Can you help with stopping birth registrars giving out formula promotions?

[Lisanova]

Parents all over the country currently receive marketing materials which undermine breastfeeding when they register their babies birth. This information comes along with their babies birth certificate, in a folder which contains a range of leaflets - some official government ones, along with a leaflet encouraging parents to join Hipp Organics online group. through this group parents will receive free samples, coupons, expert advice etc. they also receive a leaflet for pregnacare's breastfeeding supplement for mothers.

Some of the parents register their babies with a registrar who visits the hospital, this means that the hospitals rules about marketing materials an compliance with Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative are undermined.

These birth registration folders are provided by Lifecycle Marketing, who also produce Emma's diary.

At the moment there is a break in the supply of the Lifecycle wallets, so now is the time to take action!

There is an alternative folder that registrars can use and this is distributed by civil ceremonies, this can be provided along with a wallets for death certificates.

So.. What Can you do?

Please check if your local Registrar uses a folder to present birth certificates which is produced by " lifecycle Marketing". If they do, Inform them that some of the leaflets contained in this folder undermine the WHO code (and Unicef baby friendly accreditation that the PCT/Hospital may be in the process of obtaining/ have obtained) and to point out that other alternatives are available.

I must admit I am intrigued as to what these wallets are for. Do you just get the birth certificate for the baby in a nice folder, and then all the rest is promotional material? Or has it got other important documents in as well?

My children have dual nationality (Britain/Greece) but no official documents in English as I did not want to pay the fee at the British Embassy, so I don't know what they give you. In Greece, the hospital gives you a paper which you then take to the registry office. No nice folders, just an ordinary computer printout with official signatures and stamps is then presented to you as the birth certificate. If you lose it or something happens to it, you just go and ask for another one at no charge. (Although you do have to wait for it!)

I was given promotional material in hospital when I gave birth, though, and I think this is worse (as well as being illegal here in Greece).

memoo - have you read VLC's 'marketing' posts?

It's no more 'insulting' to suggest an affect of an advert for formula would affect someone than it is 'insulting' to suggest an advert for anything else would affect someone! Advertising is designed to change attitudes and behaviours - and we have already explained that this particular ad is not in the business of persuading mothers to make a decision to bf or not. The decision has been made by the time the baby is registered. This particular bit of advertising is designed to 'speak to' the mother whose decision is wavering - perhaps someone for whom breastfeeding is not working well.

Interesting posts, VLC. In fact, all the techniques you outline are being, or have been, used elsewhere, in countries with few restrictions on formula promotion, and here, too, where mothers can get a free cuddly toy (based on the branded character associated with that particular formula) if they sign up to a 'baby club'. In the US bf mothers may get a free, branded 'diaper bag' with samples of formula in it as they leave hospital. You should see the free tat HCPs get from reps - pens, post-it notes, bags, key rings, diary covers (all stuff they use daily, and which mothers also see in use).

Except none of it is 'free', is it? The cost of it all is in the formula, paid for by ff parents.

memoo - I agree with RibenaBerry. It is about normalising ff in general in society. Where I live, formula milks are heavily marketed, and as I said above, I even received advertising material in hospital when I gave birth. Rates of bf are extremely low here. A recent study (sorry, I only have a link to a page in Greek, not in English) showed that many women did not even consider bf, and of those who did, the majority gave up in the first three months.

The most common reason cited for giving up was that the milk had "dried up". This is significant, because formula companies here have been known to advertise "when your milk dries up, this is the best alternative, etc". It is now culturally assumed that your milk WILL dry up, that there is no other possibility. A great achievement for advertising.

Do also take a long hard look at more formula adverts before deciding that they are only interested in encouraging people to choose a brand once they've made the decision to ff.

If that were the case, we'd have adverts that are like those for cars or washing powder. Those adverts don't try to pursuade you that you need a car or washing powder. They assume that you have made the choice and just get on with banging on about price, effectiveness or whatever.

Most formula adverts set up an implict (because it's not allowed to be explicit) comparison with breastfeeding. Those "I'll do my share of the nightfeeds" adverts are designed to speak to people about a lovely shared experience of feeding the baby (a commonly cited 'disadvantage' of breastfeeding). The ones about "does my tummy look unhappy" are designed to counteract the arguments about immune benefits from breastfeeding. Ok, so the organic type adverts may be more slanted towards brand selection, but most of them most definitely are not.

Bristol City Council has a breast feeding policy under section 5.3

Will give the registrar a ring later to see if they are distributing the packs.

Right - will get on tintynet at home tonight and do something. I opened this can of worms on the campaign thread too but didn't mention the brand.

Thought I'd leave it til after Sprout 2 - The revenge is born but I don't think I should.

I am not having another one of those marketing packs. If I take one for the next babs it will be explicitly to pass on to Baby Milk Action.

It's the timing that's the thing. From what I remember (and I had a long labour and a grizzly baby) you get approx a month to register the birth. Meaning people are meeting the registrar just before what I experienced as the hell-on-earth 6 weeks growth spurt. I was determined to breastfeed but nearly gave up.

I agree - people who choose to ff should be given accurate scientifically tested information to help them select a brand and to prepare feeds safely. But the stuff you get in the pack is NOT that. It's about brand awareness and loyalty.

tiktok - the pros for ff are predominantly for the mother I think (not having to be the sole provider of food for baby, especially during the night!). my DS was a cluster feeder from birth until last week (when he hit 8 weeks) - it was quite tough going, and I definitely muttered 'formula' under my breath after some of his 8 hour feeds!

and by impartial, I mean information given by people who do not work for/are influenced by formula manufacturers. I think everyone knows that breast milk is optimal baby food, but i'm a bit sick of hearing that aptimil is closest to breast milk - d'ya not think that may be a marketing ploy rather than fact? I'm pretty sure my milk doesn't contain fish extract!

arolf - I agree that being sole provider may be seen as a disdavantage for the mother, though this is a perception that not everyone shares. Some mothers want to be sole provider and want to have that exclusivity, so we can't, and shouldn't, assume that this is a universal drawback. From the baby's viewpoint, a consistent caregiver in the early weeks is a strong benefit, too.

I agree that someone working for or with a formula company cannot give impartial information. Of course the Aptamil marketing schtick is a ploy - especially as the other formulas claim exactly the same thing. Where Aptamil have succeeded is in convincing HCPs that this slogan is true, and by branding the packs so they seem a bit more upmarket (and by raising the price). There is no independent evidence for their claim.

tiktok - I'm playing devil's advocate a wee bit here, sorry I'm very happy breastfeeding and plan to carry on to 1 year if all goes well, and I hate the marketing of formula - although I spent the 1st 4 months of my pregnancy in the USA where it was far far worse. I was given branded free gifts from formula companies at each of the 5 appointments I had whilst there, and even got a 'free' tub of formula for newborns. (which i hurled in the bin with such force I dented the bin).

however, some friends of mine who wanted to bf but have ended up ff have said it would have been good to know more about possible drawbacks to them of bf - forewarned is forearmed and all that. plus they keep spouting the 'aptamil is most like breast milk' shite at me when i've been saying I had a bad night with DS - their babies are sleeping through since introducing formula. luckily i'm bloody minded/lazy, so no way am i stopping bf now! it's fun

Yep, arolf - formula marketing is rife in the US. Paediatricians and OB/GYNs sign up to it, and get cash in return. They also sell your contact details so you can be marketed to at home.

I agree mothers need to know that breastfeeding is not always a breeze. I do wonder what planet they have been on when they are surprised that it can have challenges - and then I remember it is planet pregnancy, where many of the residents have selective hearing

When I deliver an NCT bf class, I ask people what they have heard, and everyone is aware, when they think about it, that they have heard that bf might hurt/might not be sufficient/might lead to mastitis, whatever.

Individual experience varies, but the research we do have shows formula does not result in more sleep at night - in fact, exclusive breastfeeding gives parents the most hours' sleep

Alexpolismum: The wallet is a piece of cardboard that is glossy on the outside. Really it is just a vehichle to put the promotional material in and, oh, the birth certificate.
The marketing company erm donates the wallets so that they can have their bumpf carried beside the birth cert.

Not so long ago, when I had my first child I had a lot of experience of formula companies. The idea's of foxytocin were common practice. On becoming pregnant I recieved an Emma's diary, which was full of formula ad's, babycare suggestions were all geared around the formula fed baby, Breastfeeding was given a nod, but the style of parenting which was normalised in all this was not compatible with breastfeeding. Getting babies to sleep through the night, 4h feeds, prams not slings etc.

I have never had any breastfeeding problems but if I had followed these parenting tips I would not have been able to breastfeed.

When I went to antenatal classes one of the 4 classes was given over to the 'lovely' SMA rep, who came to talk to us about feeding the baby, she got us all involved, we all smelt the formula and said how it reminded us of being little& memories of feeding siblings. It was left to her to tell us about breastfeeding too. We all went away knowing what we needed to buy to get ready for the baby.

I was one of only two who was still breastfeeding when we met after having our babies, so I wanted to start a group to meet other breastfeeding mothers. I met with the health visitors where they gave me a cup of tea in an SMA mug, the leaflets on the stand on how to feed your baby were mostly on bottlefeeding, the few about breastfeeding were produced by formula companies.

When it came to weaning, the main info from the health visitor was a booklet produced by a formula company given out at 3 months. Reading through this booklet, which heavily pushed follow on formula, I was left ( A very well read trainee breastfeeding Councillor at the time!) with serious fears that my baby could become seriously deficient in iron - it laid it on that thick. My friends in the area who received the same literature felt the same.

As I got more involved I found out that the Reps would often go into local health care settings - with doughnuts to train up health workers, and I realised that the health workers were being trained by the formula manufacturers! this was why they had no confidence in breastfeeding.

I could add so much more!

As each of these ways for formula companies to market their products using the healthcare system has been stopped there has been incredible resistance - we really had to fight. Now I think it is at least acknowledged that it is not right. It is however important that we all continue to monitor the situation and to take action when these violations (of the WHO code) happen. www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf

I hope this explains why it is so important to keep on top of it!

God, that's shocking Lisanova.

The iron thing is still going on to some extent - hence that advert with the massive cup of cow's milk. A couple of friends expressed concern to me that BLW and continuing to breastfeed would cause a problem with iron levels and that you had to get formula or high-iron foods 'into them' almost immediately at six months.

I've just spken to out local Registration Manager who has confirmed that they do issue the folders given by Lifecycle.

She has told me that there was an All Wales group meeting of registrars earlier this year where it was agreed to keep all of the information in the packs as, "everybody is entitled to the information - it's just freedom of information."

When I pointed out that it was undermining the WHO code, she said that he knew nothing about that or it's relevance so couldn't comment. She honestly does not see that there is even a potentil problem giving out these leaflets.

She said that as Registration Manager she can authorise to add or take anything out of the folders, but she thinks perhaps I should write to the council to see what their thoughts are on the matter. She is happy for me to e-mail her again, formally to have the issue logged.

Any thoughts on how best to proceed, which legislation or guidance to quote would be most appreciated.

Iwish,
I will find out more about the situation in Wales because that is not my understanding of it.

There are a few ways we could tackle this!
Do you know if your council has a Local Strategic partnership? If they have targets on Breastfeeding you may be able to get help in putting pressure there.

Do you have Chidrens Centres, This will be at odds with the aims of Childrens centres/sure starts, and as the are in the council the childrens centre manager may help.

Persuasion... I'm sure you know all the arguments! - this is not information, its exploiting parents with marketing. I will find out more and get back!

Straying off subject slightly but has anyone else had a free sample of follow on milk from tesco in their baby magazine that gets posted? There is also a coupon for money off, nowhere on the literature does it mention that breastfeeding is advised. I thought that was illegal.

Yes, I had a sample of follow on milk with my Tesco Baby Club this month, much to my disgust. I wish I had the energy to write to them to register my disgust. I also wish I was eloquent enough to complain to my local council about the pack we had from the Registrar (we're in Wales). If you look at the Hipp site, their milk products are mentioned on the home page and are top of the list of you look at their products. Surely this amounts to Registrars facilitating formula advertising.

Also, I bought a packet of Hipp baby porridge for my 6.5 month baby and the main ingredient if 'follow on milk'. I won't be using it.

Thanks Lisa - any help with getting the relevant information together would be great.

She really did seem quite clueless so even the basics would need to be included.