Should formula milk advertising be completely illegal

[Reallytired]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6933188.stm

I think so. Mums who need to use formula, are better off getting advice from health professionals rather than advertising.

No

No, but it should continue to be rigorously controlled. It would be nice (right word?) to see some pro bf advertising too, like a more contmporary version of the old public information shorts.

What about freedom of choice ? Bottlefeeding mums often feel alienated and like they are 'failing' their child/ren without being told that they need to get 'advice' (permission?) if they need to use formula. What about those who are capable of bf but choose not to, will they have to justify their reasons to the health professional ?

You may well be right.
And they should certainly stop advertising targeted at health professionals as well as that targeted at mothers.
I do find it cross-making that the research quoted in the article was funded by baby milk manufacturers, but at least they disclosed it. Wonder what a similar study funded by (eg) LLL, or someone truly impartial like WHO would find...

I certainly think the ambiguity needs to be resolved - the Follow Ons being advertised and promoted to establish the brand name for first milks by association and so on . However not sure how they can then get around brands like Cow and Gate who also produce baby food.

No. These are commercial organisations who exist to make a profit, they are not there for the public good, and this is not nicotine or similar.

Problem is lack of 'advertising' for breastfeeding, which should be addressed if possible instead. Perhaps by bf counsellors visiting schools and talking to teenage girls or something like that, or getting celebrity campaign going to appeal to young potential mums.

No, shouldnt be made illegal.

There is a market for it after all.

[resists the urge to say that there is also a market for heroin, tobacco and alcohol]

I'm sorry but do not go there, MrsB.

Formula milk is NOT akin to fags, boze and smack.

no - advertising aimed AT children should be banned because they believe everything they see but advertising of formula at grown ups!!!!! It is ridiculous to want to censor in this way and it is insulting to suggest women decide whether or not to formula feed based on adverising.

hence I resisted

but the argument that advertising should be allowed 'because there's a market for it' is specious at best.

indeed it is, but I see what Emma means

We don't need advertising. People generally choose the milk their Mum or sister or friend did - loads of research has been done into why people choose the milk they do and family/friends are the number 1 influence. That's according to an infant formula rep I spoke to as a midwife.

Adverts only tell you the bits they want you to know about - at the end of the day formula milks are all pretty much of a much - I started DS on C+G but he did better on Farley's (less colicky) and I couldn't bear the smell of SMA when I tried it. Trial and error - I didn't need the adverts.

why is it that some women who breastfeed seem to develop an evangelical passion to make all women breastfeed. Just look at the posts on here when someone finds formula close to sel by date reduced .

A lot of advertising for formula milk is misleading and diliberately so. There is no medical need for any baby to have follow on milk. Most children can take cow's milk at 12 months old and conventional infant formula is fine for children older than 6 months.

The formula companies sell follow on milk to children up to the age of two as a way of making money. It is not medically needed for the majority of children.

It is not a matter of justifying reasons to a health professional. If a health professional is judgemental about a mum bottlefeeding then she should really change job.

The important thing is to make sure that a child gets the correct milk for its age and the parents arent ripped off being sold something they don't need.

I think the comparison of formula with fags, booze etc works at one level - you have the best outcome by avoiding them. It is a pity that the Government doesn't put the smae level of funding into pro-bf advertising as they do for quitting fags. If you need to or want to formula feed then advertising wouldn't sway your decision - you will then need information about the products available and I guess that there will be difficulties between what information at Point of sale constitutes "information" and what is advertising. But the pernicious nature of formula advertising is that whilst of course the companies want to win market share from competitors the biggest potential win is for them to "attract" those mothers who wouldn't have used formula in the first place.

That said going back to the OP I'm afraid I've yet to meet a health professional who was truly clued up on the differences between the different types/brands of formula.

nomdeplume on Tue 07-Aug-07 16:02:39
"Bottlefeeding mums often feel alienated and like they are 'failing' their child/ren without being told that they need to get 'advice' (permission?) if they need to use formula."

Totally agree - I was unable to feed my dd - she was admitted to hospital with severe dehydration at 3 days old - I didn't need to be made to feel any worse than I already did.

No it flaming well shouldnt be illegal.

Yes, I think all advertising of formula milk should be banned. But it should be "replaced" with non-branded freely available information. Explanation of the ingredients, how to make feeds up safely, brief explanation in plain english (and non-judgemental) of how it differs from breast milk.

no it shouldnt.
what about those that cant b/feed?

is it so wrong to advertise formula milk? why?

Also, given that advertising pre-6months milk is already illegal, the information given by any current advertising is not entirely accurate for formula feeding infants. It's misleading.

i dont agree with a ban on ff. some women cant breast feed or choose not to do so and that, i believe is their choice. however, i also believe that not enough is being done to promote bfeeding or help with doing it especially for first time mums.

when i was in hospital having had dd3 (id had a c section) the midwife appeared at my bed with a bottle of formula. i told her i would bf and she replied 'oh ok ill leave it here just in case you cant' there was no offer of help and i just wonder how many mums this has happened to who have then gone on to ff when the opportunity was missed for bf iyswim?

"dont agree with a ban on f"

No one's talking about banning formula feeding! Just the advertising.

You can argue that BF is superior to FF, just as, for instance, you could argue that organic vegetables are superior to non-oraganic.

But i cant understand how anyone could get so worked up about formula as to wish to ban the advertising of it.

I have no opinion either way on how anyone else chooses to feed their baby.

Why are there so many (as someone further doen said) evangelical BFers? Your choice is your choice and my choice is mine.

The advertising of formula will not stop anybody from BFing if thats what they want to do, and the suggestion that the any mention of FFing will discourage mothers from finding out the benefits of BFing is ridiculous and perpetuates the insinuation that mothers who choose to FF do so through ignorance.

Yes, it should be illegal for all sorts of reasons.

As for the fuss over formula being cut price - read this for more info why this is