Not every time, and of course midwives and health visitors can write prescriptions, but yeah, I think making formula available through the medical model would greatly reduce the ability of formula manufacturers to undermine breastfeeding, which is currently the choice primarily available to women who have the education and confidence to fight the NHS and the voluntary-run organisations which support breastfeeding mothers - currently that support isn't available to women without that privilege unless they are mindbogglingly lucky, and even fewer women can pay for expert advice privately.

I think very very few women would end up fighting for the right to use formula compared to the number of women currently fighting (or not being allowed to fight) to breastfeed - two thirds of women *are* willing and able to try breastfeeding, and there have been lots of surveys to show that most women stop because of external factors and not just because they want to.

What I can't work out is a way to get everyone able to actually make a choice without anyone having to fight the system for it. Or enough donor milk in scbus. But in another 20 years or so, I think we might be ready (because of adequate breastfeeding support) to change the way postnatal medical people handle formula.