UK Hospital Just Had All Their Baby Formula Banned And People Are Rightly Pissed

babyformulaRemember when Mayor Bloomberg had baby formula restricted in New York hospitals? Well, Burnley General Hospital in the U.K can one up that one as their formula just got straight banned along with all the equipment that goes with it. And people are rightly pissed.

Banning baby formula will reportedly save the hospital up to £24,000 a year, but the main incentive here is — you guessed it — upping those breastfeeding numbers. But those of you who have been there know that breastfeeding isn’t always possible, and with NO formula available, well, that’s exactly not the situation you want to be in.

Furthermore, if you do decide to use baby formula or just plain need it, you will be “told” to bring your own ready-made formula for your entire hospital stay. And yes, I didn’t stutter over “ready-made.” Because all “sterilising equipment and preparation facilities” for baby formula at the hospitals will also be tossed out too. Health advocates are not pleased with this decision:

Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle said: ”In the big scheme of things £24,000 is absolutely nothing. By all means encourage women to breastfeed but it’s ridiculous to dictate to people how they feed their babies. It’s the hospitals’ job to ensure the child is properly fed until they leave the ward. That’s their responsibility.”…

Mum-of-two Kath Gibbons, who runs yoga classes for pregant mums in Pendle and Burnley, said: ”This does surprise me slightly because there might be an issue for mums who aren’t able to breastfeed for whatever reason. In an ideal world every woman would breastfeed but things don’t always work out like that.”

Russ McLean, chairman of the Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group, said: ”I find this unacceptable on a lot of levels, because this is a very personal choice for the mother to make.There may be a number of reasons why a mum can’t or doesn’t want to breastfeed. Newborn babies are still patients and they are entitled to be fed by the hopsitals like any other. And getting rid of the sterilising equipment could also create problems if someone runs out.”

High-risk babies with reportedly be spared this draconian nonsense. So there’s that.

(photo: N-lite NutriHealth)

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