Pharmacy teams can offer parents reliable advice and peace of mind with information about infant feeding, building trust with families and potentially gaining customers for life

Pharmacy is a fantastic source of information for parents – truly offering healthcare on the high street. Its combination of accessibility, availability and advice puts it in a unique position to help parents of young children who will pop into their local pharmacy for everything from nappies and wipes to advice on vaccinations and everything in between. 

It is therefore important that the whole pharmacy team is well-versed in the baby category, how to advise customers and when to refer them to the pharmacist or another healthcare professional.  

If customers seek advice about using infant formula milk for the first time or they want to change from one milk to another, they should always speak to a healthcare professional, such as a pharmacist, pharmacy technician, midwife, health visitor or doctor, in the first instance.

Follow-on and growing up milks are not breast milk substitutes and can be advertised and promoted to customers

Breastfeeding is best for babies and it is therefore important to remember that there are restrictions on promoting and advertising infant formula milks. Put simply, they cannot be promoted in any way. That includes running special promotions or displays and offering loyalty points for sales of infant formula milks, as this can all be seen as inducing sales to the public. Follow-on and growing up milks are not breast milk substitutes and can be advertised and promoted to customers.