New Recommendations for Baby Formula Are Positive, But the Messaging Is Still All Wrong – POPSUGAR Australia
The breastfeeding versus formula debate has long been a difficult and nuanced one. For those new mums who are unable to breastfeed or choose not to, the formula market is not only expensive, but confusing. It is banned from being included in any offers or being paid for with loyalty points and branded packaging is overwhleming. Now, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced new recommendations to make infant formula more affordable for new parents.
The regulator released a report on 14 Feb. which suggests families should be allowed to buy formula using loyalty points or coupons. It also urges hospitals to have standardised packaging for formula, so that new mums aren’t initially given a particular, often costly, brand and feel the need to continue with it. Moving to cheaper formula products is projected to save parents £300 a year – an undoubtedly welcome change after damning reports by Sky News that some parents were watering down formula, reducing its nutritional value, in order to make it last in the cost of living crisis. However, the CMA advises against a price cap on formula, despite manufacturers hiking prices by 25 percent in the last two years. And a lot of the restrictions around advertising are to be kept in place.
While reports such as this will have to put pressure on the government to make changes to the infant formula market, the measures have not been green lighted yet. Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, says: “Every parent wants to give their baby the best possible start in life. Many whom need, or choose, to formula feed, pick a brand at a vulnerable moment, based on incomplete information, often believing that higher prices must mean better quality. This is despite NHS advice stating that all brands will meet your baby’s nutritional needs, regardless of brand or price.”
As a new mum myself, I of course think these suggestions should be implemented, but I don’t think they go far enough. While the financial implications of formula feeding are exhaustive, the mental implications are rarely considered.
I formula fed my 11-month old baby and was made to feel like a failure for it. My decision to formula feed came at a huge expense to my mental health and I still feel that the rules and regulations around formula are shrouded in shame, which takes a huge emotional toll on new mums. It’s great that the CMA suggests loyalty points and such like can be used to purchase formula, but it cannot be put on special offer, it cannot be advertised, and there is no price cap. This disproportionately affects those in low income households, and further fuels the messaging that formula feeding is a secret needing to be kept hidden.
My experience was a unique one, and I have no judgement over how any mum feeds their baby. If you want and are able to breastfeed, then I know it can be a magical time. I was not so lucky. I really tried to breastfeed. My baby was born tongue tied, yet I was repeatedly told in the hospital that this wouldn’t be an issue and she was “latching really well”. In that newborn fog that blurs those first few hours, I felt good about it.
“I felt like every other mum could breastfeed, but I was failing.”
When I got home, it became increasingly harder for me. I was in a lot of pain and my little hungry hippo wanted feeding constantly. Each midwife or health visitor offered support with breastfeeding, telling me that I was doing well and the baby was putting on weight. But I was in agony. I would flinch when she came near me to feed, I sobbed, tears falling on her, because I felt like every other mum could work through the pain but I was failing.
The baby blues hit me like a ton of bricks. I was aware I might feel a bit down when my milk came in, but it was more than feeling a little tearful. My daughter was cluster feeding, crying for milk every 20 minutes. After hours of painful feeding, I couldn’t take much more and my husband offered to try a formula bottle. But we had no idea what to do. Did it need warming up? Did I need to sterilise anything? How much should she have? Baby screaming, me crying, he dropped the bottle in a panic and we all burst into more tears. Looking back now, it was like a comedy sketch, but at the time it felt very real. We’d been given no information or support about formula feeding because the assumption was that breastfeeding was the only real option. Anything else was frowned upon, at best.
Sadly, the drama didn’t end there. When she was 7 days old, we found ourselves sitting in A&E for 8 hours after she started vomiting blood. At 2am we were finally seen and, fortunately, she was fine. I, on the other hand, was not. Unbeknown to me, I was bleeding internally at the nipple and she’d been taking in my blood, which wasn’t harmful to her. When I asked for advice on what to do next or if I should try to combi-feed with formula, I was told to keep going with breastfeeding. I shouldn’t give up. Yet no-one took a second to ask how I was.
I persevered. If other mums could do it, then surely I could? I was told it would get easier, but I wasn’t enjoying being a mum. Rather than joy and elation, I felt pain and frustration. I asked the midwives about the possibility of using formula and, while they respected my decision and what was best for us as a family, they were reluctant to give me any information. I asked how to use it, they told me to read the packet. Ordinarily, this might not seem like a big ask, but I felt vulnerable, upset, unsure of how to do this new life. I just wanted someone to explain my options. I knew nothing about brands, preparing formula, storing it. Once the decision had been made to make the switch, any help regarding feeding was lost.
“Banning adverts or offers in supermarkets just perpetuates the narrative that formula feeding is shameful.”
I can only speak of my experience, but I can’t help but feel the messaging around formula is still all wrong. In the UK, it is illegal to advertise infant formula as a way to feed a baby for the first six months for fear of discouraging breastfeeding. How incredibly patronising. Mums should be able to decide for themselves. Banning adverts or offers in supermarkets just perpetuates the narrative that formula feeding is shameful and mums are a disappointment for choosing it.
Mentally and emotionally, I struggled and I was in the fortunate position of being able to afford formula. I can’t imagine the toll it must take for mums who feel fragile enough without the added financial burden. Every mum should have the right to feed their baby without judgement. And what about babies from same sex couples? Or single dads? Should they be made to feel “less than” for the way they feed their babies? Absolutely not. A fed baby is a happy baby. Period.
These recommendations are a start to lessen the financial anxieties around infant formula. But I urge hospitals and healthcare professionals to take a look at how they can support mums with feeding, regardless of how that might be. There are no shortcuts with parenting and those who have to formula feed are rarely treated with the kindness and care that is often so desperately needed.
