Join the campaigns to BF in Public and stop Formula advertising!!!!!!

[Difers]

I got this e-mail today and thought that some of you may be interested in supporting these campaigns

Dear Friend,

We have a short, but important window of opportunity to influence policy and implement two of the Breastfeeding Manifesto?s objectives. As a supporter of The Breastfeeding Manifesto I am writing to ask for your urgent help to influence two important proposed laws which could see the implementation of objective 5 and 7 of the Manifesto- if you act now. Visit www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk and send the emails to the government ministers on the ?How You Can Help? page. It?s quick and easy!

Objective 5-Breastfeeding in public

Objective 5 of the Manifesto is: ?Develop policy and practice to support breastfeeding in public places.? The UK government has released The Single Equality Bill for consultation. This means that everyone including organizations and members of the public can submit their comments on this proposed new law. The Single Equality Bill covers a range of issues but one of its aims is to stop the discrimination against breastfeeding mothers in public. We are delighted that the government is finally addressing this issue. However, we feel that the bill as it currently stand is worrying; it only provides protection for those mothers who are breastfeeding a child up to the age of 12 months. By only protecting Mothers breastfeeding children under the age of 12 months the UK government is sending out a message that it is unacceptable to breastfeed a child over the age of one and therefore suggesting it is acceptable to discriminate against them. The World Health Organization recommends that babies are breastfed for two years or beyond and so we believe that the cap on 12 months could be damaging to children?s health. We need you to send the email at the bottom of this pagewww.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk/make_your_voice_heard_1.php to ask the government to change the proposed law to ensure all women are fully protected to feed their babies in public beyond their first birthday.

Objective 7- Advertising of Formula Milk

Objective 7 of the Manifesto is: ?Adopt the World Health Organization International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant Resolutions.? The Food Standards Agency is currently consulting regulations for the advertising and promotion of formula milk. You may have read the recent press coverage and out cry surrounding OK, the model Jordan and SMA formula milk. It is this kind of promotion which we want to stop. However the proposed regulations would not cover this kind of promotion and so the regulations are inadequate for protecting parents and babies from the influence of formula-milk promotion. Parents need reliable information based on evidence, not commercial pressure from baby milk companies. Non commerical, independent information will benefit all parents including those who bottle feed. However, the proposed regulations are inadequate for the job of protecting parents and babies from the influence of formula promotion. Objective 7 of the Manifesto calls for the implementation of The WHO Code on the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and it provides an excellent model for the law that is required. We need you to send the email at www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk/make_your_voice_heard_2.php asking the Foood Standards Agenncy to go further than they propose to go.

It is only with your help and when we work together that we will be be able to influence the government and have lasting affect on children?s health.

I urge you to please visit this website and send the emails, your voice really matters.

Best Wishes

Alison Baum

Co-Founder and Spokesperson, The Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition

Message withdrawn

Els, I do agree, the money should be there...totally!

Doodle, that is a good idea you know...

Suey, if you don't know the names of any other formulas besides SMA because of the Jordan nonsense, can i suggest you walk down the 'baby' aisle of any regular supermarket the next time you do your grocery shopping? they are not far from the nappies, sudocream, cottonballs, and all the other bits and bobs people (and you will soon)buy for their baby. You don't need ads to 'inform' you about formula. they are all very much the same muchness despite what the labels and marketing say. Much, much closer to each other than any one of them can claim to be to breastmilk.

I am afraid that i think the average woman out there spends more a lot time researching cots and pushchairs than they do about informing themselves about infant feeding. But that is just what I think.

One other point which you raised about SMA. Their jordan 'ad' in the magazine has worked in making you very brand aware, hasn't it. See. Marketing works.

yes tik tok i do agree that advertising and information are not necessarily the same thing.

I do maintain that formula companies should be subject to the same advertising standards as any one else. I obviously do not condone any misleading information in the campaigns.

unless the provison of formula becomes that of the state - then i do not think that formula advertising should be banned.

perhaps it needs stricter monitoring?

i believe that information on all types of feeding and nutrition should be available and promoted more readily.

I do believe that Brestfeeding is somewhat of a culture shift especially in some parts of the country. Breastfeeding i public is still a culture shift in lots of places. I believe that with enough investment from the government, that there can be a culture shift. I do believe that sure start have helped this to happen in many deprived communities.

So to conclude I do think that there should be a more equitable distribution of information and that the government should seriously invest in education and promotion to help the shift in culture in some areas in britain.

i do not think that formula advertizing should be banned - but i do believe that the advertizing of the "sole" source of nutrition for babies needs to be rigourously monitored to ensure that the information int he campaigns is factual and not decieving.

"Their jordan 'ad' in the magazine has worked in making you very brand aware, hasn't it. See. Marketing works."

I wonder how much of that is due to the response to it from those complaining.

they will have counted on it
Doesn't mean it should be allowed to slip by

Wouldn't it be a cool Idea if the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition joined forces with charities like Breakthrough (breast cancer charity) or Asthma UK and linked campaigns e.g. During Breast Cancer Awareness week have ads re BF and it link decreasing chance of Breast cancer etc...just a thought.

May give BF a good profile boost which it seems to desperately need.

Els - you will find that many people resent breastfeeding being given a higher profile. They see posters, leaflets and information campaigns as 'shoving it down our throats', 'making women feel guilty for not breastfeeding' and 'putting pressure on women to breastfeed.' See discussions on mumsnet for examples of all of these.

I actually don't think breastfeeding needs a 'good profile boost', at least not until we have training, support and legislation in place. While I am not against marketing and advertising campaigns to make people aware of breastfeeding, I don't think the 'good profile boost' is lacking.

The ideas you come up with are good ones (to link with other campaigns) and in fact they are so good, they are already in place, but my recollection is that the breast cancer charities are unwilling to be involved (not sure about asthma charities). Breakthrough, for instance, mentions the protective effect of breastfeeding, but stops short of suggesting women might consider doing it: "Breakthrough believes that the decision to breastfeed needs to be a personal one, and women themselves should decide if, when and for how long they breastfeed their children. "

Custardo - I am glad you have explained your position more clearly.

You do not object to advertising/marketing/promotion per se but you want it monitored, regulated and where necessary restricted, and you want any health claims to be sustainable and true, yes?

You also want independent information about all aspects of imfant feeding to be easily available, and for parents to be able to find out as much as they want to about ingredients, safe preparation, health effects and safe use of formula.....and this information should be available outside the commercial arena, yes?

Well - you should sign the manifesto then.

Marketing of infant formula would not be completely banned - but if we adopted the WHO code on marketing, it would not be permitted to target the general public, and marketing to health workers would be restricted to informational and scientific materials.

Actual ads - the sort that have little or no scientifically valid information - would be banned.

I find it very hard to see why anyone can justify opposing this...it is, after all, to protect the health of the nation!

But BF does need a better profile. I have seen on MN and in papers where the image of a BF woman is some lentil birk wearing eco warrior (NOT WHAT I THINK just what I have read...) Maybe that is putting other woman off? BF ads don't just need to be about the benefits of BF but make it's image glossier?

Listen I am not even good at BF myself (DS 4 m only and with DD managed 3 months) BUT I do think we need to encourage more woman to at least try.

Tiktok, you are right though that without better training, support and legislation in place we won't be able to move forward.

Well let's just hope, eh?!

Ells, people will label and judge others no matter what - and why lentil eating, Birkie wearing and caring for the environment should be a bad thing, I have no idea, nor do I know where people get the idea that only that sort of woman breastfeeds.

Actual posters and leaflets on bf tend to show youngish mothers who can't be pigeon-holed socially or economically, which is probably a good thing, so this awful tendency to judge and say 'that person does not look or dress like me, therefore whatever she does is BAD'.

If you make the image 'glossier' as you suggest, you put off people who feel they can't attain glossiness or glamour themselves.

What I am saying is, I think, that attention to the image of breastfeeding has been done. No one is putting out images these days that could put people off. The real changes have to be more substantial - in training, in acceptability, and in legislation against formula promotion.

I have been breastfeeding my daughter for 20 months and intend to continue until 2 years old.
I read up on all the info and decided I'd go with the WHO advice and was happy with that...but...I haven't breastfed in public since she was a year old.
I was feeding her at a softplay club and a couple of women were literally pointing at us. At the time, I was fine because I was with other Mum's who laughed and pointed back but since then I've gone to covert operations and only breastfeed indoors!
I think that if it was illegal to disallow breastfeeding it would help a lot.
Cafe owners are adding to the problem by turning their noses up or turning you away if you breastfeed in their premises.
I happened to catch the Friends episode the other night with Chandler and Joey freaking out because Carol was breastfeeding Ben. Ross was saying to them, that there was nothing weird about it, 'It's just Ben having his lunch'.
That sums it up, doesn't it?

well if it isn't about 'banning' advertizing but monitoring it so it gives factual info - then yes of course i wholeheartedly agree.

i do not agree with banning advertizing of particular products as that smacks of censorship.

pnatapaddy- only know about the jordan sma furore because of mumsnet.

Perhaps you have forgotten what it might be like to be PG- my feet and ankles swell after walking/ standing for 15 mins. Yes i have done research into the bewildering amount of stuff i will definitely need when my baby comes. Including buggies etc. But I do not want to stand in a shop reading the back of tins for something i may not need when I am heavily PG. I only know what sudocreme is because a friend who lives abroad asked me to get her some.

No, I am not young. I am a 37 year old professional and I run my own business. I really don't think I am at all unusual in not knowing any formula brands.

And what is so bad about doing research into cots/ prams anyway?

Suey2 - I thought I had no idea about formula brands either until the midwife said "you have to give some formula, which one do you want - we have Cow & gate or SMA" I asked which one was best and she said "Your milk is best, they are both Mcdonalds". I said SMA because that what my mother fed my nephew 20 years ago, the only bottlefed baby I knew of (at that time)so branding can remain with us a very long time indeed.

I think feeding in general is quite neglected antenatally, magazines shy away from articles about breastfeeding probably due to advertising revenues and there is too little time to discuss feeding in detail in NHS classes.

I know some hospitals have special bf classes, my friend went to one but still came away thinking babies fed every three hours and they didn't discuss difficulties like thrush etc..

I know as a physio you will want to breastfeed so grab the helpine numbers and read Kellymom website while you have time, because although some find it easy, some don't and it's difficult to read up with a crying baby. Good Luck!

Sorry, custardo, the campaign is for banning ads directed at the general public (ads can go to HCPs as long as they are factual and scientific).

Not censorship, IMO - just putting public and infant health ahead of commercial interests.

since MN introduced you to the only brand of formula you know, don't you think that is a good thing? I believe it has made you aware of at least one formula brand in a more educated way than SMA's ads would have you. I do find your arguements here a bit disingenious as a scroll down 'Active Conversations' regularly topics like 'Formula - Prebiotics (Aptamil) vs organic (Hipp)'. Not difficult for anyone to deduce 2 more brands, nevermind a professional business owner.

i suffered terrible oedema in pg from 5 mos and was pretty much paralysed by it by the time i was 8 mo pg. it is still putting me off a second child 2.5 yrs after giving birth. i am not interested in swapping horror stories though.

can i suggest sticking 'baby milk formula UK in google if you are suffering too much do go to the supermarket? All the formula companies now have 'helplines' and print what is on the back of the cartons on their website.

nowt wrong with researching prams. just sharing an observation of mine.

thanks for support difers

oh absolutely, when you are heavily pregnant or a new mohter, strolling to the local supermarket to do the research is probably not teh greatest and most apealing thing...but yeah, google is your friend

Must admit, I am pretty sure, I researched Prams and Slings especially far more then I ever did Formula...lol...weird really....as I suppose the Baby itself really couldn't give a toss if it lays ina Buggaboo or whatever pram as long as it's comfy and the pram/Buggy in question doesn't cause any longterm adverse effects...whilest, of course what you feed them is kinda really important....hohum eh!

Saw a very heavily pregnant woman today, with the same sized bump as I had when pg with my ys, and I really was rooting for her, hoping that she won't have long left in this heat, bless her!

pmsl at 'breastfeeding wish list club'.

desi, you have copped out of your initial stance which was that breastfeeding past the age of one is a no-no, Especially if it is done in public, because apparently this is how the majority of people feel with regards to it.

you have suggested that breastfeeding past age one is useless, babies should be on solids by then, etc.

you then, several posts later, state you support the cause of the bfeeding manifesto but just didnt like the name.

no you do not support the cause of this manifesto, so please stop chopping and changing your point of view when your popularity starts to wane.

I find this attitude prudish, and i am proud to be from a culture where it is NORMAL and healthy for a two year old to help himself or herself to his or her mother's breast.

Oh god, I hate it when formula is called the "McDonald's of milk".

McDonald's is junk food and can harm your health. Does formula HARM or does it just not help PREVENT illnesses.

actually I have never heard it referred to as the McDonalds of milk, that is a very unfortunate turn of phrase indeed. the midwife should be ashamed of herself.
to answer your question Els - breastmilk is the norm, it is the average,it provides the baby with the level of immunity (in the first few months) and longer term health benefits (as well as being designed to meet human nutrtional needs) that evolution has designed to protect the vulnerable newborn. it is not that a bf is getting some wonderdrug - the bf baby is getting what nature/evolution intended/designed depending how you look at it.
formula just doesn't do that. it isn't designed to and it can't. it doesn't meet the norm.

Totally agree that BF does what it needs to and FF doesn't (I am ver pro BF and have done it twice now - though ended too early both times)