Price of baby formula milk

[Miss Creant 10]

I think the only thing that stinks is your attitude and opinions.

Mastitis can be extremley painful. The poster may not have wanted to express and that is her choice. Even if she had have done that her baby may have not have gone back to the breast once a bottle was intoduced.

 

jenz245

"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"?

François-Marie Arouet 21 November, 1694 – 30 May 1778 , better known by the pen name Voltaire.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Miss Creant

[Strix 11]

Attitudes on here are disgusting.

 

Pay it or put up with it. Put up with what? The PND making you feel so low that you give in the pressure and formula feed? That alot of woman dont even realise they have until its months down the line. In my case it was a case of, midwife/doctors fault. My son had mucus and struggled to latch - cause he couldnt breathe. Was I to know that? When the PND came and bit me from behind, and my son wasnt latching, is that my problem? Of course it is to the perfect ones on here.

 

Come off the high horses, initial pain has zilch to do with it. Ok, we all expect pain, but what about after support? With the way one midwife treated me, well i've got to say, I wouldnt have wanted after support from her. I don't appreciate, midwife or not, grabbing hold of my chest and forcing it into my babies mouth. Making my baby latch on without choice, and it took for me to kick her from my bedside because my son wasnt breathing and he was turning blue! She reported me for that and I ended up with social services on my back. So throw that into the works, should I still have breastfed? (It took Jessops 5 days to realise he had stuff on his chest and after that my son was taking bottle quite fine)

Your story is interesting Gina, as H had a gastric bug which she managed to get through with a small weight gain - much to the surprise of the hospital staff - but this wasn't good enough for the health visitor who wanted me to put her on a bottle to make her chart suit her own ends. I couldn't believe the way she talked down to me, so I wound up pointing out to her I didn't need my engineering degree to interpret her graph, which got her back up even further

 

Up to that point I'd been coping quite well, but trying to accommodate other suggestions made (visit from breastfeeding support, change to feeding pattern, taking baby massage class sooner than intended) only led to me upsetting my six week old baby and her refusing her feeds - but I was convinced that telling the lot of them to take a running jump would earn me a visit from social services - which would have been more than I could take at the time, especially without any family nearby

[Strix 11]

my milk dried up due to mastitus so i wasnt able to breastfeed my baby, my son drinks formula but it doesnt make me a bad person! or my son any less loved.

Mastitis is entirely avoidable and it makes my blood boil that so little effort is made by the NHS to help mothers avoid it

 

I rang NHS direct when I spotted the signs, but the nurse on the phone was positively indignant that I was calling before the point where I needed antibiotics When forced, she was able to give me advice on what to do NOW

 

I can't believe I knew about mastitis from the very little I know about dog breeding, and absolutely nothing from being an expectant mother

 

There are breastfeeding support groups across the city, but expectant mothers aren't invited to them (which they should be), and non-breastfeeding mothers aren't invited to them, so they often aren't informed that it IS possible to take it up at a later point. Personally, I believe these groups should be renamed 'feeding support'. It's not only breastfeeders who have feeding issues after all

 

 

Anyway - more on topic - Having been overwhelmed at the array, prices, and complicated instructions on formula when H turned 1, I decided we'd carry on breastfeeding for our bedtime milk drink. I now produce milk as it's demanded rather than filling up between feeds, so it's no longer a nuisance. When she's ill she asks for more feeds in a day (especially if she's off her food) which makes things much easier and less stressful too. Knickers to the faces some of my family have pulled at me refusing alcohol and feeding her beyond 4 months

Edited May 19, 2011 by Strix

[lauren84 11]

Anyway - more on topic - Having been overwhelmed at the array, prices, and complicated instructions on formula when H turned 1, I decided we'd carry on breastfeeding for our bedtime milk drink.

 

Lewis was always bottlefed and by the time he was one he only had 3 bottles a day so I just changed his bedtime drink to blue top milk and he was happy with that. I have never tried the 'growing up milk' as his diet was absolutely fine as it was without it.

 

Whilst it is admirable that you managed to battle through the mastitis and other breastfeeding obstacles, some women have other issues and worries and maybe other older children to care for so maybe have to stop for the good of the family so to speak

 

Although I am totally behind breastfeeding I didn't feel guilty for one second about feeding my son with formula in a bottle, he is a perfectly healthy boy, no allergies (touch wood) and he is an intelligent and comical little treasure

[Strix 11]

Whilst it is admirable that you managed to battle through the mastitis and other breastfeeding obstacles, some women have other issues and worries and maybe other older children to care for so maybe have to stop for the good of the family so to speak

I'm not banging a drum for breast feeding, just pointing out that the whole thing is presented as black and white and it isn't

 

One of the ladies in our baby group had been very upset at not having success at breast feeding early on, and having to resort to the bottle, but it was never presented to her that she could give it a rest and go back to it in a couple of weeks

 

One of the mums in the breast feeding group was doing mixed feeding, including expressing before bed so she could bottle feed breast milk to the baby whilst getting her other child ready for school. She also varied how much breast milk she gave depending on what day it was, and her body just coped with it - something else we're never told

 

It really bugs me how hyped up the whole thing is instead of 'anything goes' and we'll support you

 

I'm also not bragging about how long H has breastfed for. I've just explained my current milk production as there seems to be some sort of common misconception that if you're not leaking, your milk has dried up - when in reality milk doesn't generally dry up, and you don't even have to give birth to be able to breastfeed

[lauren84 11]

you don't even have to give birth to be able to breastfeed

 

A bit off topic I think I once saw a tv programme about a man who apparently stimulated his nipples and managed to produce some milk.....I don't know whether it is really possible, or true but it was quite weird

[carmencarter 10]

But at ten quid a tin!! come off it, these companies should not be allowed to profit to that degree!

 

 

Actually, what they are not allowed to do is make it cheaper! No "50% off", no "buy one/ get one free", etc, for first stage formula. Whoever made up that stupid rule is missing the point. I breastfed ( and formula fed too), all my friends breast fed, and if I were to ask myself and all of them why they did so, price wouldn't have anything to do with it. Sure, the fact that breast milk is cheaper is a welcome bonus( I won't say free because I myself got feeding bras, nursing pads, nipple shields, a breast pump and bottles, but generally it works out a lot cheaper). But I suspect it is very rarely the reason why you choose to breastfeed and stick to it. It is hard work, and mums choose to do it because they believe it to be the biological norm and what it best for their babies, or in some cases because in the long term, it is more practical, especially if you go out.

I'd like to see a nursing mother go " wow, formula is half-priced at tesco's, sod breastfeeding then!"

So really, to me, it sounds like there are people out there who are determined to PUNISH mothers who are not breastfeeding by saying to them " You'll have to pay full price for your incompetence/ laziness"... like laziness and incompetence had ever anything to do with it! I'm not even going to talk about the dozens of ( perfectly valid) reasons why a woman ends up bottle-feeding her baby, the bottom line is: that law doesn't make any difference and shouldn't be there in the first place.

[mrseggy 10]

Actually, what they are not allowed to do is make it cheaper! No "50% off", no "buy one/ get one free", etc, for first stage formula. Whoever made up that stupid rule is missing the point. I breastfed ( and formula fed too), all my friends breast fed, and if I were to ask myself and all of them why they did so, price wouldn't have anything to do with it. Sure, the fact that breast milk is cheaper is a welcome bonus( I won't say free because I myself got feeding bras, nursing pads, nipple shields, a breast pump and bottles, but generally it works out a lot cheaper). But I suspect it is very rarely the reason why you choose to breastfeed and stick to it. It is hard work, and mums choose to do it because they believe it to be the biological norm and what it best for their babies, or in some cases because in the long term, it is more practical, especially if you go out.

I'd like to see a nursing mother go " wow, formula is half-priced at tesco's, sod breastfeeding then!"

So really, to me, it sounds like there are people out there who are determined to PUNISH mothers who are not breastfeeding by saying to them " You'll have to pay full price for your incompetence/ laziness"... like laziness and incompetence had ever anything to do with it! I'm not even going to talk about the dozens of ( perfectly valid) reasons why a woman ends up bottle-feeding her baby, the bottom line is: that law doesn't make any difference and shouldn't be there in the first place.

 

 

I dont actually believe that your post was actually aimed at me, however if it was i have actually exclusively breastfeed all three of my children lol i have spend 5 years out of the last 8 breast feeding gosh i hadnt actually added that up till now

 

But in all honesty i think breastfeeding is far easier than formula, this was the main reason for me, i am far to lazy to deal with washing/sterilizing and making up bottles . I would never view someone who chose to bottle feed as lazy!! quiet the opposite in my opinion.

[gemmapotsxx 10]

hi my little one came 5 weeks early tried to breast feed but he was havin it so i had to bottle feed, its hard work doing bottles sterlising bottles, but once you get into it it gets easier,i dont mind about the price of formula as you have to feed your baby which way you have too. also im jealous of all you women able to breast feed.

 

i see 98% of women on my baby massage are breastfeeding it gets me down and i would have loved to have done it, i probably wont ever get the chance again.

[sall242003 10]

And bums are not for talking out yet you effortlessly show us its possible.

Some mothers choose not breastfeed for various reasons so dont hit anything when you fall off that high horse.

 

 

If you could "like" someones post I would be hitting the like button on that response!! I just knew when I started reading a thread about formula milk that the breast is best brigade would show up

[indiechick 10]

But at ten quid a tin!! come off it, these companies should not be allowed to profit to that degree!

 

Why? It's a capatalist society. It's all about profit! There is no difference to baby food than any other food product

[carmencarter 10]

hi my little one came 5 weeks early tried to breast feed but he was havin it so i had to bottle feed, its hard work doing bottles sterlising bottles, but once you get into it it gets easier,i dont mind about the price of formula as you have to feed your baby which way you have too. also im jealous of all you women able to breast feed.

 

i see 98% of women on my baby massage are breastfeeding it gets me down and i would have loved to have done it, i probably wont ever get the chance again.

 

I know what you mean, I went through that too, cried in a public place once because I saw a mother breastfeeding a toddler whilst I was "unable" to BF my daughter unless I used nipple shields, and that enough made me feel like I had failed. The reality is, I haven't and I suspect you haven't either. There's something really, really wrong about a mum feeling bad because for some reason she couldn't BF. My feelings of inadequacy are now gone ( dd is 10 month old) and I am sure they will go in your case too. I can totally relate to the " I'm jealous of women who can BF", but I hope that in time you will start seeing the BFing act as a beautiful and entirely positive thing. I'm sure you've done your best, and there's so much else you can do for your child :-)