I understand the tears a mother sheds when she feels like her body is failing her or she just can’t figure out how or why her baby will not latch on. Feeding your newborn baby is one of the most emotional decisions a new mother faces. I could re-write the post I wrote in June, but you can read it here – Breastfeeding is Painful. There is very little support in hospitals for new moms and in that post I even used a few examples from some small town hospitals within driving distance of me. Those examples made me cry for the new moms.
With that emotional turmoil that every mother faces – and sadly there is not very much support for breastfeeding moms and sometimes formula feeding moms feel scrutinized – we need to find a balance. So yes, moms will end up using formula. My question to you is in the title: What do you think of formula companies advertising on breastfeeding support sites? Would you trust a lactation consultant helping your baby breastfeed if she was wearing a name badge proudly announcing her as an employee of Similac of Enfamil?
To me a formula company that advertises on a page like that is hoping that by associating themselves that way, a breastfeeding mom that is having issues will choose their brand when they switch or supplement.
So is that so bad?
In my opinion, it is.
Because economically it does not make sense to say that formula companies really want all moms to succeed at breastfeeding without supplementing. They make money when moms use their products, why would they encourage the disuse of them?
If that makes logical sense Dave Ramsey should allow Discover card to advertise “how to get out of debt” on his site. I know for a fact he never will. Talk about a conflict of interest!
I think there is a time and a place for formula to be advertised – but how and where is heavily debated since formula companies continue to use unwise marketing practices. The World Health Organization has an official stance against all ads by formula companies.
Devil’s advocate for a second: let’s just say that advertising formula is perfectly ok and is handled responsibly and ethically. Is this being done when they advertise on breastfeeeding websites? No, it is not. Ads that belong on breastfeeding support pages: nursing bras, nursing covers, La Leche League phone numbers, breast pumps, and lanolin for sore nipples. If a mom is going to a website for advice on how to succeed at breastfeeding she should be directed to pro-breastfeeding websites and products, not formula companies that succeed when she does not.
For one particular example, here is a screenshot of WebMD’s page about breastfeeding. One ad is a bit much and they have six!
Of course I love to hear what you think too! My opinion is not the be-all and end-all, what do you think?
I don’t think it’s good taste. Right now in most areas there isn’t enough support for breast-feeders. With my first son I did not even have a Lactation Consultant come and help me at all! When I got home I was on the LLL forums because I needed help. But oh I got tons of formula samples for just having him!
With Landon I was already a pro at nursing for 2 years with Hunter. So I didn’t need the help. But it was there, and they were calling me a pro. They came multiple times to see how we were doing.
Night and day, and they were two different hospitals. There needs to just be better support for the people who want the help! Also having formula in the house is just too much temptation for some. It’s kinda like setting them up for failure.
Now I do not judge bottle feeders. To each there own. But I know I’ve gotten judged for nursing beyond one. It’s just a very weird debacle the whole BFvsBottles are.
I agree that there seems to be a lack of support for breastfeeders. And a lot of the problem is the training of hospital staff. I wish every single hospital had a full time IBCLC Lactation Consultant to help moms.
And with the lack of support having formula companies sponsor breastfeeding pages just makes it feel like they are there WHEN you need them, not IF.
Your analogy of Dave Ramsey/credit card ad made me laugh!
It is odd to have those ads on a bf support site. Like, go ahead and try to bf, but if you fail, we are here waiting. And that’s what it is, they are waiting for someone to fail. Otherwise, there’s no need for their product.
Well do you see the box on the right hand side that says “This center is funded by Gerber?” I think that says it all right there. Who else will shell out thousands of dollars to use those spots for advertising breastfeeding on WebMD? You know the LLL doesn’t have that money to do that. Think of how much these companies make, they can afford to advertise all over the internet and other medias.
I know LLL doesn’t have the money and Money makes the world go round. If I ever win the lottery I am funding advertising efforts for LLL. LOL 🙂
I do have to disagree with the Dave Ramsey thing. He is against debt. I doubt that Similiac want to get mothers out of breastfeeding, like he wants to get people out of debt.
When I came out of the hospital I appreciated that Enfamil cared enough to give non formula moms a swag bag! Everyone likes free stuff. So I say THANK YOU enfamil for providing the hospital with bf bags! I read the BF guide used the milk storage bottles provided and was thankful they didn’t leave me out. After all I didn’t get a LLL bag!
I too breast-fed but don’t feel like the “Man” was out to get me! It sucked, it was hard, but I did it because its what I wanted to do. If someone gives up, they don’t want it bad enough not to. IMO
I’m guessing they stick their ads anywhere moms are found!
I realize now the discover card analogy was flawed. It is so difficult to come up with a strong analogy since formula itself is not bad for the baby, it is just not as good as breastmilk and using it too much can possibly lead to low supply and possibly weaning.
And while Similac doesn’t really want to get mother out of breastfeeding, their business does succeed more when they do stop.
I did not know Enfamil gave non formula bags out. That is a whole lot better than giving free cans of formula.
And I dream of a world where people supported LLL enough financially to give them the funds to be able to advertise on parent sites and hand out hospital swag bags. That would be wonderful!
Sorry, I hope that didn’t seem hard, that was not my intention at all 😉
Very interesting…I never thought of that before because I am way past that point. But I do find it very thought provoking. However, I was not a breastfeeder. If someone was advertising about lactation consultants it would not make me switch to breastfeeding. On the other hand, I do belive breast feeding (even though I didn’t do it) can be really hard on the Mom and believe they do sometimes have thoughts of giving up on it. With that in mind, it is QUITE interesting to see all 6 ads on a page talking about brestfeeding. You really made me think on this article – Good Job.
I think it is distasteful and I also object to free formula samples being sent and/or given out to Moms. These tactics are not good-will endevors by the formula companies – they do it because it is in the companies best interest. If it did not increase their profit margin they would not do it. I do not think that medical organizations should be linked to formula companies in any way because it is increasing both the mother and babies risk of disease. Here is some food for thought for a future article Annie – in some countries, formula is only available by prescription.
I was talking to another mom about thoughts on making formula a prescription medication. It is a very interesting idea and I really want to think more about it and write another post.
In the US prescription drugs have more restrictions on advertising….really great food for thought!
I totally agree, ads should be breastfeeding related. I also don’t think formula should be advertised at all. That is a good idea to have it by prescription, it wouldn’t be impossible to get if you couldn’t breastfeed, but maybe just that little extra step might encourage mothers who are perfectly able to breastfeed to give it a better try.