Infant formula is an expensive product, with many new parents finding the cost a shock. It is an essential food stuff – if not fully breastfed, babies need to be given first stage infant formula for the first year of life, after which they can be given cow’s milk. During the recent cost of living crisis inflation on general food prices peaked at 19.1% in March 2023, yet infant formula prices increased by up to 45% between 2021 and April 2023. There is a considerable price difference between the most and least expensive formula brands, although by law all brands sold in the UK are nutritionally adequate. First Steps Nutrition Trust calculated that in February 2026 the cost of feeding a 2-3-month-old baby over a period of 30 days could therefore vary from £30.30 to £93.90. The government’s Competition and Markets Authority investigated the formula marketplace and published a report in February 2025 which concluded that the marketplace is unfair to consumers, and manufacturers make large profits on a product which is essential for many babies’ survival.

Why do parents buy more expensive formula brands?

Parents want the best for their baby, and research indicates that some parents worry that they are not doing the best for their baby if they choose a cheaper formula. The World Health Organization (WHO) Code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes attempts to guide governments into legislating against aggressive marketing by formula companies, but enforcement is relatively weak in the UK. This is a public health concern because marketing of formula has been shown to undermine breastfeeding, and we know that breastfeeding protects against a range of infant illnesses, particularly gastrointestinal infections, and has the longterm effect of reducing risks of childhood obesity, diabetes, asthma and heart disease. Formula companies devote significant budgets to marketing with the aim of persuading to use their particular brand(s) (Rollins, et al., 2023) and parents and healthcare professionals are exposed to this. While the marketing of first stage formula milks for babies up to a year of age is prohibited in under the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations 2007 these regulations are not applied to so-called follow on milks and toddler milks, formula products which are aimed at babies and toddlers over a year of age but which are nutritionally unnecessary. Parents and healthcare professionals inevitably see advertising of these products and they are increasingly being promoted by online influencers. Brand names therefore become familiar to people who purchase formula, which influences purchasing (Conway, et al, 2023) with many formula brands making bold claims as the the nutritional benefits of their particular product (Horwood, et al., 2022), some of which are in direct contravention of the WHO code and national law (Kamata, et al, 2025).

Our research at Swansea University

Between October 2024 and November 2025 I worked as a Research Officer within the Lactation, Infant Feeding and Translational research (LIFT) team in the Department of Public Health at Swansea University. Alongside Professor Amy Brown and a multiagency steering group I was asked to undertake the qualitative arm of a mixed methods study into what parents do when they cannot afford the infant formula they need for their baby, with a particular focus on whether this problem could be addressed by more UK food banks stocking infant formula. Many media pieces (for example The Times, October 2020; Guardian, December 2022; Huffington Post, October 2022) have suggested that this is an obvious solution to formula poverty. At present, food banks are discouraged from accepting donations of infant formula; UNICEF guidance recognises that it is too much to ask of food bank volunteers to store and distribute infant formula safely. There is a real risk that inappropriate formula will be given out, for example follow-on milk being given when a baby needs first stage infant formula, or donated prescription formula being given to babies without medical conditions. I interviewed 20 parents who were struggling to afford infant formula and 21 professionals or volunteers who worked with parents in this position to investigate views on this topic.

We also conducted a wide-ranging survey asking parents about the impact of not being able to afford formula, for example the effect on parents’ emotions, the lengths they had to go to to obtain formula, and whether they felt that they had to employ unsafe feeding practices like watering down formula or giving solids early. I presented interim findings from this survey at the Maternal, Parental and Infant Nutrition and Nurture (MAINN) conference 2025.

Papers arising from this mixed methods research are currently out for peer review and this website will be updated as they are published.