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Charities have warned that a sharp rise in the price of infant formula could force vulnerable parents to resort to unsafe practices to feed their babies.
According to analysis by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the price of the cheapest brand of baby formula has jumped by 22%.
BPAS said the cost of infant formula needed to safely feed a baby in their first six months of life is no longer covered by Healthy Start vouchers, which cost £8.50 a week and are given to women in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Are pregnant or have small children.
The charity Feed said families who could not afford enough infant formula resorted to watering down the product or feeding their babies unsuitable foods such as porridge.
NHS guidance recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for their first year of life. However, statistics suggest that most babies are partially or fully formula fed by the time they are six to eight weeks old.
Clare Murphy, chief executive of BPAS, said: “We know that families experiencing food poverty resort to unsafe feeding practices, such as extending the time between feeds and watering down formula. The government can’t keep up with children at risk of malnutrition and serious illness due to life-threatening and rising prices of infant formula.
“The Government must increase the value of Healthy Start vouchers to protect the health of the youngest and most vulnerable members of our society.”
Michelle Hurd, co-founder of north-east Scotland-based baby bank AberNecessities, said: “We’ve seen a huge increase in referrals for parents struggling to feed their young babies due to the rising cost of formula milk. We need to ensure that infant formula is available to families who need it, whether through food banks and baby banks. In addition, the government should check rising costs, especially for important products like infant formula.
“Our fear is that without access to this basic necessity, we will see children in hospital malnourished.”
The charities are calling on the Government to increase the value of the Healthy Start Allowance for babies from £8.50 to £10 a week to “more realistically support families with formula-dependent babies”.
Most of the largest food bank networks have policies that prevent their branches from redistributing formula donations.
Guidelines issued by UNICEF in November 2020, and supported by the UK government, have left food banks reluctant to provide formula. UNICEF warns that while on the surface using food banks may seem like a practical solution, handing over formula “can be a risky practice that can inadvertently cause harm”.
The children’s charity says food bank staff and volunteers cannot help families “feed their babies as safely as possible” in the same way that trained professionals such as health visitors and midwives can.
The NHS says that a baby under the age of one should not be given cow’s milk.
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