Massachusetts is taking the idea of the nanny state a step too far.

According to a report in Wednesday’s Boston Herald, the state will no longer allow hospitals to send new mothers home with free infant formula. Regulators, instead, want to promote breast-feeding.

There’s nothing wrong with the state helping to educate new mothers about the pros and cons of breast-feeding. For many families, it’s a better and healthier option than using formula. But for others, it’s not.

Formula is expensive. A week’s supply can cost $23 or more, depending on the brand and the way it’s packaged. The gift bags from formula companies are a good head start, especially if the baby arrives little early and there’s no formula in the house when mom’s ready to go home or as backup in case breast-feeding doesn’t work.

The debate between breast- and bottle-feeding can become heated. There are true believers who are convinced that breast-feeding is always the best option. They sometimes preach with the conviction of the converted.

According to the Herald, breast-feeding advocates say the free formula is a marketing trick meant to imply that hospitals endorse a particular product. Maybe that’s true, but helping new parents make sure their babies are receiving appropriate nutrition is not a bad outcome for a marketing trick.

There are a number of benefits to breast-feeding. But the enormous pressure some mothers feel to breast-feed can make the process of taking care of a new baby even more difficult. What’s best for a baby is having a mother who isn’t freaked out with thoughts that she’s bad because breast-feeding isn’t working. The most important thing is for babies to eat and gain weight.

On this, the nanny state needs to butt out. To breast-feed or not, that’s a question best answered by mothers and fathers.