Category Archives: For Health Professionals

Medela issues marketing revisions regarding the Code

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On August 11, Medela sent out an announcement to its customers that it was taking steps towards meeting their obligations under the WHO/UNICEF International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. Medela is working to revise its web pages and marketing materials in all countries where it does business and will not idealize bottle feeding. However, more needs to be done relative to its Calma bottle, particularly its packaging.

For many years, its Calma product line has been of particular concern. The packaging on its Calma products as seen on Amazon still features an infant and says, “Switching from bottle to breast has never been easier.” It is described as a “Breastfeeding Friendly Set.”

Many breastfeeding organizations wish to associate only with Code-compliant companies, and as a result, have not associated with Medela. Medela’s new announcement, while encouraging, does not alter its status regarding the Code.

The 2023 Lancet series on breastfeeding exposes exploitive marketing of infant formula

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The 2023 Lancet Series on Breastfeeding explores how the value of breastfeeding is wasted by governments and public health, and how the vulnerabilities of women and children are exploited by the commercial milk formula (CMF) industry.

The 3-part series explores the strategies used to target vulnerable parents, reveals formula puffery claims made with little or no supporting evidence, exposes sophisticated digital marketing platforms, and discusses industry lobbying efforts to influence policy and weaken the Code. Breastfeeding is the major competitor of infant formula. Analysis carried out in this Lancet series showed that for each additional kilogram of standard formula sold per child each year, breastfeeding was 1.9 percentage points lower. Recommendations are put forth to address the $55 billion industry that the formula marketing playbook so effectively supports. 

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WHO/UNICEF release scathing report, call to action on formula marketing

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The World Health Organization and UNICEF have released their long-awaited report on formula marketing. According to the report, “Formula milk is a US $55 billion per year industry that systematically undermines parents’ infant feeding decisions and compromises women’s and children’s health and human rights.” It also states, “Marketing of formula is emblematic of marketing of other products such as tobacco or gambling that prioritize sales over health and well-being.”

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Rhode Island Birthing Hospitals End Baby Formula Giveaways

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Providence, Rhode Island — As part of efforts to support breastfeeding mothers, women who give birth in Rhode Island will no longer receive infant formula marketing packs when they head home from the hospital. Rhode Island’s First Lady, Stephanie Chafee, Lieutenant Governor, Elizabeth Roberts, RI Department of Health Director, Michael Fine, and Marsha Walker from the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition’s Ban the Bags campaign joined the Rhode Island Health Department Monday November 28, 2011 in celebrating the state’s becoming the first in the nation to eliminate the distribution of infant formula marketing bags in all of Rhode Island’s birthing hospitals.

Director Fine, the Lt. Governor as well as the First Lady spoke of their commitment to breastfeeding families and their support of the hospitals’ efforts in this giant step forward in removing the commercial barriers to breastfeeding. State health officials noted that studies link giveaways to decreased breastfeeding rates, which is not in keeping with their efforts to promote optimal health for mothers and infants in Rhode Island.

For more information, see coverage in USA Today.

Can a formula company give good breastfeeding advice?

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Studies show that formula marketing bags shorten exclusive breastfeeding duration, even when the formula samples are removed from the bags. How does that work? It’s simple – but subtle. Industry-manufactured “breastfeeding support guides” offer advice that undermines mothers and promotes artificial breastmilk substitutes, as Erin explains beautifully in her guest blog, Helping Themselves: Breastfeeding Advice Nestle-Style.

Breaking news: Formula company capable of shame

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Mead Johnson pulls “Breast milk formula” web page title

June 23, 2009– Mead Johnson hit new lows this past week, calling Lipil ‘The Breast Milk Formula” on its web site. The title to the web page was changed to ‘Enfamil “ ‘Lipil” following a concerted campaign by breastfeeding activists to contact the Federal Trade Commission.

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Mead Johnson’s advertising is already under review by the FTC for overstating the health benefits from added fatty acids DHA/ARA. With the recent “breast milk formula” ploy, Mead Johnson sank to new lows, essentially claiming that infant formula is the same thing as human milk.

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Formula company pitches workplace “breastfeeding support”

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In another cynical move to market formula in the guise of breastfeeding support, Abbott Labs has partnered with Working Mother magazine to create a “workplace breastfeeding support” kit. Blogging in The Huffington Post, Dr. Melissa Bartick explains why businesses should steer clear of formula propaganda, and instead use the Business Case for Breastfeeding, a federally-funded workplace lactation support program.

Tool Kit

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The Tool Kit has moved here.

Moving formula marketing out of hospitals requires a culture change. Many doctors and nurses enjoy giving patients a “free gift,” and don’t appreciate the hidden costs associated with marketing strategies.

Staff may not realized that free samples are linked with earlier use of formula among nursing mothers in randomized controlled trials. Professionals who have never purchased formula may not realize that name-brand products cost a third more than store-brand products, raising costs considerably for bottle-feeding families. Educating care providers and hospital adminsitrators about these issues is the first step toward eliminating these marketing practices. To start the conversation, review our talking points.

This tool kit includes materials developed by the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition and Ban the Bags, as well as letters of support from regional and national organizations.

Whether you are a parent, a concerned citizen, a public health advocate or a health care provider, you can change this practice. Browse our materials for ideas and inspiration, or Download Our Complete Tool Kit for background information, supporting data and educational materials to start lobbying for change in your community.

Gourmet Magazine Blog tackles formula marketing

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Writing in “The Kid’s Menu,” Lesley Porcelli describes how she and her baby resisted a barrage of formula handouts and industry-endorsing health care providers to breastfeed successfully. She writes, “The world seems to start pushing formula on mothers at the moment of conception. But what if you just want your baby to drink breast milk?” Read the article.

Ban the Bags featured in Dr. Hale’s newsletter

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Marsha Walker exposes formula company tactics in her article, Formula Company Discharge Bags: The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing:

Sampling gets the product into the hands of the consumer, provides for its easy use at the first sign of breastfeeding roadblocks, and starts the process of early weaning – the perfect setup for creating a market where none existed before.

New mothers get mixed messages

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Hospitals provide formula sample packs while medical organizations encourage breastfeeding

CHICAGO—A majority of U.S. hospitals on the East coast distribute formula sample packs to new mothers, contrary to recommendations from most major medical organizations concerned about the potential for distributing these packs to reduce breastfeeding rates, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, the practice is changing significantly.

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