is it right to provide formula on maternity wards?

[nappyaddict]

take a look

i personally think, this is wrong. yes we want to encourage people to breastfeed, but if a was admitted to the children's ward say at 6 or even 12 months old, we would expect them to provide food for that baby. they would not turn around and say you can't have any he/she should be having bm. so why should it be any different in a maternity ward?

if i go to hopsital i expect to be fed, i expect the same for any new born baby.

what do you think?

[nappyaddict]

full article here

[nappyaddict]

oh i will add, that i think maybe it would be better to only provide powdered formula as it is probably cheaper and keep the ready made formula for mums who have had c-sections and might find it difficult to get out of bed to go and make the bottles up.

[Tortington]

god dont we all find it difficult to get our very sore fannies out of bed for a time? if i can't take a piss i fail to see how i could make a bottle up.

[hunkermunker]

I think this is perfectly reasonable.

You have to provide nappies, cotton wool, sanitary towels, etc when you go in to have a baby.

The mother is being fed by the hospital however she chooses to feed her baby.

If you decide you don't want to breastfeed, I think that taking a few steribottles and some cartons of ready-mixed milk in is fair enough.

And they're providing a feed demonstration room too - that's a whole lot MORE than most hospitals currently do - and look at the MNers who complain they don't know how to bottlefeed (I don't - I'd have needed this!).

They will, I'm sure, have formula on stand-by for those women who want to breastfeed and don't succeed - but I would hope that in not providing milk as routine for all babies, they will be providing much better breastfeeding support, both antenatally and postnatally.

[hunkermunker]

Powdered formula isn't recommended for newborns, I don't think [hazy and knackered] Will find a link if I can.

[kiskidee]

formula on maternity wards should be given in a generic label. if deemed ahem, 'necessary' to do so. no trace of 'cow and gate', 'aptamil' anywhere on the ward. including the mousemat of the MWs.

[hunkermunker]

Iirc, it was because powdered milk can, rarely, be contaminated by Enterobacter sakazakii, which is often fatal.

[sandcastles]

Agree with Custardo, why ate c-section mothers catered for, when natural births come with their own set of complications?

Well that would have been my baby stuffed then. I was under GA when I had her & didn't wake until 11am the next day (had her at 11.30pm) so how would I have fed her? Dh wasn't there...I'd like to think my baby wouldn't nave starved!

Ironically, she was born at Watford General!

[sandcastles]

And can I just add that I had no support to breast feed WHAT SO EVER at WGH!

[hunkermunker]

That was one of the three hospitals I could've had the DSs in, SC!

[Tortington]

i dont see why its reasonable.

as the Op stated

i would get fed in hospial

my daughter aged 13 would get fed

why not my daughter aged 2 hours?


is this becuase i have perfectly good breastmilk? becuase you are in the realms of pressurising mothers to breastfeed becuase they have little or no other option of feeding their baby.


the theory is not consistant.

i have nutrients to hand ( in theory) via breastmilk as a mother to a newborn

i can (in theory) bring in sandwiches or a packed lunch for my 13 yo dd - should she be in hospital.



i fail to see why the MHS wont provide food for my new baby. when they would a 13 yo child

[sandcastles]

I was supposed ot have her at Milton Keynes, but I worked in Watford & my employers were being arsey about my time for antinatal appts & I wasn't clued up enough to know that they couldn't be.

I transfered my care to Watford.

The delivery suite was OK, but when you get to the ward they just leave you to it. I was given dd & told 'feed her' that was my support. Dh told the nurses that I wanted to Breastfeed & he was told 'we don't have the resources (sp) or time to help her' and gave him a pamphlet about it. . I had no idea what to do, tried but failed & ended up in a sobbing mess because having only held her for 10 minutes since she was born 3 days prior (she was early, in SCBU, where she had been formula feed, with no input from either dh or I) I felt again like I had failed her. Cue other mum showing dh where to get a bottle of made up formula!

So I think if they are going to go down this route, they need to make sure they have the resources to be able to do it.

[hunkermunker]

No, you're not pressuring women to breastfeed, far from it. You're just saying "if you choose to ffeed, we will show you how to do it, but please provide the milk"

Same as they say to bfeeding women, in an ideal world.

[nappyaddict]

sorry when i mentioned c sections i meant to say for example. i think that the ready-made formula in bottles should be availabe to anyone who can't really get out of bed .. when i had my son i didn't really find getting up and about a problem so i don't know how severe this can be.

i would imagine its fine for newborns to have powdered formula if thats what they are recommending people to bring in.

[Tortington]

doesnt asnwer the bit about why the nhs wont feed my 1 hour old baby.

and i cant believe you dont except that when you have a sore fanny, cant piss, and you have to go make abottle - thats not pressure

its certainly pressure

[sandcastles]

Then WGH will have to step up.

When I left (after a week) I had not been supported to breastfeed & was not even shown how to bath a baby. Both points that WGH 'apparently' are proud they offer! If they don't have resources for the basic feeding/bathing how will they find them to help with making up bottles etc?

& what if the mum is in my position, totally out of it for 12 hours? Will they take the formula out of the bag & make up the bottle (as it was, I wouldn't have had any as planned to breast feed).

[hunkermunker]

Why won't the NHS feed your hour-old baby?

Same reason they won't feed mine - your baby, your responsibility. No?

As for having to make a bottle and feeling sore - diddums. FGS, if you're bfeeding you have to learn to do it - a whole new skill, with all its potential problems.

Whereas with a steribottle and a carton of formula...how is that hard? Seriously?

[Tortington]

why do they feed my 13 yo child

[hunkermunker]

And women who plan to breastfeed will be given formula on the ward still, I'm sure - there's no mention of that in the article.

There are already hospitals that do this, you know.

[hunkermunker]

Because your 13 year old child eats food.

A newborn is milk-fed - the mother provides the milk in both instances - either by buying it in Superdrug or making it in her boobs.

It's actually fairer, in fact.

[nappyaddict]

its not the having to go and make the bottle i don't agree with (unless as i earlier said the mother really cannot get out of bed) its the fact that you have to bring your own.

a baby brought back into hospital 3 weeks later would be given formula if they were ff, i really don't see what difference it makes if they were just born.

they say its not cost cutting it is about educating women on how to bottle feed if that is how they choose to feed their baby. erm, well you could just provide powdered formula then in that case.

[Tortington]

i provide food for my 13 year old at home

same as i would provide formula at home

i still dont understand why if my 13 eats solids its different to a baby needing feeding

[nappyaddict]

so if one child say aged 9 months was in hoapital and was still exclusively breastfed, it would be unfair to that child if the child in the next cot, also 9 months got a bit of shepherds pie for her dinner provided by the hospital? or would you expect her mum to bring her a packed lunch?

[nappyaddict]

there's also the view of what if you are really poor, the ready to make milk cartons and steribottles work out expensive, but if you couldn't get out of bed that is what you would have to use, for maybe even a whole week depending on how long you stay in hospital after having the baby.

[hunkermunker]

It's too late for this - I've made my points plainly - I will sleep and see if they make the sense I think they make in the morning!

I'm resisting very hard posting something flippant too - if I don't go to bed, I'll regret it, I think!