# Baby formula should be available only by perscription **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 6, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626 "2002-05-06T22:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/21 "2002-05-07T00:57:27Z")
Okay, first of all, you ( **autz** ) cannot even spell “_pre_scription” so how can you insist on it? Second, breastfeeding is not exactly “free.” While the liquid will come out of the boobs in a lot of cases, what the person who owns those boobs eats has something to do with how nutritious and good for the kid it is. So then you’d have to police the _diets_ of all women. Not all women take prenatal vitamins and many are undernourished themselves. When you have a mother who abuses drugs and forgets to eat for days at a time, her milk is not exactly the best thing for the baby. And this isn’t the type of woman who is likely to schedule an appointment with anyone–physician, lactation consultant, autz, anyone–and keep it–to get a prescription for formula. What then? Dead (or best scenario) malnourished baby. Good plan, autz! ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/22 "2002-05-07T01:05:33Z")
Okay, first of all, you ( **autz** ) cannot even spell “_pre_scription” so how can you insist on it? Second, breastfeeding is not exactly “free.” While the liquid will come out of the boobs in a lot of cases, what the person who owns those boobs eats has something to do with how nutritious and good for the kid it is. So then you’d have to police the _diets_ of all women. Not all women take prenatal vitamins and many are undernourished themselves. When you have a mother who abuses drugs and forgets to eat for days at a time, her milk is not exactly the best thing for the baby. And this isn’t the type of woman who is likely to schedule an appointment with anyone–physician, lactation consultant, autz, anyone–and keep it–to get a prescription for formula. What then? Dead (or best scenario) malnourished baby. Good plan, autz! ---
**Author:** ![Edlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8797f3/32.png) [@Edlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edlyn)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/23 "2002-05-07T01:09:55Z")
**autz** > [@](#): > > But women who either don’t know better, or haven’t tried hard would be forced to make a real attempt to breastfeed their babies. Lactation consultants would have to be widely available and free of charge. If the lactation consultant declared that the woman couldn’t breastfeed for some reason, then a formula perscription would be granted. Excuse me, but I’d like to nominate you for the **Nosey Neighbor Award** which should be given for those who go above and beyond the call of duty for “feel good legislation”. > [@](#): > > I already said lactation consultants would be free and widely available and could give out the perscriptions. Free? Really? Do you have the volunteers with the proper authority to issue perscriptions? And, Oh! What an opportunity to create another black market and we could get the DEA and ATF agents to enforce it too. We could even have a war on Mothers (I mean baby formula)! :rolleyes: If you really want to debate this **autz** , please provide the constitutional authority for this enforcement you suggest. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/24 "2002-05-07T01:12:29Z")
I guess what it comes down to for me, to be completely honest, is that I just don’t want to kill an afternoon at the doctor’s office and the pharmacy just so I can feed my kid. Things might be different if it weren’t for school and work and stuff, but the way things are now, I just don’t have time. Of course, in an ideal world, I’d just breast feed–studies have shown that breast milk is usually the best choice and I want nothing less than the very best for my beautiful daughter. However, as a dad, I’ve got this lactation problem . . . ---
**Author:** ![Edlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8797f3/32.png) [@Edlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edlyn)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/25 "2002-05-07T01:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by evilbeth \* > \*\*Okay, first of all, you ( **autz** ) cannot even spell “_pre_scription” so how can you insist on it? I didn’t insist on it, so I can misspell it, right? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/26 "2002-05-07T01:21:57Z")
Evilbeth, a mother’s diet has very little to do with the quality of her milk. “Unless extremely malnourished, virtually all mothers can produce adequate amounts of breastmilk. When the breastfeeding mother is undernourished, it is safer, easier, and less expensive to give her more food than to expose the infant to the risks associated with breastmilk substitutes.” [http://www.linkagesproject.org/download/matnutfaq.pdf](http://www.linkagesproject.org/download/matnutfaq.pdf) When I posted this topic, I was looking for a real debate, and I’ve been really disappointed. How about someone try to say which things are available by prescription, and why formula doesn’t fit into that category. Other substances that are substitutes for naturally occuring body functions (such as insulin) are only by prescription, why is formula different. So far we’ve mostly gotten replies like “My step-sister had a hard time breastfeeding, so formula should be easy to get.” Such anecdotal arguments are hardly worthy of SDers! ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/27 "2002-05-07T01:31:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by autz \* > \*\*So far we’ve mostly gotten replies like “My step-sister had a hard time breastfeeding, so formula should be easy to get.” Such anecdotal arguments are hardly worthy of SDers! \*\* Advocating that someone (government?) mandate which way a person should nourish their child is a debate not worthy of SDers. (I agree with mandating that people must nourish their children but I don’t agree that the choice between two options (whose outcomes are not that different) should be made by someone who isn’t the caregiver of the child. Now, if the choice were between feeding your child beer or breastmilk, that’s different.) Also, I don’t think that insulin is regulated simply because it is something that bodies produce naturally. What are the dangers to someone for ingesting too much formula? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/28 "2002-05-07T01:34:47Z")
While it’s important to discuss the negative aspects of baby formula, especially when it comes to developing countries where unsafe water and natural immunization are involved, I can’t exactly see how prescription-only formula could be enforced. Should a doctor not prescribe it, what would happen? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/29 "2002-05-07T01:39:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by autz \* > **Other substances that are substitutes for naturally occuring body functions (such as insulin) are only by prescription, why is formula different.** Formula is different because ingesting too much formula will not put you into a coma and possibly kill you. How’s that for an example? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/30 "2002-05-07T01:51:15Z")
You could your desired effect by making formula _real_ expensive _unless_ they have a doctor’s prescription. -NOTE!- I’m not advocating that! My ex- couldn’t breast feed very well, and my son had some digestive problems, so we kept moving up the scale of formula until we reached the “liquid gold, last chance, it’s-this-or-Pepsi” stage. Man, that stuff was expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Nonny\_Mouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5e9695/32.png) [@Nonny\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonny_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/31 "2002-05-07T02:01:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*While it’s important to discuss the negative aspects of baby formula, especially when it comes to developing countries where unsafe water and natural immunization are involved, I can’t exactly see how prescription-only formula could be enforced. Should a doctor not prescribe it, what would happen? \*\* I’ll tell you exactly what would happen. Parents would simply resort to [homemade formula](http://www.recipegoldmine.com/baby/baby35.html) - the _third_ best option. Nonny ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/32 "2002-05-07T02:25:53Z")
Um, what about adopted children? So, would there be an exception? There was an ER episode about a mother who was breastfeeding her baby daughter who died. It turns out the mother was taking stimulents to stay awake, which transferred to baby, which killed her. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/33 "2002-05-07T02:26:32Z")
Nonny Mouse wrote: > [@](#): > > Parents would simply resort to [homemade formula](http://www.recipegoldmine.com/baby/baby35.html) - the _third_ best option. No, they wouldn’t. If baby formula were available only by prescription, then that means making homemade baby formula would be _manufacturing prescription drugs without a license!_ Any parents who attempted it would get thrown in jail, alongside the guys who make crack-cocaine in their basement. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/34 "2002-05-07T02:32:08Z")
Making formula available by prescription only does not make much sense. This is true even though I try to persuade my pregnant patients to breast feed. First, I agree breast feeding decreases the frequency of colds and other childhood illnesses. Most of these illnesses do not cause the baby long term harm, though, with the exception of lower rates of asthma in breast fed babies. I am not convinced babies fed by formula have lower IQ, and would ask you to substantiate this claim. Many drugs can be transmitted through breast milk. As a physician, I see my role is to provide patients with advice about the good and bad things about a topic and let them decide. There are good reasons for busy women to decide breastfeeding is not a priority for them. It is not my job to make them feel guilty if they do have a busy schedule or other responsibilities. This is also not your responsiblity, nor the governments. Formula does provide adequate nutrition for babies and the benefits, while important and real, are less impressive than you imply. Of course, in countries where the water supply is questionable, breast feeding is far safer than preparing formaula using unclean water. This is why HIV positive mothers are advised to formula feed in the U.S. and to breast feed in Ghana despite the risk of HIV transmission via breast milk. Making formula prescription would simply deprive babies of nutrition and the minuses to this far outweigh the benefits of breast milk. This policy would enrich doctors while providing marginal public benefit and causing much harm. I do not understand your comparison to heart medications and narcotics which do cause much harm when not taken properly and require closer monitoring than formula. The biggest problem with formula is when it is mixed improperly; overly dilute formula is a relatively common cause of failure to thrive. But it is still by far the exception. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/35 "2002-05-07T04:16:46Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Autz:_ > \*\*After all, the purpose of having something availble only by perscription is that in people for whom it is not medically necessary, it could do more harm than good. > > This is true for many narcotics, heart medication, and baby formula.\*\* Allow me to add my request to EJsGirl’s for a “Cite, please”. Got any kind of proof for this remarkable statement? The rationale for making certain substances available “by prescription only” is because those substances, when ingested in overly large quantities, or used inappropriately, can be harmful, even lethal. Before we can even _begin_ to have an [air quotes] “serious discussion”, **Autz** , you need to give us some cites that show that formula is as potentially dangerous as insulin, heart medicine, opium derivatives, and oral antibiotics, and that it ought to be regulated similarly. Betcha can’t. 😉 > [@](#): > > \*\*Lactation consultants would have to be widely available and free of charge. \*\* Er, who’s going to pay for this? The taxpayers? Why should I? > [@](#): > > **If the lactation consultant declared that the woman couldn’t breastfeed for some reason…** So, we’ll have yet another Federal or State Agency, to oversee Lactation Consultants? Oh, yes, that’s what we need, is another Federal or State Agency, like the folks who lost that little girl in Florida. And who’s going to regulate these LCs, or “Elsies”? The USDA? The FDA? So that’s yet another layer of bureaucracy. And imagine, yet more opportunities for graft and corruption and bribery, more opportunities for Organized Crime to get in on the illegal baby formula trade… [_stands up and applauds the following people for their good answers_] **Corvidae Sua Wring Tris Rushgeekgirl The Mighty M Evilbeth Edlyn** > [@](#): > > If you really want to debate this autz, please provide the constitutional authority for this enforcement you suggest. [big smooch for Edlyn] **Racinchikki Guin Tracer** And of course the good **Dr. P** > [@](#): > > I do not understand your comparison to heart medications and narcotics which do cause much harm when not taken properly and require closer monitoring than formula. I think the OP is a pretty strained attempt to equate “bottle feeding” with “child abuse”, and I think **Autz** is learning a valuable lesson about “when to abandon an untenable GD position”. 😃 Happens to all of us, dear, and we all survived. Nobody will think the worse of you if you wanna throw in the towel. Seriously, I’m not being sarcastic here. The accepted drill is to post your version of “well, hell, never mind then”, however you want to phrase it. 😃 And we promise not to tease you about it later… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/36 "2002-05-07T07:07:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*Nonny Mouse wrote: > No, they wouldn’t. If baby formula were available only by prescription, then that means making homemade baby formula would be _manufacturing prescription drugs without a license!_ Any parents who attempted it would get thrown in jail, alongside the guys who make crack-cocaine in their basement. \*\* There is nothing special about formula that makes it anything other than a food. Let’s look at the history. Babies used to be fed pap- bread mashed in milk or water. More recently babies were fed on diluted cows milk with added sugar (cows milk is too fatty and does not have enough sugar). Are we going to outlaw feeding bread, milk and sugar to babies. As to it magically becoming a medicine, what will you do to a mother who feeds milk and water and sugar solution separately. This is an attempt to criminalize a natural behaviour and is just health facism. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/37 "2002-05-07T08:11:57Z")
Actually, I’d be very interested to hear some facts about breastfeeding and IQ, statistics and evidence of causal link please. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/38 "2002-05-07T08:24:35Z")
To give the OP some credit, it is my understanding that this is not a new idea and that in some countries, formula is indeed available by prescription only. I wish I had my damned books here in the office so I could cite this. I think there are a couple of assumptions that people would have to agree on for this to fly. One is the idea of infant nutrition and the promotion of breastfeeding as a public health issue, rather than a personal choice issue. As long as people thinking of this as their choice, no way will it go over for one to have to get a scrip for formula. The other assumption we’d have to agree on was that needing something by prescription does NOT mean doctors would give patients a hard time or refuse. Maybe people can’t agree on those two things, and that’s fine. To discuss this a little more (and can’t we?)…Presumably, making it available by prescription would go a long way to drive home the point that it is a second-best substitute for breastmilk. Available for anyone who needs it, such as those who can’t nurse due to medications, adoptive moms, moms of multiples, babies with nipple confusion, etc. but a last resort, not the default for people who don’t want to be bothered (and they are out there) or those who give up without trying to solve breastfeeding problems. It doesn’t have to be a pejorative thing, just like I didn’t have to feel guilty getting (to use the OPs example) getting heart medicine. I think it would be grand if breasfeeding were promoted even more than in currently is. A lot of the barriers to breastfeeding have nothing to do with the willoingness of moms. A drastic policy like this (or something better) would force others to get on board. I believe we’d have a higher success rate as people were better informed and new moms had more people to turn to. I believe we’d also know more about the safety of certain medications while breastfeeding so moms wouldn’t have to be so paranoid. Moms would also get fewer comments from slack-jawed yokels who think titties are too dirty to be used in public. It would also raise the shockingly low rate of breastfeeding among young mothers and poor mothers. AND it would force employers to take breastfeeding seriously, so they would have to cooperate with the need to provide a time and place for pumping. Make no mistake, the U.S. government already buys a LOT of formula for distribution via WIC. I don’t think the insurance paying for it (as a prescription item) is a huge issue because I have no doubt that if they chose to, they’d exclude it just like they exclude oral contraception for so many women. Bastards. I like the basic premise behind the idea, but I agree with those who argue that some moms will try to get around it by making their own substitutes, which are vastly inferior to formula. From that standpoint it’s risky. Too risky, at this point in society, to try it. Plus given current attitudes, too many people would resent it as an invasion of privacy. This attitude could, perhaps, eventually be changed. We’ve allowed government intervention on other medical choices, like the regulation of childbirth in some states, and immunizations for school. But as a basic idea, as part of a national public health policy, given its power to change attitudes and barriers to widespread breastfeeding (and they are out there and have LITTLE to do with moms’ attitudes), it’s a provocative idea. Worth actual discussion, not just jumping on the OP. And FTR, I never fully breastfed. I did both, so I speak as a consumer of formula and as someone who knows what it is like to try to nurse while working, traveling, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/39 "2002-05-07T08:30:03Z")
Mangetout, I’ll try to find some cites. They’re valid as far as I’ve been able to ascertain. However, this gets to be emotionally-charged as people take the research to mean if you don’t breastfeed your child you’re an awful mom who is dooming your precious lamb to be a drooling moron (ouch)… then anecdotal evidence of people who had formula who aren’t complete imbeciles (such as myself) are presented as “proof” the research must be bogus. I think the difference between BF and FF babies is quite subtle. I can get this info, but I’m not a BF nazi and don’t want to be branded as such. I hope this can get back to being a debate, not a snipefest. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626/40 "2002-05-07T10:56:57Z")
I won’t try to present my pair of way-above-average FF children as anecdotal evidence then (whoops, I did 😉 ). I wonder though, if we could ever trust any statistical data on correlation between BF/FF and IQ; for example it could be argued that mothers who insist on BF are generally more nutrition-aware and that the post-weaning diet that they impose on their children (not to mention the mental stimulation of all those passionate debates about the merits of eating your broccoli before you get your dessert) might be the real force at work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-formula-should-be-available-only-by-perscription/107626.md?page=3)