Help Restrict the Promotion of Formula milk - Send Email to FSA before May 5th

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This is from the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition ....

How a baby is fed has profound health implications for both mother and child. It is very important that all parents, those who use formula and who breastfeed, have access to reliable information based on evidence that is free from commercial pressure. Only when this happens will parents be able to make a fully informed decision about how they want to feed their child.

In the UK however, weak laws mean that formula advertising and promotion far outweighs good quality information on feeding. The result of this is that formula feeding mothers find it hard to access reliable information to understand the facts about the various products, including safe preparation and storage of formula milk.,

To improve protection for parents and babies the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition is calling for the WHO Code of Marketing of Breastmilk substitutes and subsequent resolutions to become the Law in the UK (Objective 7 of the Manifesto). This is something we are committed to, but it can't happen overnight.

However, we do have an opportunity NOW to help move UK legislation in the right direction and strengthen the legislation governing baby milk promotion in the UK. The Food Standards Agency is consulting until February 5th on the new Guidance which the formula milk advertising must follow when promoting, labeling and advertising formula milk.

Please send the email below and play your part in helping to ensure that the new Regulations are as strong and robust as possible. Public pressure makes a real difference so make your voice heard!

www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk/make_your_voice_heard_2.php/

Don't forget those mothers who can't breast feed their baby for one reason or another and who are devestated by that fact and the most consoling thing to them at the time is the promotion of what is considered to be the best formula you can get.

But nannyjo, you wont find out hwat is the 'best' formula through an advert.

course I wil, if each make tells me what they can provide for my baby in their formula.

What info are you expecting in an advert? THe ingredients listed? What will that tell you? THey will all claim to be the best. I dont know what the best washing up liquid is but I know which makes my hands the softest..

but nannyjo, the point is surely that none of them are better than the others therefore deluding women into believing that is just wrong.

thehedgewitch childish sarcasm seldom ever helps to win an argument

you must be very easily led then to believe that the advert is telling you to not breats feed. No, it's juat telling you that should you need to feed by formula then this is available. It does start by saying that breast is best.

I'm not going to get into a debate about this sensitive issue but I do sometimes think people feel too strongly about this when really it isn't such a big issue. Common sense and practicality will see you and your baby's feeding throught those early feeding days IMO

lackaDAISYcal yes sorry I did understand your post and I quoted you because you said what I was thinking but couldn't get down in words! I thought after I hit post "I really hope she doesn't think I'm trying to contradict her" but it was done then! I am not always very good at explaining what I mean which is why I don't post all that often...

mindalina...I re-read my post six times thinking had I phrased it badly!

nannyjo, I think that a lot of women, myself included, feel that the future health of their children and themselves is a very big issue indeed.

LQK, can I help you out a bit here?

You say:

"It is probably also true that the manufacturer has tested its product in order to claim it has immune system benefits." No - the manufacturers say things like 'support your baby's immune system' which is, in legal terms, slightly different enough to (they hope) dodge the law which prevents spurious health claims. They do not say it has 'benefits' because as you, say, they would have to show this, and they cannot.

In fact, it is illegal under UK law to imply an equivalence to breastmilk, and these claims have been shown in court to be illegal. The manufacturers have been ordered to change their labelling. They managed to get a deferment to (I think) 2010.

lacka..i formula fed, not by choice...does that mean I don't give a damn about my childrens health!!! No but i'm not gonna give myself a hard time about it though. He is 4 years and is never ill even when in close contact to ill children.

Think about other peoples feelings when you give your strong opinions please.

nannyjo : you say "the most consoling thing to ... is the promotion of what is considered to be the best formula you can get."

I am sure that thought comes from a good place, but boy-oh-boy, that is so infantilising.

Treat women like babies, and hide the facts from them, so they - and all the women who come after them who don't even have babies yet - can be consoled???

If I was devastated that I wasn't able to breastfeed, I would argue for proper help for breastfeeding, for milk banks for those that need them, and for an honest, open approach to the whole topic.

I wouldn't want to perpetuate deception.

How does that help my daughters when the time comes?

Treat women like grown ups, please, not children.

I had help!! My baby was losin weight and fast!! when under 5lb i tried one bottle and it helped. That was more relief to me then anything.

Formula companies don't give me the impression they are saying it is best and thy're not hiding anything. It is what it is and that is that. If you need to use it then do. I'm sure my healthy boy will not use it against me. I will try to Breast feed with DS3 when he comes but as twice it has failed then I will try hard not to be too disheartened when I have to take the same route as DS1 and 2.

nannyjo, I was only responding to your comment that "people feel strongly about this when really it isn't such a big issue".

I too have struggled to BF and have beaten myself up about it for such a long time which contributed towards PND that six years later I'm still being affected by, so I'm all too well aware of people's feelings thank you very much.

I still think however, that the formula companies are twisting the law to suit themselves and should be stopped.

I think we are all aware that advertising is about brand awareness and making more sales, than a health endorsement.
However, banning it just seems ridiculous and does imply that there is something wrong with FF. I could think of worse ads to ban quite frankly.
My issue is that most of the people who are so quick to jump on the 'yes ban it' wagon, have never formula fed (I know not ALL)- but they are the 'succesful breastfeeders' and I hope you can understand that that (in itself) is going to enflame those of us not so fortunate.
Both my DS were in ICU for the first few days and were fed half and half.

formula advertising is already banned under worldwide regulations put in place to protect infant health.
so it isn't a "let's ban it" argument. that was won a long time ago.
this is a "let's enforce the existing regulations".

Well if that was the case in the UK, then it wouldn't be an issue would it ? Presumably there is a reason it hasn't been enforced here. Common sense I presume.

sorry I am not following you at ALL I'm afraid.
it is law in the UK that formula should not be advertised for babies under six months. it is enforced.
the link is just asking for the law to be tightened and clarified.
the reason it needs to be tightened is nothing to do with "common sense" and everything to do with the practices and commercial pressures applied by formula companies

Exactly hedgewitch. And statements like ' put in place to protect infant health' - just further the idea that we are putting our babies health at risk by FF. I think they would be more a risk by starvation.

Wouldn't it be good if fewer people were 'not so fortunate'? Because it's partly in the interests of that that people think formula advertising (not proper information about formula) should be banned. This is the thing that I think so many people just don't understand. If the consolation of those who are already formula feeding means saying things that will lead to more people needing consolation, when there is an alternative, which is to say things that may be less 'consoling' but will mean fewer people end up needing consolation in the first place - doesn't that mean we should choose information over consolation?

It's not all about people who already FF and for whom the experience of choosing/having a choice made for them is in the past, although those people are very vocal, and very sensitive. I'm sure people who are unhappy FFing (which of course isn't all) would really want to do anything they could to make fewer people have their experiences and also end up unhappy and feeling unfortunate. The trouble is that that can mean being open to some really blunt messages about formula - that talk openly about it being a much lower quality liquid* - so as to challenge the status quo of a healthcare system that behaves as if formula is the baseline for feeding and BF is a nice extra sometimes but not important enough to put much effort into. As a society, being open to those blunt messages is what will lead us to a situation with fewer people being unhappy in the long run - but it does mean letting go rather of some of the consoling (and I agree, infantilising) messages in favour of the more bluntly factual ones.

*I don't know how else to put it so as to avoid criticism of the substance being seen as automatically meaning criticism of parents who use it, or of their decisions. They aren't the same thing!

mum1369 - ff does present a greater risk to a baby's health than bf. the risks differ for different types of disease and condition, and they differ for the short term, medium term and long term.
the regulations were put in place to encourage bf, because raising bf rates will prevent more babies getting ill and reduce ill health in the long term.
are you saying you think the regulations were put in place for some other reason?

it's not about starving babies, but the truth is that there are health risks to formula feeding and the current legislation allows the formula companies to neglect to tell people this when they spout their "encourages healthy digestive tract" or whatever claims on their cartons.

I can't understand why people think this is about restricting the choice of women who give their children formula. It is about exactly the opposite or am I just reading it wrong?:

"It is very important that all parents, those who use formula and who breastfeed, have access to reliable information based on evidence that is free from commercial pressure. Only when this happens will parents be able to make a fully informed decision about how they want to feed their child"

That just assumes that people are very very stupid. Do you really believe that formula advertising makes people formula feed. Or rather that is just gives formula feeding people a chioce of what is available ? Have you ever been to a hospital ? Ever met a midwife ? I think breastfeeding is always put first and foremost in most places, including the press - quite rightly so. All we really need is a balance - so that FF is not seen as so terribly wrong and a failure.
I am not consoled by the ads. i don't think i did anything wrong, I know I didn't. But I have seen many many women have absolutely dreadful times in the first precious weeks when they are supposed to be enjoying their baby, feeling that they are a failure.

harpsicordcarrier ; I am saying, that there must be a reason why those regulations have not been adopted in the UK.