Should Baby Formula Be Free?
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Do you think Baby Formula should be free?
Danone has said they are going to reduced the price of formula sold to retailers by 7%. But prices have already gone up by around 24% in the last couple of years.
No I don't think it should be free but it shouldn't be so expensive £15 a tube in my local Tesco my little would have nearly 2 tubs a week
SamGoodship it used to be £9.50 I didn't think that was to bad but if it carries on it will be £20 a tin
I think affordable is more fair and then there is places like food banks and other charities that can supply it to those that are really hard up.
Id be fully supportive of free baby formula for anyone that is in real need but unfortunately there’s a lot of people who take advantage of
I don’t think it should be free but it should be cheaper. I am so thankful that I was able to breastfeed as it saved us a fortune!
SamGoodship I'm not quite sure how much further I can go with this tbh. If you can't afford kids, don't have them. And don't expect me to pay for them. I'm already paying taxes and paying for my booze and cigarettes.
STAY CLEVER, KEEP THEM TOGETHER.
I think it should be more affordable if it's proven that you're unable to breast feed, rather than choosing not to.
7% is ridiculous, and yes it should be free, gets me mad when you read how much drug users cost through getting free needles ect... ect...ect.. But a mother who can't afford baby milk has to resort to shoplifting ect to feed her baby, this Country is broken
No, It never has been Free why should it be now.If people decide to have children they should ensure they have means to look after them , not expect everything free
I don't think it should be free, except in extreme cases, but it definitely should be more affordable. I used to buy the cheapest one, either Aldi or Lidl. We only had to buy it for 3 months (our son was on a special prescription milk until 9 months old) and then went straight to cows milk. I remember the cheap ones were £6-£10, this was 4 years ago now. Unbelievable how much it has increased.
No. But it could be made more affordable by government subsidies; milk used to be given to kids for free in schools, but they just took it away - perhaps they should’ve added it to school lunches rather than take it away altogether, as milk has benefits for growing kids
I don't think it should be free but it should most certainly be cheaper than it is
I don't think it should be free and also the main problem causing environmental issues is over population so we need to make having children less attractive to more people. Of course that doesn't mean companies should profiteer from baby formula. However they are entitled to a fair profit margin like any other product. There are lots of expensive products related to bringing up children and that doesn't mean other products should be more expensive to subsidise products for children in my opinion. You could say couples without children have more disposable income but that doesn't mean they should have to pay more for products because they don't have children.
BonzoBanana over population is not just kids being born fact is people are living longer thanks to modern medicine
Leannexxx I'm personally not for culling older people so it feels more logical to me to have less children and increase the retirement age to compensate maybe have people working into later life but with less hours. I'm certainly not for stopping people having children but I strongly feel the state should not financially encourage it so those who want kids should be more financially responsible for them and if the state supports people having a child it should be just that one child only. We are heading towards 70 million on an island realistically that can probably only support 30-40 million in resources. We are seeing more extreme weather and rising temperatures its clear the environment problem is getting worse and maybe unstoppable now. Encouraging couples to have one or none children seems like a no brainer to me especially when financially we are so indebted as a nation anyway.
BonzoBanana increase retirement? There trying to do that now I personally think it's wrong these people have worked most of there life's they should be able to enjoy what time they have left and there's loads of working families out there who only get what there aloud to get in benefits meaning working tax credits and child benefits I think having children is a choice I didn't want a big family myself and happy with my 2 kids but If people what more so be it
Leannexxx Of course if people want more so be it but then they shouldn't put the financial burden of that on other people especially when its hugely damaging to the environment. Humans already occupy far too much space on this planet with little space for the wild world.
I think the point about retirement is, pensions were set when people didn't live as long and so its a greater financial burden if people live longer. This is easily adjusted by increasing the retirement age but obviously people want as long a retirement as possible which is why I think the compromise is reduced hours as you get older rather than an abrupt change from working to retired. I also think that is better for people's health and state of mind.
It's about making the right choice based on the circumstances. A huge part of the national debt is pension liabilities in the public sector.
I think it should be cheaper. I breastfed both my kids - I wouldn’t say i was lucky as its really hard work to begin with but I refused to give up. From my experience a lot of women didn’t even try but then complained about the cost of formula. I had to go back to work quite early so used to express - yes whilst I was at work. I’m glad i persevered.
suevernon1968 and so you should be really proud of yourself. It's a challenge to begin with but so worth it. My son doesn't have eczema because I breastfeed him for a year the doctors told me.
comriegold wow really? I didn't breastfeed and both of my kids didn't have eczema
comriegold no baby has read the book to help them to latch on. I do remember explaining to the nurse who was helping me breastfeed that I was actually attached to the other end of the nipple she was tugging on lol. I didn’t find it easy at all to begin with- but with patience and perseverance and learning to increase your pain threshold incredibly high it was worth every single second
Leannexxx if eczema runs in the family breastfeeding can lower the chances substantially of your baby suffering from eczema (I’m glad you spelt that first)
suevernon1968 well I have eczema I got it from my dad but was lucky that my kids don't have it
Leannexxx your kids are lucky. Having said that no-one in my family had eczema but I had it quite badly through my teens. It was blamed on puberty- but when I was growing up- if you were in the right age frame everything was blamed on puberty. I had my first epileptic seizure at aged 15 and the older generations said that was caused as i had been to Top of the Pops a week or so before lol
Leannexxx that reasoning from my grandparents just couldn’t be forgotten could it !
suevernon1968 only my nursing background helps with spelling eczema. It was such an achievement for me but I absolutely loved it eventually. So convenient and free
Leannexxx please don't be sarcastic. Most women that didn't feed give me the same attitude as you are. I really had to struggle to feed him myself. Bottle feeding would have been the easy choice for me but not the best choice for my son. I chose his welfare over my comfort
comriegold it was definitely worth it. I do remember once - I used to express milk too - my sister warmed a bottle and she would test the temperature by squeezing the bottle and squirting some into her mouth - without touching the teet on the bottle. She had such a go at me- accused me of putting double cream in the milk or adding sugar etc etc - by the time I had managed to stop laughing I just explained ‘ No - you have just tasted Sue juice’. 
comriegold excuse me? I wasn't being sarcastic at all it was a genius your doctor told you that and believe me if I could have breastfeed I would have but I was unlucky and had very bad postnatal
comriegold I'm glad you could but I couldn't I didn't want anything to do with her 12 years later I still feel guilty that I even felt that way postnatal affects people in different ways
Leannexxx dont ever feel guilty. None of us know the entire story of why you feel that way. Human emotions are the most powerful, baffling, dangerous, odd and terrifying thing we all have to deal with x
suevernon1968 I can't help it think it's because I wanted her so much I just didn't expect that to happen after giving birth my doctor says my labour didn't help it was bad that's why I didn't have another child for 10 years out of fear it will all happen again and it did lucky wasn't as bad as first time round
Leannexxx you gave her life - that is the most precious gift any mother can give to a child x always remember that x
Leannexxx I don't have the best relationship with my son either because of postnatal depression. I'm really sorry you're still going thru that. PND is NOT your fault. You didn't do anything to make it happen. It's a hormonal inbalance. There is such scant support for women and babies who experience what we have. Not too late to get help. Talk to your child too. My son is aware of what happened with us
Leannexxx sounds like you maybe need trauma treatment. A near death experience giving birth would most certainly make you feel that.
Leannexxx I regret writing this. I was wrong. You were not being sarcastic. Please accept my sincere apologies 
comriegold thank you I have a good relationship with both my kids now thank god after to bad labours I decided to get a hysterectomy didn't think I would be having that done at 35 but since then in myself I feel alot better
comriegold agree with you on that one and yet some mothers have it all easy like my sister 
Don't want to pay for baby formula? DON'T HAVE KIDS.
I don't expect the government to pay for my drinking and smoking, so why should I pay through my ridiculous taxes to pay for people who have had a kid (typically single mothers).
If you can't afford children, keep your legs shut and your c*ck in your pants.
No. But I do think for low income families, there should be some sort of voucher to reduce the price. Not everyone who has a baby, planned on having a baby.
HappyComperZoe Surely not every mother needs baby formula. Breastfeeding is so beneficial to the health of the baby and mother. That should be encouraged where possible.
www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/feeding/early-days/benefits-breastfeeding
BonzoBanana no we shouldn't fact is woman don't breast feed for a number of reasons and it shouldn't be forced on any new mother I wanted to breastfeed but I couldn't because of the postnatal it's not just as simple as you want it to be
Leannexxx No one is forcing breastfeeding on mothers. The issue is some mothers expect baby formula to be free or heavily subsidised for them meaning others have to pay for it for them. I've also seen mothers state they have the right to steal baby formula if they can't afford it and wouldn't expect to be prosecuted and thrown in Jail because they should have the right to do that. So basically the message is give it to us free or nearly free or we will steal it anyway.
The UK is in a very poor financial state with £150k of debt and liabilities for every single person or you could say about 1/3rd of a million of debt and liabilities for every household. We need to understand we have a huge financial emergency that the politicians are pretending doesn't exist. We are basically getting a lot poorer and people need to understand that. Services are reducing or disappearing as the government is facing crippling interest payments. It's a horrible situation but expecting the government to keep paying out for services when they are basically bankrupt is not realistic.
www.taxpayersalliance.com/picture_real_national_debt_hits_143_000_per_person
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