BMJ Rapid Response: Food insecurity: infants at risk of unsafe feeding
Published Rapid Response to article: Growth in UK children living in households with food insecurity
The abbreviated published version appeared in the 29th June - 6th July issue of BMJ and found here.
The letter in full, below.
Dear Editor,
We welcome Rachel Loopstra shining a light on child food poverty and wish to further highlight the growing evidence of infant food insecurity in the UK. There is currently no routine assessment of the scale and nature of infant food insecurity in the UK, despite the Scottish Government issuing guidance on responding to and preventing this problem earlier this year(1). In contrast, in Canada, steps have been taken to address this data void (2).
Families with infants under 12 months of age are at greater risk of poverty and food insecurity than those with older children (3). Food insecure families struggle with both breast feeding and formula feeding due to limited resources and lack of resilient food systems and have difficulties in accessing formula milk. This results in families being forced into unsafe feeding practices, including formula foraging, and women struggling to maintain milk supply in the face of calorie deficits and stressful environments (4).
Identifying families in need of help is crucial, and is the focus of our upcoming workshop at the Society for Social Medicine and Public Health conference . Our ongoing research highlights that those most in need of help feeding their infants are least likely to step forward due to fear of repercussions from authority figures, echoing findings from other high income countries (5). This leads to a twofold problem; first, how do we identify infants at risk of unsafe feeding practices due to families having limited resources and, second, how do we direct support appropriately?
Like Rachel Loopstra we know the answer will be in top-down measures to increase money in pockets. in line with the call from the Faculty of Public Health (6), we support the abolition of the two-child limit and call for an immediate increase the value of, and widening of eligibility for, the Healthy Start Scheme, so that no infant goes without.
References
1. Scottish Government (2024) Guide to Responding to and Preventing Infant Food Insecurity in Scotland available at Guide to Responding to and Preventing Infant Food Insecurity in Scotland (www.gov.scot)
2. Fed Family Lab. Understanding Feeding in the Early Years - Fed Family Lab (acadiau.ca) available at https://fedfamilylab.acadiau.ca/ufey.html
3. Scottish Government (2022) Tackling child poverty delivery plan: fourth year progress report 2021-2022 - focus report on households with babies under one
4. Francis J, Mildon A, Tarasuk V, Frank L. Household food insecurity is negatively associated with achievement of prenatal intentions to feed only breast milk in the first six months postpartum. Front Nutr. 2024 Jan 31;11:1287347. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1287347. PMID: 38356859; PMCID: PMC10865492.
5. Pineau, C., Williams, P.L., Brady, J., Waddington, M. and Frank, L., 2021. Exploring experiences of food insecurity, stigma, social exclusion, and shame among women in high-income countries: A narrative review. Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 8(3).
6. Faculty of Public Health (2024) Health of the Next Generation – Good Food For Children available at Good food in childhood Ver-7.0_web (fph.org.uk)
