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.
