Q and A with Mike Brady from Baby Milk Action

[RachelMumsnet]

We're inviting you to send in your questions to Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Coordinator at Baby Milk Action.

Mike graduated in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and has worked in Africa as an engineer and science teacher. At Baby Milk Action, he monitors the baby food industry and campaigns to hold them to account.

Baby Milk Action is a non-profit organisation which aims to save lives and to end the avoidable suffering caused by inappropriate infant feeding. It is the UK member of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), a network of over 200 citizens groups in more than 100 countries.

Baby Milk Action's slogan is: "Protecting breastfeeding - Protecting babies fed on formula". It is perhaps best known for promoting a boycott of Nestlé, but also works with national governments and international bodies on regulations and marketing standards.

Mike was seen earlier this year outside Nestlé (UK) HQ in the guise of [[http://info.babymilkaction.org/emailnestle
Mr. Henry Nastie]], explaining Nestlé's marketing practices.

Send your questions in to Mike before midday on Friday 9th December and we'll link through to his answers from this thread later the following week.

A diet made up totally of fast food will kill you eventually,formula won't.In my 3 dc's case it actually saved their lives.

Fast food is trash, formula isn't.It may not be breast milk but it's a perfectly decent temporary food far more healthy I hasten to add than the vast amount of trashy foods many mothers(breast feeders included) choose to wean their babies on to,foods said babies are often subjected to for life.

Babies in this country thrive on formula,children don't thrive on a diet of fast food.

So enough already of the fastfood comparison,it's insulting,spiteful and totally wrong.

Poor Mike - I hope he can see past all the posts on here that seem to entirely misjudge his motives and the purpose of his tireless work.

For all of those that are 'not comfortable' with this webchat, that is your right. I would urge you to read the BMA website before you conclude that there is anything wrong with what it is doing. If, after reading it, you STILL feel that the BMA is bad for ffing parents then please come back and explain why. From a historical point of view, BMA has undeniably done a lot to make ffing safer, in this country and elsewhere.

Otherwise, let's not turn this into just another bf vs ff debate. There's plenty of those around elsewhere and they go down a sad and predictable path. The genuine purposes of BMA, and the people who still need its help, deserve more than this.

Hear, hear

I don't have a bug to bare with Mike Brady and BMA if he/it sticks to the remit but if it turns into yet another demonizing formula thread which it already has done as predicted sorry but I'm not comfortable with it.

Frozen you seem to be laying blame at those of us who refuse to go down the predictable formula witch hunt path.

I also think Mumsnet should be inviting a spokesperson in favor of supporting formula feeding mothers to do a Q&A to even things up a bit.

I wonder if people would be so NIMBY/I'm alright Jack about formula feeding safety if this was the scenario on having your baby:-

A sales person nurse tells you about this amazing formula and sends you home with some cans of formula. Breastfeeding is not mentioned.

On finishing the cans of formula, you go to the local supermarket and head to the baby food aisle where you see row upon row of formula. You have brought the can of formula the nurse said you were to use with you so you can by the right product. You need to bring the can with you because all the writing on the can is in Russian and German not English and you can't read English very well anyway.

You spot the brand you were told to buy but can't afford it as it's 35% of your monthly income for 1 month supply. Instead you plump for another brand on the same display stand which is much cheaper, there are other brands but they are not quite so affordable. It has a nice picture of a breastfeeding bear and baby bear on the front so it must be baby milk - it's on the shelf next to the other formulas as well. It has a symbol of a bottle with a circle/line through it on the back but you think 'great I can't really afford to buy new teats & bottles so I'll just cup feed the formula'.

One small problem - it's not baby formula it's non-dairy coffee creamer and if you feed it to your baby they will get kwashiorkor and might even die.

Does that sound like the average experience of a wealthy (on a worldwide scale) formula feeding UK family? No luckily it's not, but it is an experience that is had by many families the world over because of Nestle and other companies who put profit before lives.

That is what BMA is interested in. Not about disparaging ffing mothers but protecting babies from unscrupulous companies who don't care one way or another if they die or are ill because their mothers have been coerced into formula feeding, when they just can't afford to do it safely like we can here in the UK (for the most part)

I should add I am really glad that ff is on the whole a safe way to feed babies (not the safest but it's a reasonable choice for mothers to make) here in the UK/Western countries, it's babies in developing nations who's families have to chose between feeding theor baby formula or feeding the rest of the family that concerns me.

I also think Mumsnet should be inviting a spokesperson in favor of supporting formula feeding mothers to do a Q&A to even things up a bit.

MilaMae, again, since you didn't answer me before, have you read the BMA website? Another quote:

Protecting babies fed on formula

Breastmilk substitutes are legitimate products for when a child is not breastfed and does not have access to expressed or donor breastmilk. Companies should comply with composition and labelling requirements and other Code requirements to reduce risks - independently of government measures. Parents have a right to accurate, independent information.

Baby Milk Action is not anti-baby milk. Our work protects all mothers and infants from irresponsible marketing.

Oops that was my bolding obviously, didn't quite work!

And apologies to FunnysInTheGarden as I didn't reply to you! . I will hold up my hands and say I had only glanced at the BMA site before now - having looked at bit more closely it seems clearly to not be anti-formula!

Caz have you read my posts?

Yes I have looked at the site.

My concerns are with this thread and the Q&A session not what's written or quoted on the site. Quotes are very easy to write,so far many posts on here are very anti supporting formula feeding mothers. We're now not even supposed to be able to buy our baby's food from supermarkets.

And Truth I'll say it yet again I'm all for supporting mothers in 3rd world countries but not if it means demonizing the use of formula in our country with threads like this.

And re where one should buy formula from,if not supermarkets.

Should we be buying it from some dodgy corner shop hidden out of view or even better make our own???? .

No thanks,we don't actually live in the 3rd world but in a developed country with clean water and sterilizing facilities aplenty so to have easy access to formula in a supermarket isn't exactly unreasonable to expect is it?

But without the support of people in places like this country how do you propose that changes are made to companies practices elsewhere?

It won't matter much to Nestle if a dirt poor farmer from Laos won't buy Nestle products if they're on US$1000 a year but it will if a affluent person in the West chooses different brands of coffee/chocolate/pet food/etc/etc. My family is not well off by any means but if I went back to buying Nestle products I'd estimate I'd spend upwards of £300 a year on them.

If we shouldn't support BMA, what should we do to help those less able to protect themselves and their babies from unscrupulous companies? I'd really like to hear your suggestions and I'm honestly not being sarcastic, if there is a better way to enact change then I'm all ears.

MilaMae - DH and I actually had the same conv. last night re. formula in supermarkets. DH thought it should be pharmacy only as in a bfing culture there would be support 24hr a day and I posited that it should be available in supermarkets/cornershops/etc because we don't live in a bfing culture so don't have 24hr wet nurses in the Yellow Pages .

I had to remind DH about me being carted off in an ambulance when DD1 was 2 weeks old at 12am on a Friday night. Luckily DD1 was being mostly bottle fed due to jaundice so we had lots of formula in the house. If we hadn't he'd have had to go out to Tesco with the baby and how lucky we are to live in a big town with two 24hr supermarkets.

He then agreed it was a good thing that formula is relatively easy to get hold of in an emergency .

MilaMae if you don't have a problem with the BMA why don't you support the webchat then?

It is the BMA that MN are hosting, not some of the posters on here.

Apologies this is meant to be a thread for questions, so mine is the same as someone above:

What do you think about the fact that so many people think you are completely anti-formula? Do you think this is something the BMA should/will address?

I would like to ask why he thinks it is so difficult to discuss the issue without ff-ers popping up and throwing words like "nazi" and "propaganda" around.

I have yet to see any harsh words come from a breastfeeding mother to one who bottle feeds. I've seen plenty go the other way.

So I was insulting myself??? I stated that my children had formula but that does not mean I am going to be blind to the negatives of it. My children would have starved without it because I was too ill to even see them for hours after birth and too ill to pump for days. I'm grateful it kept them alive that does not mean I will ignore the fact it contains many things it should not (MSG, Free aspartic acid, BPA, Fluorosis, DHA/ARA, Hexane, Mercury, Melamine, Cyanuric acid, Formaldehyde, Antinutrients/soy, Bacteria) it is not sterile and more babies end up in hospital who are formula fed than are breastfed. And don't tell me your children were healthy (mine aren't BTW) because the plural of anecdote is not data.

I wasn't comparing formula to 6 months of McDonald's, I was comparing it to ONE meal. One meal at McDonald's might not be the healthiest choice but it's generally not going to harm you. If for that one meal you would starve without it, it is the best meal on the planet.

"I also think Mumsnet should be inviting a spokesperson in favor of supporting formula feeding mothers to do a Q&A to even things up a bit."

But that's what BMA and Mike Brady are doing

Jesus, I cannoy believe that some people would be against Mike Brady!

AS loads of people have said, BMA acts in the interests of ALL BABIES.

If you feel 'got at' for ffing, firstly that is a reflection of your own issues and secondly boo flipping hoo. At least in this country you have the opportunity to safely formula feed your child (as i did ds1). Millions do not and their babies die. I reckon their needs take priority over our pampered western sensibilities.

One poster has said formula should not be available in supermarkets.

One poster.

This is a mad idea.

Of course formula should be available in supermarkets.

It should be cheap, easily available and marketed ethically.

No one sensible is 'anti formula'.No one sensible judges formula feeding mothers.

On a site as big as this, you will get weird views - but they are not typical.

Please don't let this thread be derailed by one person making a daft comment which is then responded to with outrage - rolled eyes is more appropriate.

And please stop with the demonising formula stuff. It is tedious and gets in the way of discussion.

I meant with the accusations of demonising formula.

"Nazi" and "propaganda" haven't appeared on here .

Mrsgorden I think you'll find plenty of breastfeeders hurl harsh words-just read this thread.

"ffeeders popping up" so we're not allowed now to discuss the use of formula even though we(the vast majority of mothers sadly) actually use it.

I think you'll find ffeeders generally "pop" up to disagree with ridiculous statements such as formula needing to be banned from supermarkets and likened to McDonalds.

Oh I get it,we shouldn't dare to "pop" up and say anything,our voices simply aren't worthy or valid.

Oh now we get the usual"issues" comment,I wondered how long it would be before it appeared. How thoroughly patronising.

The stock comment designed to make any statement from a ffeeder seem to have little substance -as whatever we say is a result of having "issues".

I have no issues whatsoever,why on earth would I ?

I think the suggestion was that popping up is fine - it's the harsh words that aren't fine. Always helpful to read to the end of the sentence, I would say :)

No one thinks formula feeders - the majority of mothers - should not discuss the topic....again, crazy to think this is what is being suggested! Yes, disagree with the supermarket thing - but then move on, yes? You've brought your outrage up five flippin' times - enough already!

The poster who drew the McD analogy has explained her reasons - I don't think it's a good analogy as no one has to live on McDonalds, ever, and it could never be a necessity for anyone, but babies who are not breastfed have to have formula...and as such it is a necessary product. But the analogy is not worth this persistent outrage, IMO.

Glad to oblige.

I was also a formula feeder so chill.

Again the BMA is there for all babies.

I say issues because you mention formula being demonised. It is anything but. I used to feel guilty for ffing ds1 but that came entirely from me. The whole of society supported me ffing him. I have had to seek out help to bf ds2.