Sue's memories of UK infant feeding practice in the 1950s are very typical.

National Dried Milk - basically state-commissioned infant food - was 
introduced in the 1940s and continued until the early 1970s when 
commercial infant formulas took over. National Dried Milk (funnily 
enough, I don't recall anyone calling it 'NDM') was not marketed or 
advertised (it did not need to be - doctors, midwives health visitors 
and clinics were pushing it) and in any case I think it was free to 
most (all?) mothers - I'd need to check that.

The withdrawal of National Dried Milk allowed a free market situation 
between the formula manufacturers who took to advertising, 
sponsorship and marketing with gusto, until some restrictions started 
to appear after a few years. Formula was promoted as 'modified' and 
much better than the old National Dried but as formula feeding had 
been normalised by then, the groundwork had all been done for them.

The commercial links between the dairy industry and the big state 
services of health and education continued with 'school milk' - a 
third of a pint of full fat for every schoolchild* delivered to the 
school and distrbuted by the teachers helped by kid 'milk monitors', 
up to the age of 16 (I think). That prevailed until  Margaret 
Thatcher became education minister in the early 70s and stopped it 
for older kids (she was called 'Thatcher the Milk Snatcher'), and 
then primary school kids. It continued to be available for under-5s 
and still is.

* there were no fridges and the milk was unpleasant in the high days 
of summer - delivered at 8, consumed at 11...yuk! If you were a 
non-milk-drinker, your mum had to write to the school and give you 
permission not to have it.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
-- 
http://www.heatherwelford.co.uk

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