Help us raise £4,000 for High Peak Baby Bank and feed hungry children

No one should ever be in a situation where they are struggling so much they are drugging their babies to sleep with Calpol or piriton so they do not have to use extra formula as the children are sleeping longer.

However, this is the reality facing parents across the High Peak right now, according to High Peak Baby Bank.

Reporter Lucy Ball was speaking to Kirsty Jackson founder of High Peak Baby Bank about another story when this was mentioned in passing.

Lucy said: “As a mum myself I couldn’t imagine the desperation these parents must be feeling when they are making such a choice.

“So the Advertiser team has decided to launch a campaign and raise much needed funds for the charity.”

Kirsty Jackson said: “We are in a cost of living crisis and people are really struggling.

“Bills are going up, the price of shopping has gone up and childcare costs have gone up but wages haven’t gone up and people really don’t have any money.

“In the last year we have seen the people we are helping jump from 50 per month to more than 80 and the demand for formula has skyrocketed.

“A family who works and puts their little one in childcare but receives no additional benefits are being hit with childcare bills amounting to hundreds if not more than a thousand pounds each month and people are making cutbacks and turning to us to help us bridge the gap.

“But with more people using the services we are struggling to keep up with demand.”

Kirsty says just as goods and services on the rise baby formula is a huge expense for families.

She said: “There are two main producers of formula worldwide and they are monopolising the market and pushing prices up.

“It’s now around £17 per tub for formula and if you buy three tubs, that’s close to what some families have for their weekly shopping budget.”

In a bid to champion breastfeeding, supermarkets and shops do not allow customers to earn loyalty points on formula milk and until very recently shops did not allow people to pay for formula with accumulated points.

Some supermarkets have started to introduce payment via loyalty rewards in the last year or so.

Kirsty said: “I understand health professionals want to promote breastfeeding but there are so many reasons why a person can’t or doesn’t want to breastfeed, they may be adoptive parents, have been ill during labour, have postnatal depression or want to share the feeding and bonding experience with a partner or other family members.

“And all of that is okay.

“What is not okay is the current state of the country where people can’t afford formula and are turning to drastic measures.

“People are weaning their children at three months as food is cheaper than formula, there are others who are giving calpol to their babies so they sleep through the night or antihistamines to make their babies drowsy because they can’t afford to feed them as formula is so expensive.

“That is horrifying and Dickensian but it is happening.

“This is 2024 and Buxton is always voted as one the best places to live in the country but there are pockets of poverty right on our doorstep where people are in dire need.”

Some foodbanks will not give out formula as it discourages breastfeeding however the High Peak Baby Bank does.

Kirsty said: “Donations of formula are great but we never know what brand a baby is used to so for us it is better to have cash in the bank to be able to go out and buy the formula when we need it.”Based in Buxton, High Peak Baby Bank works hard to make sure all families have access to baby essentials.

Whether people are in need of clothing, nappies, and formula or bigger items such as cribs, strollers, and travel cots, they do all they can to make sure a family does not have to go without.

The group, which was set up in lockdown, relies on grants and donations to be able to keep supporting those in need.

Last year they were given a donation of £600 from Simon Harris from the Man Behaving Dadly Facebook page which she said was a life saver to so many families.

In March the group were awarded funding from the National Lottery which will allow Kirsty to take a wage for the first time in months.

She said: “We had funding before but it ran out but the people in need don’t stop being in need just because there is no money coming in so I carried on helping people all the while not taking a wage myself and facing financial difficulties myself.”

The average running costs of the charity are around £4,000 and covers insurance bills and other running costs.

Kirsty wants to be able to cover fuel allowances for the team of seven volunteers and have a new website designed.

That money also includes having funds in reserves to be able to go out and buy emergency supplies, like baby formula when a family in need comes in.

Buxton Advertiser editor Phil Bramley said: “We know there are so many brilliant charities and groups across the High Peak and we want to help where we can.

“This year we have decided to support High Peak Baby Bank and feed hungry children and support struggling families.”

Anyone who needs support or would like to donate items should contact the charity via their Facebook page

To make a donation to the campaign visit gofundme.com/manage/stop-babies-and-young-children-going-hungry-high-peak