Grub Stake.

jambutty · 10-09-2007, 15:18

Gordon Brown has proposed that next year all pregnant women will get a one off £200 grant after the 29th week of pregnancy to buy and eat healthy food. Good idea Gordon except that you have got it all wrong.

The detractors of this scheme have crawled out of the woodwork with their objections with quotes like “the money is unlikely to be spent on healthy food but fags and booze.” They could well be right in some cases.

I am comfortable with the grant but what I am not comfortable with is when it is given. At 29 weeks it is far too late to start thinking about healthy eating. If unhealthy eating causes any damage to the unborn and it probably does to some degree, the damage will have been done by 29 weeks and few carrots and apples isn’t going to make any significant difference.

What our esteemed leader should have done is given the grant as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed so that the mother to be can embrace a healthy eating regime right away. Of course the mother could still use the cash on other things but that is her choice in the same way that the various child benefits are used.

There is one other point why giving the grant at 29 weeks is just about as ludicrous as you can get. Premature births. Just exactly how will healthy eating by the mother affect a premature baby?

Gordon Brown you are an idiot. Think with your brain and stop trying to buy votes. The public is not as gullible as you may think.

flashy · 10-09-2007, 15:26

i agree, it is a good idea but yes it should be given earlier in the pregnancy

West Ender · 10-09-2007, 15:46

No, it's a very silly idea and just a vote catcher. Any pregnant woman who believes in healthy eating will already be doing it without a £200 grant. You can buy vegetables to last a week for the price of a couple of Big Macs with fries and meat and fish don't have to be the most expensive to be nourishing. If they're not eating healthily from the start, the handout won't change anything no matter how many weeks pregnant they may be.

BERNADETTE · 10-09-2007, 15:55

I agree with the grant in principle but maybe it should come with some education on healthy eating. If it is going to be given as you say it should be when the pregnancy is confirmed. You will always get people who don't look after theirselves properely during pregnancy and if they are given a nudge in the right direction it can't be a bad thing.

lettie · 10-09-2007, 16:24

This grant should be linked to Antenatal care. Many of the women who would spend this grant on drugs or alcohol also do not attend their appointments. There should be a system where the grant is given in stages at the attendence of clinic appointments, like the French child benefit system. That way, the woman at least gets some midwifery input/advice and the baby has regular check-ups for growth, anomalies, liquor volume and the plethora of other things which can affect the baby of an unhealthy mother.

flashy · 10-09-2007, 16:34

i'm sure someone told me a few months ago that pregnant women on the social get vouchers already to buy fruit and veg, anyone else heard this?

lettie · 10-09-2007, 16:37

Yes they do, it's a relatively new scheme called Healthy Start.

BERNADETTE · 10-09-2007, 16:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by lettie

Yes they do, it's a relatively new scheme called Healthy Start.

Are they worded so that they can't be used for anything else?

flashy · 10-09-2007, 16:39

i'm not being funny, and yes i'm on the social, i get now and always have got enough money to buy fresh fruit and veg, why oh why do they think this will be of any benefit? the social gives you enough money to have a healthy lifestyle already... i can see these pregnant women selling these tokens to buy fags and other rubbish

BERNADETTE · 10-09-2007, 16:47

You will always get some people who will sell this sort of thing on but I think the majority will use them for the purpose they are intended for and therefore mum is healthier so baby will be.

West Ender · 10-09-2007, 17:04

Do you really believe that the woman who has been stuffing her face with pies, chips, pizzas, burgers, etc. all her life will suddenly decide to eat her greens because she's got a grant from the government? Honestly, if you cost it all out, it's no more expensive to eat healthy food than instant rubbish, it just takes a bit longer to prepare.

I'd rather see proper cookery lessons brought back into schools. It just might benefit future mothers.

beechy · 10-09-2007, 17:18

id rather see two hundred pounds go
to the elder citizens those who more deserve and
who would appreciate

lettie · 10-09-2007, 17:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Are they worded so that they can't be used for anything else?

Yes, they are but........ there will always be a way around things for those who want to abuse a system. I do think that some people get more than enough already and that these schemes are hardly likely to change people's long term eating habits or those of their children. This money could be put to far better use..... I wonder how many pies/fags/bottles of cider/rocks of crack £200 could buy?

BERNADETTE · 10-09-2007, 18:05

I agree there are always people who will abuse any system but if it was done like you said earlier in the thread maybe some of the people who don't attend ante-natal would start attending. I can't understand anybody who doesn't take advantage of the great health system we have got, they should make sure they take precautions to avoid getting pregnant if they don't want to look after the baby whilst it is in the womb.

Lilly · 10-09-2007, 20:45

I also think that if the grant is to be given then it should be given earlier on in pregnancy but not too early i.e not at confirmation of pregnancy stage. Not a nice thing to think about, I know, but many pregnancies do end in early miscarriage (before 12 weeks) so the grant would be given and then not be able to be used for the purpose which it was intended for. I know that miscarriage is always a possibility but after 12 weeks there is a significant drop in the likelihood of this and yet it's still early enough to make a difference through healthy eating so maybe they could give people the grant at around the 12 week mark.
Could they not also make them only redeemable against healthy food like fruit, veg, etc and prevent people from getting beer and fags with them?