was classed as a 'patient' when he is 8 weeks old and on a childrens ward then the same should apply to newborn babies! It is ridiculous to say that they shouldnt be fed as there is BF as an alternative! Thats like saying patients shouldnt be fed as they could bring their own sandwiches in?????

I appreicate that the NHS is stretched as it is but I don't think refusing formula to newborn babies is the best way to cut back, whether the mother has planned to FF or not. The mother is not the patient being fed, it is the baby!

I also find it difficult to understand the practiality of having several new mothers making bottles up on the ward, have you seen the size of those kitchens?