Bombarded with toddler milk adverts >:(

[jaggythistle]

In my pregnant lady free stuff frenzy, I signed up for or sent away for pretty much everything going.

I even got all the pointless cuddly toys from formula companies I had no intention of using and as a result get all manner of marketing guff.

I have generally just binned it all without too much thought, but recently my email and post is absolutely jammed with information about how my poor toddler (currently 11 mo) will be horribly deprived without toddler/growing up milk.

I am glad I am reasonably confident that he will be ok with a few bf a day and whatever I am feeding him - these companies are really trying hard to push their products!

I did see an almost positive thing in the small print of an Aptimil advert about bf being 'normal and natural and can carry on for many months'.

What is the deal though with the small print of all formula ads saying 'It is essential to eat a healthy diet in preparation for and during breastfeeding' - is it just to make bf sound difficult? I know a healthy diet is much better for mum's health, but if you ate lots of cake for a bit your baby would be ok...

This has been annoying me for a bit, I really must unsubscribe to all the anoying mail now!

It's all bollocks designed to do one thing-part you from your hard earned cash. They don't have anyone's best interests at heart but their 6own^.

Go ahead and unsubscribe.

You'd think after 11 months of bf I would havbe got round to making them stop sending stuff really...

Just annoys me that less confident people might be worried by their cow's milk comparisons and pictures of giant plates of broccoli!!

Really can't see how the UK lets them advertise follow on milk and now they are influencing children via our exam system.

Sorry. Rant over

I just never accept any advertising in email, post or on tv so thankfully am blissfully unaware of most of this.

Yes ... All designed to make breastfeeding seem a faff

My diet in the early days of feeding DD was biscuit based

Have yiu read The Politics of Breastfeeding? That is very enlightening

it is on my Amazon wish list, nearly ordered it the other day actually... :)

I am completely at the exam question thing. Exam bodies are in a position of trust and surely they have breeched that in these instances. They should be working to promote and normalise bf.

Re the emails, "toddler milk" (er, no ta, human milk please) in general, and the insinuation that lactation reguires a special diet, well surprise surprise, formula companies are lying manipulative scum [anger]

I am in a que to get politics of bf from the library. I have to stop myself reading the threads about it in the mean time!

Quite astonished at that exam question. My god.

to come back to this jaggy, the thing you said about the ad saying bf is "normal and natural and can carry on for months" ... I think WHO might have something to say about that. Surely it should read years rather than months?!

When the Toddler milk adverts come on TV I'm usually screaming at the tele! The one telling you how much cows milk you would need to drink to get enough iron is the one that particularly annoys me. I want to yell at the mother to stop wasting her money on toddler formula and buy some eggs, broccoli and meat if she's worried about iron intake!
As for diet - my main food in the early days of breastfeeding was chocolate!

I don't scream at the telly but I have to turn over when the toddler milk adverts come on as they drive me insane

My main supply of calories with DC1 for the first few weeks was Poppycocks Cashew Popcorn. They had stopped selling it locally by the time I had DC2 so I ate mainly toast and chocolate. It hasn't appeared to do them or me any lasting harm

yeah that's why I said almost positive! As if after x months it's not....

Someone must have complained about the giant-beaker-of-milk ad, because now when they show it, there is very small print saying, "cows' milk is not a good source of iron" at the bottom of the screen.

DH is happier as now I just mutter at the TV instead of shouting at it

We need simpler formula advertising regulations - see here.

we all seem to be bombarded by 'information' about all things! i bottle fed after failing at breast feeding and felt very distressed by the breast is best slogans everywhere, made me feel like i was evil. i think parents should be given more space to decide how they want to do things

The formula manufacturers information is misleading though and is designed to get people to buy their products and increase profits.

Breastfeeding promotion is well intentioned and is not designed to hurt anyones feelings :(

It's not about reducing choice, it's about reducing cynical marketing from formula companies.

claylady - sadly, women who wanted to bf and switched reluctantly to formula do sometimes feel bad when they see info about breastfeeding :(

I don't understand why the answer to this dilemma - and it is a dilemma - is to permit information and advertising about formula that is misleading.

If you use formula, you want good information, based on proper evidence and not based purely on commercial desires to sell you a particular brand.

Mothers who use formula deserve just as much info as mothers who breastfeed. If they want to find out about brands and types of formula, how does an ad like the 'big mug' help them in any way?

The advert I hate (I think it is for C&G) is the one where they are advertising follow-on milk but the last shot is of a baby that looks under 6 months snuggling up in the mothers arms with a bottle of formula

The formula companies are very careful about ages - DD3 did a photo shoot for toddler milk and they had to have a copy of her birth certificate & see proof of my address to be sure she was over 1.

ineedsomesleep, thanks for posting that link about the exam questions. That is absolutely fucking ridiculous. Has there been a thread about it do you know?

When DS2 was 10 weeks Cow and Gate sent me some baby porridge and a individual sachet of formula toddler milk. I have no idea where they got my details from, I didn't fill in any of the online stuff and sent the Bounty lady packing without my details.

I was going to send it back with a stern note but then my laziness asserted itself and overrode my outrage.

Although i personally can't see anything wrong with the KS3 question that they have complained about.

The first one is just shit though.

ISNT there was a long and angry thread about it. Let me see if I can find it...

Ah here it is

thanks mbj