Yes to formula ad?

[Flossam]

Thought I would make it easy for MN to see what the lovely mumsnetters are feeling about this advert. If you don't mind it being there then post here.

it is worse that it is editorial....

Do you know I have had a look at the first three or four pages of their website and I can't for the life of me see what the fuss is about. I have just read a lot of pro-breastfeeding info and quite a bit about how breast/bottle combined may reduce your milk supply. (I wish I had been told that by my HV!)

The fact is, some mothers can't (ie find it too difficult in their circumstances, whatever they are) or don't want to breastfeed. The fact that a formula milk manufacturer is addressing breastfeeding mothers over a weblink won't make them switch to bottles on its own - there are a lot of factors behind the decision to switch. Most mothers receive support from bfing counsellors if they discuss it with their HV - and if they're reading mumsnet they're not going to be short of information about counselling and support. I wish I had known about MN when I was bfing, I may have gone on longer. The fact is I didn't - I made a choice that was right for me and my baby has not suffered as a result. I breastfed for a while, then I swopped to bottles. I also chose Aptamil as IME, it's the one my DSs liked best.

I am more than a little hacked off by the assumption that breastfeeding is the only way to give your child a good start in life, and you are somehow failing your child if you don't prolong the experience. Of course it's the ideal, and it should be promoted and supported, and it is. But if for whatever reason you choose to bottlefeed then I don't see why you shouldn't be able to access information to support and inform that choice. Formula milk is not like tobacco smoke or alcohol. You are not poisoning your child. And yes I KNOW the issues in the third world, but we in the developed world are not in that position.

I think the Milupa site is fine. The link is fine. If you want to make an informed choice then I would say on MN you probably have more than an even chance of coming down on the side of breastfeeding, given the amount of 'propaganda' there is about it on the talkboards - and yes I use that term advisedly, and yes I think that the bfing advice on here is great. Just credit people (even the 'vulnerable' ones) with the intelligence to recognise that, will you?

I agree, this debate just doesn't heat me up! It can stay there as far as I'm concerned.

My hv said to me when I (very traumatically) gave up breastfeeding ds1 "thank goodness for that, I think bottle feeding will suit you much better and allow you to develop a relationship at last - I couldn't say anything before." And I then realised that I hadn't been given all the information that I needed!

I don't mind it being there.

There is a post by Caligula on one of the original threads which is great food for thought on the subject of "why not to advertise" and it is a post which is beautifully and sensitively executed unlike many others on the subject of formula feeding.

However, I still don't mind it being there. This is, after all, the real world.

And what an excellent sentiment Fisil. I too feel that I wasn't given all the information I needed at the time.

Gosh, fisil - that's exactly what mine said to me! Not a word until I'd decided though.

...and yes I KNOW Milupa are marketing their product, of course they are, but what do you think Mumsnet people are doing when they go onto the radio to take part in discussions, or promote their name in the newspapers? It's PR rather than advertising but it has the same aim and effect! It's not evil! It's how a lot of us make our living!

ah janh, I recognise another anal control freak!

I don't mind it.

Exactly Fisil, far from bottlefeeding being rammed down our throats (metaphorically speaking) as some posters seem to think, in fact most HVs are inhibited or prohibited from discussing it with clients who are having a traumatic time with bfing - prolonging their agony! That's the evil as far as I'm concerned. It's an option, so tell us about it!

'prolonging their agony'?????

What a weird turn of phrase!

aaaaaaergh! see the original thread for why it's not true that bottle-feeding isn't being rammed down our throats! It may not be technically, but if we analyse all the subliminal messages we absorb about it, oh yes it still is.

Even by those of us who are quite rabidly pro-breast-feeding (me included! )

HV's are prohibited from talking about it?

Yes, but what they talk about is how light this baby is, how scrawny she looks and how breast-fed babies are often like this.

They don't have to use the words "formula-feed".

As an avid bf'er and someone who wouldn't touch a bottle of formula with a bargepole I am really trying to get upset about this whole thing....however I can't seem to get worked up about it. Not sure why really..... need to think about it more. Could be something to do with having difficulty believing that someone seeking advice with bf'ing would log onto the Milupa website.

Sigh.

Moondog, I know several women for whom breastfeeding was agony, even with sympathetic support. And making them feel worthless if they switched was prolonging that agony, IME. I'm really glad it worked for you, but it doesn't for everyone. It did for me, I don't have an axe to grind, I just find this witch hunting a bit unsupportive generally.

Caligula, totally agree. Images and anecdotes of bottlefeeding are everywhere, from the cards and clothing your newborn receives, through well-meaning relatives talking about what a shame it is they can't share the feeding, to HVs talking about weight gain and suggesting topping up.

What witch-hunting? Minding a formula company "promoting" breastfeeding?

HVs banned from talking about formula? That's just not true. Look at MN and the sheer number of women who have given formula under pressure from HVs, and even been ordered to supplement with formula, and subsequently had to give up breastfeeding, which they really wanted to do. It's absolutely endemic. I was told I was 'starving' my baby in ds's case and told to give formula while I was still in a 'baby friendly' hospital.

HV's don't make you feel worthless if you switch, they make you feel worthless if you don't switch because your bf baby isn't following the trajectories designed for bottle-fed babies.

i dont mind it being there

wordsmith..I'm confused.Who is making bottle feeders fell worthless exactly?

M/ws get about 1/2 a day covering b/feeding (a m/w imparted this information on MN a while ago.)

I would imagine the average HV gets even less!

I don't think phrases like "Blimey,just realised that it's still usable,5 years on... That's creepy isn't it.Imagine ginving your kid something so dead" are exactly supportive of bottlefeeding Moondog. Do you?

Why should Moondog be supportive of bottlefeeding?

Of bottlefeeding mothers, that's different.

Who's making bottle feeders feel worthless. Hmmm.

A lot of posters on this thread.
The 'quiet room' in the postnatal ward which is plastered floor to ceiling with pro-breastfeeding posters.
My friends' HVs and their reluctance to suggest ffing (until it was desperate)
'The establishment'
et al.

And I'm sorry a few greetings card mftrs do not balance it out.

I don't think phrases like "Blimey,just realised that it's still usable,5 years on... That's creepy isn't it.Imagine ginving your kid something so dead" are exactly supportive of bottlefeeding mothers Moondog. Do you?