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Attitudes to feeding: report of survey findings

  • Document type:
    Survey report
  • Author:
    NOP World for Department of Health
  • Published date:
    1 September 2005
  • Primary audience:
    Professionals
  • Publication format:
    Electronic only
  • Gateway reference:
    2005
  • Pages:
    10
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown copyright

Report of a survey commissioned by the Department of Health to explore the understanding and perceptions of infant formula and follow-on formula advertising in the UK amongst pregnant women and mothers of children under one year.

Conclusions

  • A high percentage (79%) of the mothers sampled have used formula to feed their babies whilst more than half (58%) of the pregnant women said it was their intention to use formula at some point within the child's first year
  • There may be a discrepancy between how women plan when pregnant to feed their baby and what they do in reality in terms of feeding when their child is born
  • Awareness of both Infant formula and Follow On formula is high. About 60% of those aware of both these types of formula think there is a difference between them, which means that 4 out of 10 women who are aware of both think there is no difference between them or don't know if there is a difference
  • The general consensus on what age Follow-on formula should be given is at about 6-9 months with only 14% saying that it should not be given till 12 months +
  • Two thirds (67%) of the sample have seen formula advertised - just over one third (39%) of the total sample have seen Infant Formula advertised and about the same number (38%) have seen advertising for Follow-on formula.
  • The majority have seen the advertising on television or in magazines

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