So - what are all of you who are against the Milupa ad doing....

[QueenOfQuotes]

to stop TV producers and Toy Manufacturers et all show bottlefeeding as "the norm"?

I here people argue that if children and youngsters grow up around people who are all bottlefeeding, then they're more likely to bottlefeed their own babies........surely the same applies to TV.

How many young people do you hearing talking endlessly about TV programmes and 'idolising' people in them. They see these people bottlefeeding babies, and very rarely breastfeeding and IMO that has a much greater influence on them than adverts in places which are mainly viewed/visited by adults.

Not to mention the baby dolls which all come with bottles, and "new baby" cards - again featuring bottles.

There seems to be so much emphasis on "stop the forumula producers advertising" that IMO the other, more commonly seen, and more influential 'promotion' of bottlefeeding is over looked!!!

Already this morning I've watched Angelina Ballerina's mother BOTTLE feeding her baby sister.

Message withdrawn

But seeing her give up and shove a bottle of formula in the baby's mouth is???

Message withdrawn

Did we see that though? I don't think we did.

No, they magically turned into happy mother and bottlefed baby.

Message withdrawn

For all we know, on screen babies might be being fed expressed milk from it's natural mother in a scene.

It would normalise breastfeeding, make it an obvious first choice, not just the preserve of hippy earth mothers and lefty liberals.

And some of us do listen to the wireless to avoid mindless crap (now and then)

Message withdrawn

FGS, shagging your brother, setting fire to the corner shop, driving off a cliff, they're all the norm in soap operas - doesn't mean we all do it just cause it was on Emmerdale.

As with ads, it's not one image that creates an expectation. It's a long, slow process of re-iteration. The cultural context that we live in is a permanent expectation of bottlefeeding being the norm. Changing a cultural context is not a matter of one or two soaps, it's every TV programme, every doll sold etc.

I can remember a black actor once telling me that years ago in the USA, they brought in a rule that every ad, programme etc., had to have 25% of its characters black or ethnic minority, unless there was a specific artistic reason why not. Hence the cultural context of how black people were portrayed on US TV changed. They stopped being a few "black" characters and became a larger number of characters. To me, the bf thing is quite a similar issue. If 90% of TV mothers were assumed to bf, that would go some way to changing the cultural context. But it would only be a start, of course.

Message withdrawn

I am planning to send this letter off to Trading Standards:

To whom it may concern:

At the moment, Milupa is currently operating a website which is aimed at breastfeeding mothers. I raise my concerns with Trading Standards for several reasons. My primary reason is that I fear that it contravenes the International Code (1) which bans advertising formula to pregnant women or women with babies under 6 months. However, in my laywoman?s estimation I believe that the following articles of the International are also being breached by Milupa: 4.2 , 5.1, 5.2, 6.4 .

Milupa in my estimation has been very clever in disguising their infomercial website as a place where mums can meet, learn and discuss issues related to motherhood. Undoubtedly, one of the main topics for mums and mum-to-be will be feeding. Milupa has therefore provided a ?breastfeeding helpline? for concerned mums to ring.

Milupa knows fully well that 46% of UK mothers are no longer breastfeeding within six weeks of giving birth and it is down to 22% by six months. (2) They are therefore using this infomercial website to connect with those mothers who when they contact a helpline will be fraught with anxieties and very much accepting to the suggestion of a ?professional?.

It has been the experience of one mum who rang to find that the advisor who claimed to be a midwife vigorously pushed topping up her baby with formula. (3)

From my own experience, when I had a breastfeeding crisis at 3 weeks, I was pushed to top up with formula by my health visitor. I got a second opinion from an NCT counsellor who reassured and advised me on how to progress. Had I rang this helpline for a second opinion, I would have accepted the advice of their ?midwife? advisor instead as I was lonely, desperate, scared and under informed about breastfeeding at that time. Now that I understand how breastfeeding works, I estimate that within days I would have been totally formula feeding, much against my own wishes and abilities. I am currently still exclusively breastfeeding my 18 week only baby. (4)

There is a debate currently raging on Mumsnet.com, one of the UK?s best known motherhood websites, over this infomercial website. I am providing the links to the threads where many other valid concerns are raised which my letter has not touched.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1364&threadid=98457&stamp=050824090936

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1364&threadid=101169&stamp=050823231310

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1374&threadid=101173&stamp=050824183048

footnotes:

(1) www.babymilkaction.org/regs/fullcode.html

(2) www.show.scot.nhs.uk/breastfeed/stats.htm

(3)
By icklelulu on Tuesday, 16 August, 2005 4:53:26 PM
I have just got thru!They didnt mention formula for a few mins and I was thinking 'hmmm wots going on'! THEN 'maybe you should compliment your baby' that was it she kept metioning it after that! I said I was very determined to exculsively breastfeed even if I was finding it hard only using one boob(BTW I used the abscess story, it was true so I couldnt really go wrong). I asked if she was quilified and she used to work as a midwife. Suggested the usual things to try to make my only usable boob comfortable. Lasinoh, leaving milk to dry on the nipple etc She said it wouldnt be the end of the world if I did have to compliment my DS with a formula feed. I must say though I was quite surprised, I thought they would have unqualified persons on the phone and that they would tell me to just give up breastfeeding but saying that once formula was mentioned it kept cropping up ALOT! I thought she might stop mentioning formula as I was emphasising the fact that breast is best and thats wot I intended my DS to have.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1364&threadid=75972#1669173

oops correction in order: only 46% of UK mothers are breastfeeding at 6 wks and only 22% at 6 months.

I can't stand it anymore. I have to post that Little Mo did breastfeed Freddie. There were lots of strategically shot scenes where just her head and neck were shown because she was feeding Freddie.
She mentioned on at least one occasion that she had expressed a milk and would produce a 9oz bottle full of 'expressed' milk and give it to Billy.
Just thought I'd mention that.
I hadn't really given a lot of thought to the presentation of infant feeding by the media.
It is interesting that bottles are so much part of the imagery surrounding babies, and IMO these things do affect the cultural approach to breastfeeding.
It would be helpful to have the media present more positive, desexualised images of breastfeeding. As although it is not the norm, the lack of acceptance of breastfeeding can by quite daunting. Judging by the problems women still have with breastfeeding in England and Wales It has become viewed as something almost dirty and furtive in contrast to a bottle, which has no smutty sexual overtones.

A number of characters in Eastenders have breastfed babies. Don't ask me who cos I don't follow it but I've seen it talked about over the past nine years I've been interested!

In Australian soaps characters also tend to breastfeed and the australian kids' programmes I saw when over there often showed babies being breastfed.

Strategic filming e.g. I vividly remember one aussie soap, the mum feeding took her baby, sat in a chair and as she sat down slipped her shoestring strap off her shoulder. Cut to something else but implication is obvious.

Message withdrawn

Believe it or not but breast feeding on soasp was articly discussed briefly on the BBc news site back in 2000 and 2001 here and here

The part in the second article that I found odd was the bit about Sarah-Louise Platt - it would be inappropriate to show her breastfeeding - WHY???? Surely it was more inappropriate to show her getting pregnant in the first place?

i think the baby doll thing is going a bit too far. erm...how do i show my 19 month old daughter how to breastfeed her dolly exactly?

and more to the point, is it really going to influence her future decisions on feeding?

little girls will simply copy with her baby doll what mummy does. they learn by example. yes, and it will very likely influence her decision - the mind has a powerful storage capacity.

I'm sorry but I am not sure that I agree with that fully. That because a child plays at feeding her dolly with a bottle she will bottle feed her own real child in adulthood??? I'd like to think most children grow up into adults capable of making informed decisions, not those based on playing games at home as a 3 year old.

well i bottlefed my daughter from day one and im very sure she is not going to remember it. i suppose to make it fair, i should let her bottlefeed the dolly and show her how to breastfeed it too, then she can choose?

i dont remember anything before the age of three. at three i do remember bashing my soft toys about and stamping on their faces...but funnily enough i have never done that to my children.

if your little girl sees a friend of your BFing, she'll copy. I've seen 2 of my friends children doing this. It's funny cos the breastfeeding mum was proud & the mum that bottlefed (for convenience 'blamed' me ! I think the words were somewhere along the lines of, oh it's your fault ! I think it's rather sweet myself..

PS my daughter LOVES bottle feeding her dolly, but she hasn't tried to bf it yet - hopefully I'll have another baby & maybe she'll copy then !