Breastfeeding ads blunted at formula companies' insistence.

[conuly]

And this, of course, is what upsets me about formula. It's not that using formula (yes, when you have a choice, though I really do not think this disclaimer is essential) does increase the chances of various medical conditions in later life. It's not that it's expensive, and that this cost is spread around the public as formula is paid for by public programs such as WIC (though I do of course support WIC in principle, I find the sheer amount of subsidizing going on to be absurd. Nobody needs as much milk as WIC dishes out, but the dairy industry is a big lobby, that sort of thing).

It's the dirty dealing here. Because despite all their pretty names ("Goodstart", anybody?) and their claims that "ofcoursebreastisbestbutUSEOURSTUFF!!!", they show that they don't really care about children as much as they care about their own pocketbooks.

First, they lobby and lobby to water down the ad campaign - and then they increase their own ad campaigns to compete with the watered down breastfeeding ones!

And that fucking pisses me off.

Comments

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Personally, I have no investment in any formula producing companies, and I still think the ads are offensive. There are already so many mothers who feel unreasonably guilty because their children have diabetes and/or asthma (or both, in my case) and this kind of ad is just going to make them feel even more guilty. Both diabetes and asthma are genetic disorders. My sister's son who was breastfed has asthma because guess what, everyone in the fricking family has asthma. Yet her daughter, who was not breastfed (and this was a big source of guilt, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not breastfeed that child) does not have asthma.

Why not make ads that encourage women to breastfeed? Why not emphasize the positive aspects of breastfeeding rather than making ads that say things like, "Your children will DIE if they are not breastfed! DIE DIE DIE!" And then the women who for whatever reason cannot breastfeed will feel horrendously guilty. Like my former roommate who stopped taking her needed psychiatric medications so that she could breastfeed, and ended up attempting suicide on her son's first birthday because she wasn't taking her medications.

[conuly]

Because emphasizing the positive aspects of breastfeeding doesn't appear to be working. (Actually, I often wonder if they emphasize the wrong positive aspects of breastfeeding. They ought to talk about how it's cheaper, or more convenient, or something, but that's another issue altogether.)

Of course, conditions like diabetes and asthma run in families. However, they also are linked to things like smoking during pregnancy and, yes, formula feeding. As you point out, some kids are lucky - they can be fed a diet of straight ice cream since birth, and they'll thrive. Other kids aren't lucky - they can have all the right genes, and their parents can do all the right things, and they'll still get sick. But most people are middle of the line, and if they do the right things here, they'll see an effect there. And if you know your kid is already predisposed to, say, asthma, doing whatever you can to minimize it from popping up in him (or being really bad as opposed to just bad) seems like a good idea.

As for people who can't breastfeed... I don't know. When there is a clear correlation between something so small as receiving formula samples at the hospital and "not being able to breastfeed", I suspect many people who think they couldn't breastfeed could. They didn't know how and could have used help, would be my guess. And when it comes to people with medical conditions, of course you should take your medication. That's obvious, and your ex-roommate made a bad call, and I'm sorry about that. But it's interesting to note that many medications which people assume are dangerous to take when breastfeeding are actually considered to be harmless by experts in the field - which might have helped her to know.

As for the end of this rambling comment, I've said it before and I've said it again, and I'll probably keep saying it for a long time - we need more milk banks. Not to say "NOBODY CAN EVER USE FORMULA EVER AGAIN EVER!!!!!" but because that would create more choices for people. Can't breastfeed? Use donated milk. At the moment, I know that's not an option for the vast majority of people here and where you are and so on. And even if it were an option, a lot of people would choose not to do that, and that's their business. But I would like to see it happen anyway. Choice is good.

Wait, new end of the comment - you, as a private individual, should of course have the right to input into publicly funded commercials in your country. For you to say "Look, this commercial offends me, and I don't think it'll accomplish what it sets out to accomplish" is useful. I just don't think that formula companies should be allowed to make those decisions, or even have the input. That's like letting car companies make the commercials promoting busses and bikes. It doesn't *work*.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Unless WIC or insurence (some do, most do NOT) cover donated milk from a bank, almost NO ONE who gets formula on WIC will switch to donated milk.

Why?

Milk bank breast milk costs about Three Dollars per ounce. Its simply not affordable unless you're extremely wealthy. A well eating bottle fed baby eats...what? 8 ounces every 3-4 hours? That is about 24 dollars a bottle, 6-8 times a day? so...up to 192 dollars a DAY just to give their baby breastmilk.

Yeah, not going to happen. Great thing to wish for, unrealistic to ever expect to happen (And most of the cost of the milk comes from the pasturization process, not the lack of milk itself).

:(

Why spend 200 dollars a day (even more if you have a baby who eats every TWO hours or something! or say, has reflux like Seth did and pukes most of it and needs re-feeding...) when they could get the formula for free.

[conuly]

Part of the problem, though, is that there are simply not enough milk banks, nor enough peple donating milk. If there were more, the price would go down.

Despite what you think, pasturization is simply not that expensive. If it were, cow's milk would cost a heck of a lot more than it does, even with subsidies.

I never said, simply "I want to see more people using donated milk". I said, very clearly, "I want to see more milk banks. Let's distinguish a bit here.

[conuly]

And yes, I'd like WIC to cover donated milk, if milk banks were more common, which of course they're not.

In the meantime, I'd like to see WIC provide more help for breastfeeding - pay for a LC, pay for a pump, that sort of thing.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

As for people who can't breastfeed... I don't know. When there is a clear correlation between something so small as receiving formula samples at the hospital and "not being able to breastfeed", I suspect many people who think they couldn't breastfeed could. They didn't know how and could have used help, would be my guess.

When I had both of my children, a nurse taught me how to breastfeed. How to hold the baby, how to make sure the baby was actually nursing well, how to cope with the inevitable skin cracking and blisters. No pressure as formula was available, information about devices like pumps and aids for inverted nipples, and someone to answer what questions I had.

Some people just can't breastfeed, and some babies just can't breastfeed. They made sure I knew that too, mostly to make sure that guilt over not breastfeeding didn't prevent me from feeding my children enough or properly.

I don't know whether this was due to both of my children being born in military hospitals. I don't know whether that information would be made as freely available in Canada, or in the civilian population of the US.

[pne.livejournal.com]

They used to have a milk bank in the hospital where Amy was in the NICU, but they shut it down a while back. If I remember the nurse's words correctly when I asked about the possibility (since Stella had more milk than she needed for a while), she said that the hassles with hygiene and corresponding documentation etc. were too much.

[latenightparty.livejournal.com]

Of course, being breastfed doesn't completely shield you from health problems or genetic disorders. Breastfeeding can't fix everything and it doesn't always result in stellar health. But the point is, breastfeeding reduces, not eliminates, the risk of certain health problems and boosts the baby's immune system. I'm of the opinion that one should breastfeed if possible, using formula as a last resort. But if it's not possible because of health problems or HIV or whatever, then it's not the end of the world and it's nobody's fault and it does not mean that your baby will die or even be guaranteed to have health problems. Though I can't help but get irked by people who have no problems preventing them from breastfeeding, but don't because of ignorance.

[latenightparty.livejournal.com]

Can I steal this link?

[conuly]

Sure.

Or, if you feel bad, you can head over to MSNBC and pretend you found it all by yourself :P

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Not to mention how utterly bizarre it is that breastfeeding has to be advertised. You live in a strange world.

[conuly]

Don't you mean udderly?

And yes, it is a strange world, and about the only good thing I can say about it is that at least we have sun for more than a couple of hours a day in the winter.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Hah, but we have sun all day and almost all the night in the summer! That really is wonderful. the winters are too, actually, because it makes the winter so cozy, or at least it does in Iceland, because then we usually have sun during the day, but here in Sweden I think it's mostly overcast the whole sodding winter, and that's not shiny.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Personally, I have no investment in any formula producing companies, and I still think the ads are offensive. There are already so many mothers who feel unreasonably guilty because their children have diabetes and/or asthma (or both, in my case) and this kind of ad is just going to make them feel even more guilty. Both diabetes and asthma are genetic disorders. My sister's son who was breastfed has asthma because guess what, everyone in the fricking family has asthma. Yet her daughter, who was not breastfed (and this was a big source of guilt, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not breastfeed that child) does not have asthma.

Why not make ads that encourage women to breastfeed? Why not emphasize the positive aspects of breastfeeding rather than making ads that say things like, "Your children will DIE if they are not breastfed! DIE DIE DIE!" And then the women who for whatever reason cannot breastfeed will feel horrendously guilty. Like my former roommate who stopped taking her needed psychiatric medications so that she could breastfeed, and ended up attempting suicide on her son's first birthday because she wasn't taking her medications.

[conuly]

Because emphasizing the positive aspects of breastfeeding doesn't appear to be working. (Actually, I often wonder if they emphasize the wrong positive aspects of breastfeeding. They ought to talk about how it's cheaper, or more convenient, or something, but that's another issue altogether.)

Of course, conditions like diabetes and asthma run in families. However, they also are linked to things like smoking during pregnancy and, yes, formula feeding. As you point out, some kids are lucky - they can be fed a diet of straight ice cream since birth, and they'll thrive. Other kids aren't lucky - they can have all the right genes, and their parents can do all the right things, and they'll still get sick. But most people are middle of the line, and if they do the right things here, they'll see an effect there. And if you know your kid is already predisposed to, say, asthma, doing whatever you can to minimize it from popping up in him (or being really bad as opposed to just bad) seems like a good idea.

As for people who can't breastfeed... I don't know. When there is a clear correlation between something so small as receiving formula samples at the hospital and "not being able to breastfeed", I suspect many people who think they couldn't breastfeed could. They didn't know how and could have used help, would be my guess. And when it comes to people with medical conditions, of course you should take your medication. That's obvious, and your ex-roommate made a bad call, and I'm sorry about that. But it's interesting to note that many medications which people assume are dangerous to take when breastfeeding are actually considered to be harmless by experts in the field - which might have helped her to know.

As for the end of this rambling comment, I've said it before and I've said it again, and I'll probably keep saying it for a long time - we need more milk banks. Not to say "NOBODY CAN EVER USE FORMULA EVER AGAIN EVER!!!!!" but because that would create more choices for people. Can't breastfeed? Use donated milk. At the moment, I know that's not an option for the vast majority of people here and where you are and so on. And even if it were an option, a lot of people would choose not to do that, and that's their business. But I would like to see it happen anyway. Choice is good.

Wait, new end of the comment - you, as a private individual, should of course have the right to input into publicly funded commercials in your country. For you to say "Look, this commercial offends me, and I don't think it'll accomplish what it sets out to accomplish" is useful. I just don't think that formula companies should be allowed to make those decisions, or even have the input. That's like letting car companies make the commercials promoting busses and bikes. It doesn't *work*.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Unless WIC or insurence (some do, most do NOT) cover donated milk from a bank, almost NO ONE who gets formula on WIC will switch to donated milk.

Why?

Milk bank breast milk costs about Three Dollars per ounce. Its simply not affordable unless you're extremely wealthy. A well eating bottle fed baby eats...what? 8 ounces every 3-4 hours? That is about 24 dollars a bottle, 6-8 times a day? so...up to 192 dollars a DAY just to give their baby breastmilk.

Yeah, not going to happen. Great thing to wish for, unrealistic to ever expect to happen (And most of the cost of the milk comes from the pasturization process, not the lack of milk itself).

:(

Why spend 200 dollars a day (even more if you have a baby who eats every TWO hours or something! or say, has reflux like Seth did and pukes most of it and needs re-feeding...) when they could get the formula for free.

[conuly]

Part of the problem, though, is that there are simply not enough milk banks, nor enough peple donating milk. If there were more, the price would go down.

Despite what you think, pasturization is simply not that expensive. If it were, cow's milk would cost a heck of a lot more than it does, even with subsidies.

I never said, simply "I want to see more people using donated milk". I said, very clearly, "I want to see more milk banks. Let's distinguish a bit here.

[conuly]

And yes, I'd like WIC to cover donated milk, if milk banks were more common, which of course they're not.

In the meantime, I'd like to see WIC provide more help for breastfeeding - pay for a LC, pay for a pump, that sort of thing.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

As for people who can't breastfeed... I don't know. When there is a clear correlation between something so small as receiving formula samples at the hospital and "not being able to breastfeed", I suspect many people who think they couldn't breastfeed could. They didn't know how and could have used help, would be my guess.

When I had both of my children, a nurse taught me how to breastfeed. How to hold the baby, how to make sure the baby was actually nursing well, how to cope with the inevitable skin cracking and blisters. No pressure as formula was available, information about devices like pumps and aids for inverted nipples, and someone to answer what questions I had.

Some people just can't breastfeed, and some babies just can't breastfeed. They made sure I knew that too, mostly to make sure that guilt over not breastfeeding didn't prevent me from feeding my children enough or properly.

I don't know whether this was due to both of my children being born in military hospitals. I don't know whether that information would be made as freely available in Canada, or in the civilian population of the US.

[pne.livejournal.com]

They used to have a milk bank in the hospital where Amy was in the NICU, but they shut it down a while back. If I remember the nurse's words correctly when I asked about the possibility (since Stella had more milk than she needed for a while), she said that the hassles with hygiene and corresponding documentation etc. were too much.

[latenightparty.livejournal.com]

Of course, being breastfed doesn't completely shield you from health problems or genetic disorders. Breastfeeding can't fix everything and it doesn't always result in stellar health. But the point is, breastfeeding reduces, not eliminates, the risk of certain health problems and boosts the baby's immune system. I'm of the opinion that one should breastfeed if possible, using formula as a last resort. But if it's not possible because of health problems or HIV or whatever, then it's not the end of the world and it's nobody's fault and it does not mean that your baby will die or even be guaranteed to have health problems. Though I can't help but get irked by people who have no problems preventing them from breastfeeding, but don't because of ignorance.

[latenightparty.livejournal.com]

Can I steal this link?

[conuly]

Sure.

Or, if you feel bad, you can head over to MSNBC and pretend you found it all by yourself :P

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Not to mention how utterly bizarre it is that breastfeeding has to be advertised. You live in a strange world.

[conuly]

Don't you mean udderly?

And yes, it is a strange world, and about the only good thing I can say about it is that at least we have sun for more than a couple of hours a day in the winter.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Hah, but we have sun all day and almost all the night in the summer! That really is wonderful. the winters are too, actually, because it makes the winter so cozy, or at least it does in Iceland, because then we usually have sun during the day, but here in Sweden I think it's mostly overcast the whole sodding winter, and that's not shiny.