First Steps Nutrition Trust

All 5 of these are affordable with the Healthy Starts allowance of £8.50/per week.

📰 For more information on infant milks for parents and carers see: www.firststepsnutrition.org/parents-carers

🍐SMA Little Steps First Infant Milk, 800g, from Ocado and Tesco, costs £7.95
🍐Cow & Gate First Infant Milk, 700g, from Lidl, costs £7.98

Currently, the 5 lowest cost first infant formula products per unit are:
🍐 Mamia First Infant Milk, 800g, from Aldi costs £6.99
🍐Lupilu First Infant Milk, 800g, from Lidl costs £6.99
🍐Kendamil Bonya First Infant Milk, 800g, from Boots, Morrisons, and Ocado, costs £7.50

By law, all infant formula sold in the UK must meet the same standards, which means they are all suitable to support a baby's growth and development.

This infographic provides a snapshot of the cheapest first infant formulas on the market and where to get the best prices, as of February 2026.

All parents who use formula to feed their babies should be assured that all infant formulas will meet a baby's nutritional needs, regardless of brand or price...

❗ Infant formula prices have been rising again lately.

The Review will work to develop practical, evidence-informed policy solutions that strengthen accountability, support regulatory reform, improve the commercial baby food retail offer, and better protect babies’ and young children's health.

❗ The Review comes at a pivotal moment. With voluntary guidelines now published and an 18-month implementation window underway, pressure is growing on manufacturers and retailers to make meaningful improvements...

Parent insight
🍐 92% of parents with children aged 0-3 use commercial baby and toddler foods
🍐 40% of parents with babies under 6 months use these products daily

Labelling and marketing
🍐 Every product carried nutritional or marketing claims
🍐 Many products labelled for use from 4 months of age, against public health recommendations

Product composition
🍐 Around a quarter of all products would need a front-of-pack warning for high sugar
🍐 41% of main meals were high in sugar
🍐 Cheaper options were often higher in sugar, more watery, and less nutritious, raising further concerns about affordability and inequalities

The problems are not new, but they have long been ignored. Important new research published in the last year has highlighted ongoing, serious concerns with the baby food retail offer. Key findings include…

The initiative will focus on tackling systemic inequalities in infant and young child feeding, including the disproportionate impact that unhealthy, inappropriate products and misleading marketing can have on low-income families.

Funded by Impact on Urban Health, the Review brings together specialists in early years nutrition, food policy, public affairs, advocacy, public health and academia to drive population change with measurable benefits for child health and equality...

We are proud to work alongside Obesity Health Alliance, Bremner & Co, Sustain, Planeatry Alliance and the University of Leeds.

📣 First Steps Nutrition Trust is proud to announce that we have joined the Commercial Baby Food Review, a new cross-sector initiative focused on improving the nutritional composition and marketing of commercial baby and toddler foods in the UK, through stronger enforced regulations.

📰 For practical guidance on feeding babies and young children in line with UK public health recommendations, see our suite of FREE ‘Eating Well’ resources’.

#WorldObesityDay #WOD26

How to responsively feed your child:
🥑 Follow your child's cues
🥬 Focus on connection
🍓 Offer age-appropriate foods
🥕 Any time, any where
🌽 Reduce distractions (going screen-free)

Take the HENRY screen-free pledge to encourage your family to go screen-free around mealtimes. 📴

🍇 Make it a routine. Creating a simple family rule: “screens stay off during meals” consistently helps everyone know what to expect.

Some top tips for promoting screen-free meals include:
🍅 Swapping the screen for conversation. Talk about the food, the taste or texture, or what the child likes or doesn’t. Little chats help build communication skills
🥦 Let older children self-serve to promote independence, confidence and control

Alongside managing weight, responsive feeding can improve communication and connection between parents and children. This supports attachment, emotional regulation, brain development, language, and cognition.

In collaboration with HENRY, we’d like to highlight how #ScreenFreeMeals support responsive feeding of babies and young children and discourage over-eating. This supports healthy weight trajectories as children grow.

Concerningly, early signs of chronic diseases are already appearing in our children today. We need system level changes to tackle the obesogenic environments children are growing up in, but changes in feeding practices can also help.

Childhood overweight and obesity are on the rise. Childhood obesity increases the risk of being overweight in adolescence and adulthood and puts children at higher risk of many diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers...

👏 This years World Obesity Day theme is ‘children’. In collaboration with HENRY we would like to highlight the important role of #ScreenFreeMeals to support healthy eating habits and avoid over-eating.

➡️ To learn more on this, their policy recommendations, or find specific tools and guidance on cancer prevention, see the World Cancer Research Fund.

www.wcrf.org/preventing-c...

Breastfeeding, when possible, is therefore an important part in maternal and child health and is a part of the World Cancer Research Funds Cancer Prevention Recommendations.

Breastfed babies are less likely to become overweight or obese in childhood compared to those who are not breastfed, which then lowers their risk of overweight and obesity in adulthood, therefore decreasing their risk of developing a preventable cancer when they grow up.

Breastfeeding can help protect against excess weight gain, overweight, and obesity in the breastfed child. In addition, breastfeeding can help mum reduce weight post-partum. This is important as excess body fat is shown to increase the risk of 13 different types of cancer.

Protecting against breast cancer through breastfeeding contributes to cancer prevention at a population level. Cancer prevention requires a holistic focus on health including physical activity, healthy diets, and maintaining a healthy weight.