Parents are watering down infant formula and feeding their babies porridge instead because they can’t afford it, charities have warned.
Prices have surged over the past year, with even the cheapest formula brand now 22% more expensive, analysis shows.
Currently, Healthy Start vouchers provide pregnant women and new mothers with £8.50 a week to buy nutritious food.
But rising costs means it no longer covers the amount of formula needed to safely feed a baby in the first six months of their life, BPAS said.
NHS guidance recommends babies are exclusively breastfed for their first year, but figures suggest the majority of babies are partially or fully formula fed by the time they are six to eight weeks old.
The charity Feed said the growing unaffordability is putting babies at risk of malnutrition and serious illness.
Meanwhile, foodbanks are getting more and more referrals for formula milk, but they currently …