Feb
26
The other day in my various clickings around the internet I came across a webcomic devoted to the author’s fury at having received a formula sample in the mail. I scanned some of her other comics, which were mainly focused on being angry at people who put their children in cribs and have the audacity to try sleep training methods (one that particularly sticks out in my mind is the comic depicting the incredulous holier-than-thou heroine chastising an off-panel voice for attempting the Great Evil CIO after she had suffered a miscarriage before having the non-sleeping baby in question — because apparently enduring challenges on the way to parenthood renders a person ineligible for making their own parenting decisions, or something). While I pretty much got the feeling that this woman and I wouldn’t have a whole lot in common if we were to meet up on the playground, I wouldn’t bother to bring this up — because different strokes for different folks, right? — except what the hell, can someone explain what is so offensive about having a formula sample show up in your mailbox?
Because, see, I’ve seen this before, where people get all bent out of shape about the fact that sometimes hospitals include a little freebie of formula in that bag of crap they give you before sending you home, or how once you’re on that mysterious New Parent master list you tend to get a mailing or two that includes a coupon or a can of Similac or whatever the hell it is. This is totally confusing to me, because if you receive something you do not want, can you not just throw it away? Or give it to someone who needs it?
Even if someone considers formula inherently evil — and boy, I will heartily disagree with you on this point, since as a person who did not have the option of breastfeeding you’re certainly not going to convince ME that the substance my babies existed on exclusively for the first several months of their perfectly healthy, thriving lives is a product without value — what’s the point in throwing a fit about being mis-marketed to? Is there really the expectation that the companies that produce infant formula should quietly sit back and opt out of any advertising, because by god every mother on this earth had better be breastfeeding whether she’s capable of doing so or not?
If you ask me, the energy put towards a Samuel Jackson-esque tantrum of great vengeance and furious anger over a container of powder would be much better invested in packaging up that container and sending to someone whose paycheck is going to be strained by the months of PAYING for said powder.
Also, I’m pretty sure bringing up someone’s miscarriage in order to criticize their parenting choices earns you a special place in hell, hopefully involving being submerged in a vat of spat-up formula while having to listen to this commercial over and over again.
Comments
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The one problem with your scenario is there is no monetary benefit for sending out the brochures you mention. The formula companies sending out free samples is a marketing campaign.
Receiving a brochure on the benefits of breastfeeding, unless it was from Medela, would have an entirely different purpose. Granted, there is nothing inherently wrong with sending out brochures like that, but unless it is from a company that could benefit financially from woman breastfeeding, the reasoning behind it is different.
Plus, mothers don’t need to receive breastfeeding brochures in the mail, it’s pounded into every mother’s head at the hospital. :)
Maria: still not convinced. It’s like saying a free sample of cookies sent from Pepperidge Farm is wrong because it could sabotage my diet efforts. We are CONSTANTLY marketed to in every aspect of our lives, and it’s ridiculous to say one type of company should be banned from doing so because the demographic is too weak to resist.
Okay, then let’s say it’s from Medela.
Unless there is a new marketing tool that tells the formula companies that the woman at 123 Main St, Pleasantville, NY is planning on breastfeeding, I’m not sure where the companies are being shady.
They have a product they are trying to sell and they are sending it to their target group. There isn’t a guy in a black suit and curly mustache at the company plotting against the fragile ego of the newly breastfeeding mother.
Along these lines, I’d like the programmers for the marketing tools at Viagra and Rogaine to know that one, my penis is fine, and two, I have all my hair.
I get grief from friends and family for still breastfeeding my 16 month old. My sister got grief for not breastfeeding. My friend gets grief over not being able to control her 7 year old autistic son that’s throwing a fit in Wal-Mart. And guess what crazy comic strip writing b@#ch, we are all mothers, great mothers in fact, so take your can of formula down to a food bank and quit judging everyone! Can’t we all just get along? :)
Jean,
Well, unless I have a serious operation at John Hopkins, I can’t speak as a woman, so I’ll let others give a more relevant answer.
But, in my opinion, I don’t see the big deal in that case either.
Do you have any idea how marketing works? I would be my life savings that there is a report sitting on somebody’s desk stating that new nursing mothers are especially fragile during the first month of motherhood, and I bet that’s when they do their biggest push of formula. I know when my daughter was 3, 6, 12 months – there was no more formula on my porch!
I absolutely do not believe this should be banned, that’s ridculous.
But let’s be honest – If the formual companies they think it’s easier to tattoo thir brand name on a brain during the first three months, or turn a nursing mom into a formula using one that will generate 12 months of formula usage for thier company, they will do it gladly.
Jean,
That’s a fair argument. Although I do believe we received formula more than just in the first month (or before birth).
Of course, as you, I still don’t see the problem.
Saying it’s from Medela doesn’t change a thing cause the breastfeeding people have a presence everywhere too.. So it doesn’t make a good hypothetical. Linda is so right on this one. Why don’t we attack something like, I don’t know…Cheetos. Cheetos are packing peanuts with orange dust on them…is that good for ANYONE? But you see people’s kids eating them all the time. Anyway, that is beside the point, we are all responsibile for our own choices. We are going to get enticed by messages all over the place that will threaten all of our best efforts, it is up to us to sort through all the advertising BS and make our own decisions. Plus, it’s lame how this argument characterizes all formula feeders as weak people who would rather be breastfeeding and completely oversimplifies the whole issue.
Yes, like all companies, they are trying to sell a product and they are targeted those who are mostly likely to USE said product — so they probably aren’t sending samples to AARP members. But so what? Why is this considered nefarious? Every single corporation on earth that is selling something engages in marketing. If you don’t want what they’re selling, don’t buy it. Done.
I agree. I used the formula. I bought generic after it was gone. I am immune to commercialism.
But I stand by my original statement which is that they are shady. That’s all!
Jean: ALL companies do that kind of research. Diet companies, cookie companies .. ALL KINDS. Yes, that’s how marketing works. But to Linda’s point, so what? It’s our job as consumers to have the intelligence to sift through it and make wise decisions, no matter how “fragile” our condition.
All companies, in that regard, are “evil.” No one is safe — no demographic, no group, no anywhere. I think that by painting these companies as more predatory than others because they prey on what you’re basically saying is mothers, who are “fragile” or “weak” it’s more insulting to the mothers than it is to the companies. You are, in essence, saying that moms can’t be trusted to make the right decision no matter what’s thrown at them. And that doesn’t sit well with me.
And by “you” I don’t mean “you, Jean” I mean the royal you in regards to the people who are afraid of the formula companies.
For me the concern with formula samples is the ability of a few formula feedings to interfere with the breastfeeding process. I am not sure if a lot of women truly understand that they can negatively effect their supply if they start to supplement with formula during those beginning growth spurts. Maybe there should be a warning label on the sample?
Also, when samples are handed out at the hospital (even during prenatal appointments) I think it sends the message that formula feeding is the norm. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with choosing formula, but honestly I think when breastfeeding is an option it is best.
I definitely have a problem with the unethical way that formula is marketed in third world countries. But that’s a another topic!
In those panicked first weeks home I was weak and bleeding and my c-section scar hurt and I was afraid my crying baby was starving so I supplemented with formula samples. My supply took a hit and never recovered. Now, at 6 months old, my kid gets about half his nutrition from formula, which is fine, but it didn’t have to be that way.
So count me among those who find the mailbox full of formula samples shady. I get the whole “freedom of choice” angle, but those samples are specifically intended to prey upon the weak. (If a freshly post-partum mom ain’t weak, I don’t know what is.) It was just too easy to reach for that formula instead of trying to shove my bleeding nipples in his crying maw AGAIN.
Jessica: man, I’m sorry about that. But to me it’s like saying, “I got the option of taking a test drive in a new car when I was really sick of taking the bus and now I have these car payments that I wish I didn’t have.” Formula companies are no more shady than any other business offering try-before-you-buy marketing options.
Any company can market to anyone at a weak time. Ever planned a funeral? Those things are protracted sales pitches that are lobbed straight at your grieving noggin. I’m dealing with infertility, and if there’s a marketing segment designed to part emotional people from their money, it’s the one promising you the dream of parenthood for the low, low price of [insert not all that low a price].
To argue that stressed and emotional populations should be swaddled away from the forces of marketing is sort of nanny state-ish. Marketers are not responsible for making sure that everyone who is receiving their message is on their emotional A-game that day. And people who are vulnerable to marketing can’t really blame marketing for their decisions; they need to look at their own rationales first.
I totally agree with you Linda. In the end it is ALWAYS the parents choice. and if you can’t breastfeed like alot of women out there. you HAVE to use formula because you know…we don’t want our kids to starve hello! I wasn’t able to breastfeed either because my son is lactose intolerant. so therefor I had no other choice. He is 3 and a half now and very healthy thank God. Every parent has choices to make throughout your childs life.
breastfeeding vs formula?
dr. browns vs regular?
pampers or luvs?
pacifier or no pacifier?
In the END it’s your decision no matter what. Doesn’t matter what the hip thing is to do.
-Anne , WIC strongly stresses you to breastfeed over formula and even offers you more help if you choose to do so. I, as a young mother needed WIC and I don’t know what I would have done without it. Not cool to diss if you aren’t familar with the program.
Unless the samples have a warning that even a few supplemental feedings can negatively effect a mother’s milk supply – in my opinion it is shady. If a woman is fully informed and knows this information then there is no problem – freedom of choice and all.
The problem with the “new car” analogy is that people know that buying a new car = car payments.
Let’s say we have two main potential markets for these free formula samples:
1) Mothers who are not breastfeeding, are choosing to supplement, or want the option of supplementing/not breastfeeding in the future
2) Mothers who want to exclusively breastfeed but because of trying circumstances go ahead and use the free samples, therefore irrevocably reducing their milk supply and becoming reluctant formula consumers
I’m going to hazard the guess that scenario #2 is not at all the ideal customer for a formula company. From a bottom line, sure, more customers = more money, it’s that simple, but from a loyalty and branding perspective any company would prefer a customer who buys their product because of perceived benefits. It’s easier to mix, my baby likes it, it doesn’t smell as horrendous when it’s horked down my bra, whatever it is.
As for the idea that these samples should include a warning, they already do: every formula package I have ever seen states that experts agree on the benefits of breastmilk and to talk to your doctor about the formula in question. On the issue of potential milk supply damage, I don’t know — I think it has to be our responsibility to educate ourselves as consumers and be responsible for our own choices, because companies cannot be expected to provide warning labels for every possibility under the sun.
I found her blog through some things said in your comments. Oh my. What a nut job! I totally agree with what you said. My boys were formula fed and are very bright. I can’t imagine getting peeved because I received a free sample of something I *GASP* don’t want.
And… is it just me but is the mama-is comic on Aug 20 2008 sporting a tatoo similar to yours??
well said!
AAAA I’m so sorry I clicked on that link. I should have known better. He’s always leaping out at me from magazines with his creepy staring face and YELLING WHY IS HE YELLING?
p.s. As far as web comics featuring spit-up go, I recommend James Kochalka (americanelf.com).
I actually hate those free formula samples too–but not because I have anything against formula. It’s just that twice–TWICE– I have received them in the mail just days after a second trimester miscarriage. NOw I know there is no way the formula companies can predict which pregnant mother is going to actually end up with a live baby to feed but still, the amount of pain those effing cans caused me. . .I hate you Similac! Oh how I hate you! Ugh.
The food bank is begging for formula – why not just send it there?
Oh come on . . . didn’t you know? Formula, like fluoride in the water, is a communist conspiracy.
I will send a self address stamped box to anyone who would like to send me formula. Also those formula checks? That’s five dollars that I can spend on wine.
I don’t have a problem with formula companies engaging in marketing gimmicks in countries with clean water, like in the US. But I have a major problem with them pushing it on doctors and over marketing in developing nations where water is more contaminated.
My mother and father (both very well educated, my dad has 80 patents for gods sake) got pregnant very quickly after their marriage and ended up new parents exactly 1 year to their wedding anniversary. They were living far away from their parents and chose the hospital closest to their home for the birth-which turned out to be a big mistake. The doctors were incompetent, the birth was hard, my mother was having problems breastfeeding, new parents, underweight baby, my father claims to this day he is upset at himself for letting my mom have their baby in an unhygeinic environment…and wouldn’t you know it, the doctors and nurses fed their baby (technically my older sister) formula. Because formula was from the West, and it was better than breastfeeding, and no one breast feeds anymore and the baby is losing weight and it’s too small and so on and so forth. These are the nurses who apparently tried to examine my mom during labour 5 minutes after eating a freaking CURRY (and in India you eat with your hands) and bitched at my dad when he told them to wash their hands. Anyway, the dumbasses mixed the formula up with contaminated water. Their kid died of dehydration from constant diarrhea after a protracted period of illness. Again, my mother and father had the financial resources to take her to Mumbai and potentially save her life, because she got infection after infection from the very first day, but they were new parents, they were stupid, they tried every doctor in that little company town but nothing worked. She died in their arms. They are “over” her death as much as a parent possibly can be, but they blame themselves to this day. My sister was half formula/half breast fed because she has been in the West since she was 2 months old. I was exclusively breast fed (I’m older and spent my infancy there) because of what happened to their first child.
Anyway, I’m not telling you this to make you feel guilty or like your choices are wrong because it was a completely different situation-India in the 1970s. But I feel very strongly that formula companies should be prevented from marketing in the third world, where clean water is scarce, corruption is endemic, medical resources may be scarce (again, even India today is different than the socialist state my parents fled at the earliest opportunity) and doctors will push formula to the detriment of their clients.
Weighing in a day late and a dollar short… as per usual… SIGH.
I just had to mention, as someone who works for a clinic education women on childbirth, including a breastfeeding class, and therefore by default dealing with the formula reps- these guys are shameless. There is a sleaziness to them… sorta like a door-to-door saleman or something.
They also spend truckloads of money on offering pregnant women free stuff- presumably because they want to get the formula idea firmly planted in the pregant woman’s head long before baby comes. They especially focus on 1st time mothers, which, COME ON they don’t need to be preyed upon! Not only do they get something free EVERY dr’s visit and EVERY night of class (diaper bags, changing pads, planners etc) all stamped with the formula logo and all including formula samples, they also give away lots of free stuff- I’m not shitting you when I say we can give away as many free HIGH CHAIRS as we want per session. We tell them how many, they deliver them. They also give away baby toys, like those peek-a-blocks.
I think their “breastfeeding support kits” are of questionable nature. I also think they (formula compainies) DO NOT belong in a clinic/hospital setting where people show up wanting unbiased information, not advertising. However, they ARE there, and in many/most hospitals/clinic, and there is nothing a lowly “child birth educator” can do about it! It’s not any different than any of the other drug reps, really.
We don’t (and wouldn’t want to) say anything pro or con about the formula. We do offer a box in the back of the class for anyone not wanting the formula- we then take it to the food shelf.
That said, I don’t think formula is “bad”. I also am not against free samples. But the whole nature of how the formula companies conduct themselves is obnoxious and overdone. (They also give free formula- by the cases!- to anyone that works in OB/GYN, Peds, or Family practice. Srsly, if you are formula feeding and you work in any of those departments, you will not spend a single penny on feeding your kid. I would guess the hope is that you will then become a formula pimp as you interact with moms and babies.)
So! You are right, as always, at what you posted- but I thought a backgroud to the inner workings of the companies might be helpful?
Sorry this got so long.
Monkey: what a horrible story, I’m so sorry for your family. I don’t know much about current formula marketing practices in third world countries but definitely agree that doctors shouldn’t “push” formula ANYWHERE, just like they shouldn’t push any other parenting agenda. Bad water + formula = horrible combination.
Which makes me think of the terrible situation many women are faced with in some HIV-prevalent areas like Africa, where the choice is 1) breastfeed and risk passing on the virus, or 2) formula feed with tainted water.
I really don’t understand the mindset that if you don’t raise your kids EXACTLY the same way I raise mine, it’s because you are a selfish whore who can’t be bothered to take proper care of your kids because you don’t love them enough. Sundry, my husband and I might not ever use our kid to deliver messages like “Daddy has a giant hot dog for your MOUTH*” but that doesn’t mean that you don’t love your kids as passionately as I love mine and that you don’t do your very best every day for them.
*I totally would do this, by the way. It has to be my favorite parenting story EVER.
Marie: good to get that perspective. I can’t help thinking, though, that I wish *I* had gotten more free formula loot, since I HAD to formula feed. I think I got like one coupon.
And good point on drug reps having similar marketing approaches. Really, this brings me back to the notion of being self-educated and making your own decisions as a consumer, because EVERYTHING — medications prescribed to you by your doctor! — is marketed. Shady is as shady does.
My problem with some companies that make and market formula is really only with third world countries and with poor areas in this country. Obviously, those are the people that need some looking out for in this case. Also, I am not living in a third world country, nor am I uneducated or living in a poor area, but I definitely would have found a formula sample tempting at the beginning of my breastfeeding experience and it would have been to my detriment. I don’t know that I would have had it mess up my supply or whatever but I don’t think it makes me an idiot, as you seem to be indicating (comparing it to buying a car I couldn’t afford or being mad at Pepperidge Farm for sending me cookies and screwing up my diet). I daresay that someone who has no experience with breastfeeding, nor knowledge of how much a formula company pushes formula to someone living in a third world country, you seem to have a lot of opinions about it.
Uh, yes, I have opinions. Sorry about that. Except for the part where I’m not.
I’m not saying anyone’s an IDIOT if they choose to use a free sample and then regret it. I’m saying they need to own their decision, and not blame the formula company for the fact that it was available to them. If you find that opinion so very offensive, I have some webcomics you might enjoy.
I know- I wish I would have thought to HOOK YOU UP! Most of the ladies I work with are breastfeeding advocates and have training in helping women breastfeed. As doulas we also get the opportunity to help new mom get started breastfeeding- IF they choose. However, EVEN in our little population of breastfeeding LOVERS, there have been several circumstances of one of the ladies needing formula (an adoption, a baby that cannot latch, a personal issue with mom etc) and those formula companies took excellent care of them!
Additionally, I wonder what will happen if OTHER companies catch on and start trying to market at clinics/hospitals- such as diaper, car seat, pacifier etc companies.
I also don’t think that drug reps belong in clinics/hospitals either- they do their (more than) fair share of wine-ing and dining the doctors and other employees. It’s gross, really. But, again. What to do? I’ve gratefully received free drug samples from my doctor in the past and did a private little dance.
No one really _likes_ this lack of integrity in advertising practices, but most reasonable people just roll their eyes and go about their business… at maybe take advatage of a few freebies along the way. It’s certianly not worth working ourselves into a lather about! At least, I havent the energy. =)
Of course you have a right to your opinion and even more, considering it’s your blog. What I meant was ill informed opinions. As I stated much earlier in the comments, I would not enjoy those webcomics and think that the webcomic lady sounds crazy. Just because we disagree about the origin of her problem (with this particular thing, I for one let my kids scream and scream when they are learning to sleep) doesn’t mean that I am a person who would enjoy what has already been established as kooky, overwrought thinking. I don’t have the energy for this either, I was just making a teensy point. Never mind! Bygones! ;)
I don’t think the fact that I haven’t been able to breastfeed renders my opinions on this matter ill-informed. But aaaaanyway, no hard feelings. : )
Clearly you are unaware that mailed formula samples contain a time release chemical that will cause anyone who ingested them to turn into zombies at age 20, bringing about the upcoming zombie epidemic. NOW HOW DO YOU FEEL?
The short answer-
“A U.S. Government Accountability Office review of numerous studies found that giving free formula samples to mothers as they are discharged from a hospital after childbirth reduces breastfeeding rates.”
linda-
fortunately, it is not up to us to “be convinced” that these marketing practices are unethical. and in fact, they are already “banned”
The WHO Code is the common name for the “International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes,” which was adopted by the World Health Organization in 1981. Recognizing that marketing formula is, by definition, an attempt to reduce the number of breastfed babies, and recognizing that breastfeeding is both a vital public health and economic issue, the USA joined with 118 other nations in ratifying the Code.
What does the Code say?
The WHO Code PROHIBITS certain aggressive infant formula marketing strategies, such as:
1. Promoting infant formula through health care facilities
2. Lobbying health care personnel with free gifts
3. Providing free formula samples to new mothers
4. Using words or pictures in advertising which idealize bottle feeding
The Code does not prohibit the existence of infant formula nor the choice to bottle feed. Instead, it seeks to give all women only pure facts about feeding their babies, free of marketing influence, so that they can make free and informed choices. The Code tries to level the playing field so that the superiority of breastmilk — which has no agency or million dollar marketing budget promoting it —is not lost in the landslide of formula marketing hype.
Wow. Seems to have hit a nerve. I like it.
In my experience, the benefits of breastfeeding are absolutely not “lost in a landslide of formula marketing hype” — quite the opposite, if anything; I surely have never seen a giant billboard advocating Similac but I’ve seen several promoting breastfeeding — but I’ll concede that my personal view on this could be skewed due to where I live, the media I consume, etc.
I believe in education, not regulation. I think the idea that formula companies should be subjected to restricted advertising strategies as if 1) formula were a controlled substance and 2) the market was in need of being swayed to one particular choice is both ridiculous and insulting. And a little creepy, frankly. I want information and options, not limits and edicts.
It would be ideal if all new mothers could have easy, affordable access to every resource possible to help support whatever their birthing/feeding/babycare choices are. And if they’re offered something they don’t want or need — well, I just can’t agree that this is a bad thing. Pass on that unwanted formula to someone who does need it, tell the lactation consultant no thanks, say no to the epidural, whatever it is, I think the mother should get the option to choose rather than an outside group deciding to “protect” her.
(Lastly, can I just say what a mostly pleasant and non-crazy discussion this has been? I feel like I rarely get into conversations where I’m forced to truly examine how I feel about the subject at hand, and this has been really interesting.)
One of the top issues with companies giving out free formula samples is that way back in 1981 they agreed not to. There is a pretty significant document from the World Health Organization which was written in collaboration with formula companies called the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitues. One of the big no-nos is direct marketing to the public because the fact is, that marketing works, that’s why it exists. A lot of mothers are convinced long before they ever attempt it that breastfeeding is too inconvenient and hard and painful to seriously attempt it. While I’m glad that formula exists for those who actually cannot breastfeed, or feed expressed breastmilk, the fact is that formula increses the risk factors for a long list of very major health issues. This of course does not mean that every child will suffer the consequences, but all of their chances are greater. Those women who could feed breastmilk, but choose not to, are putting their babies at risk and placing a burden on the rest of society in the form of incresed illnesses, depleted medical resources and higher insurance premiums for all. The desire to limit the availability of formula to those that actually need it is a lot like seatbelt regulation. It’s only partially to protect the user, it’s mostly to protect the rest of society from one individual’s unfortunate choice.
Yes, society definitely needs protection from my irrational choice to not breastfeed my child. We’re such a burden. Snort. I find it confusing that people will defend breastfeeding with such rationalizations, but not vaccine protocols, when vaccine protocols really DO only work when the majority of the population participate. (It’s called “herd immunity.”) And the diseases they try to provide protection against are much, MUCH more serious and horrifying.
” the fact is that formula increses the risk factors for a long list of very major health issues. ”
Really? Even one tiny little sample? I exclusively breastfed, and I find that idea preposterous. (And resent the implication that not breastfeeding is an “unfortunate choice.” Most women I know who used formula put more thought in it than, say, the average Spring Breaker puts into her backbone tattoo, which is what I think of as an “unfortunate choice.”)
Whenever I hear the strident formula is evil/poison/whatever commentary kick in I am very glad I had a lactation consultant who did not feel that way about formula- she advocated supplementing if necessary, even. I’m glad for me it wasn’t, but I’m also glad I had a sane, rational professional helping me make those decisions, not nutjob internet commentors.
Wow. I looked up said comic and, well, WOW! Don’t you just love self rightous people who LOVE to tell you how you should raise your kids BUT don’t you DARE tell them that their opinion may not work for you??!!
She seems like a militant-hippie (which is weird since hippies are supposed to be non-judgemental)
Whatever..to each his own. I still say no one CARES how you fed your kid once they hit kindergarten.
I know Linda already mentioned this briefly but I think the samples have much more to do with brand loyalty than with trying to convince people to use formula. In that regard, it totally works and I don’t see that as a problem. After checking with the doctor, we used the brand that had given us the most free samples.
I also wanted to say to Marie Green, I LOOOVE the drug reps because they are the only reason I could afford the very important medicines I needed for my child.
Just a clarification on a factual point brought up by several of the commenters: the WHO Code referenced a few times was adopted by the WHO in 1981 only as a resolution. In other words, it is essentially a strong recommendation to its member countries to take action and enact legislation to carry out its intent. To my knowledge (and I am happy to be shown incorrect if I am wrong), the United States has never enacted legislation making all or any portion of the 1981 Code into law, so none of the marketing practices referred to are “banned” in our country, and it’s not correct to refer to them as such. This is obviously an important issue, and the debate here has been civil and productive, but I didn’t want anyone to erroneously think that the formula companies are actually breaking any existing laws through their direct marketing techniques.
I breastfed, but I had a pretty tough time with it, even though I had a lot of resources. I took a breastfeeding class, read a ton of crap, could afford to rent a hospital pump, bought my own pump, got help from a lactationist, etc. Anyway, I exclusively breastfed for about nine months, until I had to go on a business trip and my supply couldn’t keep up. At that point I quit pumping and supplemented with formula.
Early on, I received a ton of formula samples, which I passed on to my sister-in-law. I wasn’t really offended by them. I never felt like they were coercive and I was never really tempted to use them. I don’t see anything wrong with formula feeding one’s kid, whether due to medical issues or personal choice. Breastfeeding can be hard and I thought pumping really sucked. Of course, once I started giving her formula – the insanely expensive, foul-smelling Alimentum because the regular stuff made her sick – there was not a free sample or even a coupon to be found, and I definitely would have appreciated one.
However. I live in an area that is going through gentrification. I received WAY more samples and coupons than friends who lived in more affluent areas. I regularly – maybe once a week – got a coupon for $7 off formula, plus I received several full-size samples.
On the one hand, you could make the case that if you’re poor (which we’re not, but our street address suggests we are) then the coupons and samples are more helpful. I seriously doubt that the formula companies are motivated by a sense of charity, though. I think that the greatest return on their marketing dollar is to market to poor, young, uneducated, and mostly single women. Yes, it is helpful to those who want/need to formula feed, but how many are making that choice from an empowered place? Breastfeeding, apart from being at least slightly healthier, is a whole hell of a lot cheaper. Breastfeeding rates are lowest for infants who are enrolled in WIC and they are highest among women who are over 30 years of age and college educated. So I do think the marketing practices of the formula companies are somewhat predatory, even as I fully and completely support a woman’s choice to feed her baby however the hell she wants. I do think that your viewpoint is affected by your particular experience and socio-economic status (which is sort of obvious, I guess, since of course mine is as well). Like a few of your other readers, though, I can see both sides of this issue.
Public Hospitals in NYC stopped handing out formula to every women who gave birth and instead are making a concerted effort to encourage breastfeeding. But women who want to formula feed – whether by choice or medical necessity – can still request and receive samples of formula. I support that change, personally, although it was pretty controversial at the time. At my private NYC hospital, I received minimal breastfeeding support and some actual undermining – I was told, for example, that breastfeeding was dangerous because I had to have an MRI (not true) and later I was told that a blood thinner that I had to take for a year meant I couldn’t breastfeed at all. Breastfeeding was a tough battle for me, and I did not feel supported by the medical community at my top-rated NYC hospital, with the exception of my awesome pediatrician, who took the time to look the damn drugs up when I said I wanted to breastfeed.
Sorry, long and all over the place. Definitely an interesting topic, even if I’m coming late to the conversation.