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.

I would definitely be happy to pay for a wet nurse to provide expressed bm for me to give DS, if DullWitch would set up appropriate agency!

I have read how FF companies are supposedly misleading in their claims.

Even the picture on the tins has been cited as misleading

How is it possible to be mislead in all honesty?

Breastmilk comes from your breasts. Formula is manufactured and contains cows milk and comes out of a tin.

The guidelines make it very very very clear that it is believed that breastmilk is superior to formula, but formula is an acceptable substitue.

To think that a woman does not know the difference is to assume ignorance on her part.

What about the mums who want to breastfeed and are told that formula's just the same and pressured into stopping/giving top-ups that stop them breastfeeding sooner than they want, JV?

They're often told this because infant formula's heavily advertised in healthcare journals.

Yes, I agree with you that mums who want to feed formula should be able to without judgement from others. Completely agree with you. But what I abhor is women being undermined by those who are meant to be supporting them because of words they've read in adverts - and I've heard direct quotes of these ads from HVs and midwives.

What is the benefit to mums of formula being advertised? Follow-on is the only kind that can be advertised legally in this country anyway. And how do you feel about formula companies having "breastfeeding supportlines"?

i agree that trying to promote ff in developing countries without clean water and the means to sterilise is terrible and should stop.
That said in this country [for example] whilst being given any and all help that is needed to succeed with bfing, for some ffing is the only way to feed their lo. I ff my eldest sons and was told by bf expert that I would NEVER bf my babies. I still feel hurt,bewildered and guilty 8 years on, but would still never advise ff over bf to anyone.

TBH I don't think they need to advertise or do product placement, but if ff is chosen for whatever reason then no-one should be made to feel bad for it and support should be given to them.

Do you know what i think?

I think that i just cant muster the interest to obsess over every minutae of information, every facet of FFing, the advertising, the ethics, the 'support lines' etc etc.

Did i find out enough about the actual procuct itself? Yes

Did i feel confident giving it to my son? Yes

Does it piss me off that it is discussed as though it is the devils work. Yes it bloody does (and yes, you can say that you dont object to FFing itself as much as you like but i for one dont believe you).

JV, very recently (in the last week) there was a poster on here, who I won't name, who didn't realise that infant formula was made from cows milk. Had no idea. Had fed it to her children and did not know what it was. So she'd been misled somewhere along the line.

Well, I didn't know the difference TBH. And perhaps I was ignorant. Maybe there's a lot of ignorance out there?

And I think FF claiming that their milk is very close to bf is misleading.

But I think all mums should receive as much information and support about feeding choices and nobody should feel attacked ever. And not for being ignorant either.

Well, clearly she wasn't that interested then was she?

JV, I think it's a very important issue. If that makes me obsessed, then so be it. Perhaps it's not of interest to you but it is to others.

You sound like you feel attacked for using formula. If that's the case, then that's rotten.

Of course its of interest to me!
Its what i used to feed my son.

Will leave this discusiion now to others.

I think that claiming mothers who FF are other ignorant or misled is very patronising. Is that not a personal dig at somebody?

"Does it piss me off that it is discussed as though it is the devils work. Yes it bloody does (and yes, you can say that you dont object to FFing itself as much as you like but i for one dont believe you)."

Why would I object to it? I was mix-fed. Some of the children I love most in the world have been/still are ffed/mix-fed. To say I am judging my own mother or their mothers is extremely offensive, JV. FFS, YOU might have had all the information you needed, YOU might feel comfortable with your choice, it might not interest YOU - that's great, I'm really glad you've had such a well-balanced, straightforward experience.

But can you not see that many, many women don't have this experience and many others would like to do something to support them, either to come to terms with how they feel about past experience, or to help them have a better time with future babies?

I don't know why people get so irate about this subject. Surely your main concern should be your own child and if you bf him/her then fine, if you ff then thats fine too. I really don't get why people are so worried about other mums ff, surely it's up to the mum what she does and it's her business not any one elses. I certainly wouldn't judge someone by the way they fed their child.

LV, no, it's not a personal dig - I didn't name the poster because I specifically didn't want to make it personal. But it was a clear illustration, to me, that there are women out there who don't know what formula contains, who aren't aware that it's in any way different to breastmilk, who simply don't know lots of the things that most MNers take as common knowledge.

It's not about being ignorant in the sense of stupid - that's a red herring in itself. In fact, I think the word "ignorant" is unhelpful and unnecessarily emotive in this instance.

MNers are pretty much by definition going to be more clued up about things like this - because if they didn't care about their children, they wouldn't be posting on a board that seeks to support parents with, well, parenting.

Hunker - thats twice now in this discussion that you've spun it round to being about support for mothers.

As i said before, and i dont believe ANYONE would disagree, its a fabulous thing that mothers recieve as much support and information as is possible. I personally reieved plenty, so i can appreciate how important it is.

But how does the advertising (or not)of formula affect whether or not women are given adequate support.

It seems to me that we could all pick something that we really dont like and find supporting evidence to back up our arguments and i think that thats whats happening here.

The objection to FFing comes first, the reasons come second.

Does nobody read anything I write, fgs?!

SCP, please, I'm NOT judging anyone. And I believe more in community than Margaret Thatcher, so I am of the opinion that it's quite nice to care about other women's experiences and if they're having a hard time, to support them to have a better time in the future.

Because, JV, if formula wasn't advertised so heavily at the very people providing the support, those very people might be better equipped to support women to breastfeed.

I haven't "spun it round" to it being about support - for me, it's ALL about support and always has been. It's YOU who's trying to make out I'm some evil, judgemental cow, ffs.

What do you think about formula companies having breastfeeding supportlines?

Lets face it who really belives all that pentapeptide shite - I think women nowawadys arent that fooled by advertising, and no sensible woman who FFs would say "I actually chose SMA over Cow & Gate cause the tin was shinier"

If nobody was "fooled" by advertising, you think they'd spend so much money on it?

Ok - i am making absolutely no assumptions about your character Humker - so please leave that nonsense out of it.

I will DEFINITELY leave this discussion now, i had followed everyone elses advice up until now not to get sucked in!

But you have asked me that question twice now re the support lines - and tbh i have no opinion having never given it anounce of thought beforehand, i DO know though that if i required support for breastfeeding there are lots of more appropriate bodies to seek advice from. I would not have contemplateed getting BF advice from SMA for instance.

I got lots of contact information on breastfeeding and BFing support both ante-natalyy and post natally.

What nonsense? You called me a liar, ffs.

If we're going to make formula milk advertising illegal then why stop there ?

Surely we should make disposable nappy sdvertising illegal too. Completely unecessary landfilling polluting items when there's lots of re-usable alternatives, allegedly better for the environment/landfill etc.

Be honest, how many of the folk that want formula milk advertising to be illegal actually want formula milk itself was a "controlled substance" . Too many, I suspect.

To answer the OP's comment "Mums who need formula are better off getting advice from health professionals rather than advertising"

Soooo, only mums who "need" to use formula should be using it ? Do women lose all their rights once they become pregnant/give birth, where's the element of informed choice ?

Plus.... we might be better off getting advice from a health professional but most of them toe the party line of not advising at all in respect of formula usage so we need some way of knowing what's out there.

Why do you think formula companies have breastfeeding supportlines, JV, given that a lot of women will feel as you do - that it's not an appropriate place to get bf advice?