breastfeeding in massachusetts

Recently, MA became the first state in the United States to legislatively enact a ban on hospitals handing out "free" formula samples to new mothers as they leave the hospital with their newborns. The reason? Because it's unethical for medical providers to act as sales reps for the pharmaceutical companies that make,market and sell infant formula. And that is what is happening when these gift bags of bottles and formula go home with new mothers.

Additionally, it's clear to anyone who works with new mothers that women who are given free infant formula are more likely to supplement breastfeeding with the artificial baby milk, as well as to give up entirely on breastfeeding within the first few weeks. When a doctor, nurse or hospital gives a new mother infant formula to take home, the message is "We know you SAY you plan to breastfeed, but really, we expect you to fail or at least supplement, so here's what we know you will need."

Even for mothers who leave the hospital knowing they do not choose to breastfeed, the brand of sample the hospital sends home with bottlefeeding mothers is a not so subtle endorsement of that particular brand.

Anyone who claims that the infant formula companies have no agends in giving away millions and millions of dollars in free product via hospital maternity wards each year is, well, beyond naive. Of course they have an agends. They don't do it just to be nice. They do it because they are well aware that free formula samples lessen the chance a new mother will start or continue breastfeeding. They know that supplementary bottles of formula in the first weeks of breastfeeding often throw the delicate supply-demand balance off just as women and their babies are trying to get the hang of nursing. They also know that many newborns cannot switch easily between breast and bottle nipple and will very quickly begin rejecting breast for bottle if given bottles in the first few weeks. Most of all they know that every woman who chooses to breastfeed rather than bottlefeed her baby represents a loss of at least $1,000 (that's a consrevative estimate) in sales of infant formula during that infant-consumer's first 12 months.

Let's say this very clearly: the companies that make, market and sell infant formula want people to buy their product. Of course they do. And breastfeeding women have no need for their product. Ergo, it is in their economic best interest to discourage women from breastfeeding any time and in every way they can. These hospital freebie giveaways are one of the most effective tools they have.

To take the argument a bit further, the pharma companies that sell infant formula ALSO make and sell the medicines that treat the myriad illnesses, major and minor, that non-breastfed babies and children are far more likely to develop.

Do the math.

I was very excited to hear about MA's freebie formula ban, but am angry and disppointed to see that a huge backlash has started against it, with editorials like this one claiming that ending the free formula takeaways means new mothers are being "coerced" into breastfeeding or "denied choice" in how to feed their babies.

This is a ridiculous argument as long as infant formula is still available on store shelves. Women can choose to feed their babies however they like, but it is not appropriate or ethical for the hospitals or doctors to act as sales reps for the companies selling a particular brand. If a woman wants infant formula, she can buy it, thus freely exercising her choice in both how she will feed her baby and what brand of artificial baby milk she will buy.

Here are a few articles I've written on this topic, if you are new to the subject and would like some background:

This one is an investigative piece I did on the huge influence the infant formula industry has on policy making in medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, and also on public health campaigns.

This article originally appeared in Salon.com and is a good overview on the unethical tactics of these formula companies and how the medical establishment is turning a blind eye. This one also offers a good round-up of the medical evidence that increasingly demonstrates that bottlefed babies in the United States have markedly higher levels of morbidity and mortality than breastfed children.

Here an excerpt from my book on the World Health Organization Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, and how formula companies are flouting it all over the world, especially in the U.S.