Andrea’s Weblog

Elena is 15.5 pounds!

Well, that’s not the shocking part about our trip to the doctor. That came as I was checking out. I noticed a “Breastfeeding Support Kit” and eyed it skeptically when I noticed the Enfamil logo on the little cooler bag. This bag, a free handout to patients, contained Enfamil’s DHA/RHA supplement for nursing moms and a container of formula. Yes, formula.

I asked the receptionist how a bag containing formula is supportive to breastfeeding and told her it should be called a breastfeeding sabotage kit. Not wanting to cause a scene, I told her I thought it was inappropriate and asked to whom I should I write a letter.

The formula industry spent $10 billion dollars in 2002 on these freebies targeted at new moms. You might be surprised that they target breastfeeding moms with zeal, but they get the most profit from breastfeeding moms. These moms are more likely to spend big bucks on the best formula when/if they decide to supplement or switch to formula.

I guess I feel disheartened when I’m trying to do what is best for my baby and family and believe my doctor should be committed to helping me do this. It’s not even what I think is best, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises exclusive breastfeeding for a minimum of 6 months and continued breastfeeding for 12 months or longer. Targeting breastfeeding moms with formula is not healthful and not supportive of breastfeeding moms and works against the AAP’s guidelines. In the UK, formula companies have been banned from advertising and giving out samples–and that happened at least 20 years ago.

The “Breastfeeding Support Kit” goes beyond giving free samples to moms who have chosen to formula feed. (I don’t have a beef with that.) They are directly targeting breastfeeding moms and making them question whether or not their milk will be enough or good enough for their baby. Women don’t need to supplement their diet to breastfeed:

There is no clear consensus that DHA supplements are needed or advised for lactating women; instead, human milk is recommended as an appropriate source of DHA. Neither the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization nor the World Health Organization has recommended DHA supplements for nursing mothers. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Food and Drug Administration (US) do not recommend DHA supplementation either.
(Source: http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVOctNov98p102.html)

Even supplementing, in a healthy breastfeeding relationship, has a terrible effect on a mother’s milk supply, which many moms don’t realize. The more the baby demands, the more milk mom makes, but sometimes it might take a day or so of increased demand for the mom’s supply to increase. If society is telling women that their milk might not be good enough, then it is easy to see how supplementing begins, especially with free cans of formula already sitting in the pantry.

There needs to be more support out there for breastfeeding moms. The only way we can combat the $10 billion a year they spend on freebies is through education. In my experience, doctors know very little about breastfeeding and rely on what they learned in medical school x number of years ago. As with any field of medicine, a lot changes in just a year! Moms who try to follow the AAP guidelines do so with very little long-term support. For most, it is a quick visit from the hospital’s lactation consultant to see that the baby has latched on.

The research is out there on how formula advertising negatively impacts breastfeeding. It is easy to be swayed by ads and easy to be tempted by the formula samples in your pantry when your newborn isn’t consoled by your breast. I know, I’ve been there!

Oh, and how much cheaper would formula be if the artificial baby milk producers didn’t spend billions on free samples and buying off hospitals by building them NICUs (Neonatal Intensive Care Units)?

I plan to do some more reading on the following sites:
http://nofreelunch.org/index.htm
http://www.banthebags.org/