Here in the Netherlands the formula companies can not advertise or give out free samples for stage 1 formula (0-6 months). Even their websites can not provide information on their formula for 0-6 month olds. And all formula containers state that breastfeeding is the best food. I see nothing wrong with this. When I switched to formula I was not hurting from this lack of information, and trust me they make up for it with their promoting their 6 month+ formula...

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My sister got the bunny bags in the mid- and late-90s, but for my babies (2003 and 2005) we got much more palatable jet-black ones. My husband and I had a good laugh since the most recent one was labeled a "breastfeeding success kit" yet contained a can of Enfamil. I still have it somewhere (after 5 months), so it didn't affect my choices much but I can understand the argument.

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I don't know. Seems to me like Massachusetts is saying that women are too dumb to make their own decisions. I mean, really, moms make up their minds about breastfeeding long before the birth, so do you really think a woman is going to go into the hospital with the intention of breastfeeding and then change her mind because she got a free diaper bag? That's ludicrous.



(And, by the way, the latest Enfamil diaper bags are black and actually very handy. I know many women who use them, and most of them are exclusively breastfeeding.)

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This is just stupid. My 1st daughter would not breast feed, and between my wife and I (thanks to an EVIL lactation consultant) were sooo stressed out we were crying, some children need the formula, and it needs to be advertised that it is at least available. Merry Christmas all. ~Ryan

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There's nothing to stop many women from heading to the supermarket - except lack of money. The big controversy seems to be that poor women choose more often to bottle feed and that this is because they are given a sample in the hospital.

I say that it could be because they have less resources and access to less research, la leche meetings and lactation consultants.

When you take the sample it's just one more thing you are taking from poor women.

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Hmmm... I live in Massachusetts, and I'm pro breastfeeding. But man, those Enfamil ice packs came in handy when I was icing and pumping my breasts every 45 minutes those first weeks. It was kind of incidious how they would scream "Just throw in the towel, use formula!" every time I looked at them. But I just laughed it off.



They send so much to moms in the mail anyway, what's the harm in a little gift bag at the hospital? I personally liked getting an extra diaper bag (they're black now) with some miscellaneous goodies inside (not all formula related by the way). My son still uses the bottle bag we got for his school snack.



As usual, Mass. government doesn't know when to butt out. In addition to the formula stuff, I had a team of lactation consultants falling over themselves to help me.



And, why shouldn't moms be aware that formula is an option? It can feel like the end of the world when breastfeeding doesn't work. Maybe info about formula would be just what some moms need.

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This is great IMO! I got so tired of getting those bags filled with formula stuff and nothing encouraging breastfeeding.

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I am very supportive of breast feeding. I couldn't do it (severe breast reduction) but I definitely would have if it were possible. (I know some women can nurse after reduction, but mine included the removal and reattachment of the nipple - thus severed milk ducts.)



Anyway, even though I explained to the nurses that I COULDN'T breast feed, they were really hard core about it. It seemed to me that there was a TON of support for breastfeeding and a lot of judgment for bottle feeding.



Also, for women who are working class and have to go back to work immediately in low paying jobs with no benefits, it isn't always practical to breast feed. When you have to work 50 or 60 hours a week with your elderly grandma watching your baby, it may been near impossible to nurse. You can't afford a good breast pump and your boss is a jerk who won't give you a break to pump, what are you to do?



I just don't think that the to breastfeed or not to breastfeed is necessarily about lack of knowledge or support. There's a huge gray area there. And I don't think a free sample of formula and a diaper bag is going to change anything.



That is just way too Big Brother for me.

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Yeah Massachusetts! Good for them! These little "free samples" sitting on the shelves at home can be the beginning of the end for many nursing relationships. AND HELLO! They aren't really "free" folks. Think how much LESS the cans of formula some people buy would cost if they weren't spending so much to rope women in?!

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I could care less if they are automatically given. But what is the harm in offering them as an option. Then IF the woman would like to get one, they can.



Why do any of you give a crap if I breastfeed or not? Can you not make the decision for yourself and are afraid I might be able to? It is easier for you not to have options?



What a great country that we live in that I am able to choose!

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We care wether you breastfeed or not because formula is harmful to babies. Any early supplementing directly effects a mothers milk supply/demand. Thank goodness it exsists for cases when mom's or donor's milk is not available. But it is causing terrible medical problems.According to WHO/UNICEF,between one and two million infants worldwide die each year due to artificial feeding. There is a good reason why introducing formula to new parents is wrong and the formula companies are counting on Americans to be too stupid to stand up for their babies.

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Numma,

But I must ask again, especially after it is being suggested that I am another "stupid American", if I feel well informed and make my own decision, why can't you just let me do so without assuming I have been duped by the evil formula companies?



Do what is best for you, let me do what is best for me. Stop trying to control my life and the choices I make.



Thank you.

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Meredith, you are absolutely 100% correct. I can not agree with you more. But "feeling" well informed and being well informed are two different things. Drastically different when you are considering the well being and basic human rights of an inocent child. And the formula companies are taking the benefits of immoral marketing and legal loopholes and minor fines right to the bank.

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I live in Ma and I think it's a good decision to not automatically give them out. But they should still have them for the people that want them. I got a bag and didn't use anything they gave me.



I'm still nursing my daughter and she's almost 16 months old. Most of the doctors I've been to were shocked that I was still nursing at 6 months and all the way up until we got my daughter a new doctor. Only one doctor wasn't too happy that I was still nursing.. mine. Although he's a pedi too.. but he told me I shouldn't still be nursing when my daughter was 11 months.

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Remember, the main reason for this country's Breastfeeding Initiative is not to "choose someones feeding method" it was created to REDUCE INFANT MORTALITY. The gift bag promo has been proven harmful to infants. So, I guess in that case the ban on the bags is a good idea. Hey just like the formula if it saves one childs life than I'm all for it!

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It is clear in the research that women are less likely to breastfeed if they are given free formula samples. I think they have found the perfect balance - women are assumed to be breastfeeding and thus not given samples of formula which may temp them to quit due to difficulties or family/society pressure, but if a woman must, or chooses to, bottle feed they can request free samples. Sounds perfect to me. It is clear that formula is not as good as breastfeeding as some people think, and we should support this effort to support and normalise breastfeeding while still allowing women to make their own choices about how and what to feed their babies.

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Some babies are so sensitive that one bottle of formula can set off a lifetime of allergies (not to mention all the other adverse reactions). If hospitals were sending anything else that had the potential to cause such serious reactions without some huge warning, everyone would be up in arms over it and insist that it be banned.

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Numma,

Again, there comes a time when a mother (and father) has read a wealth of information regarding the health and well being of her child and makes an informed decision based on the facts she has found.



I can no more be 100% sure that formula will make my child ill as it will nourish a healthy, normal child (which, in fact, mine is.) So, when I say I 'feel' I am well informed, it doesn't mean that I have fallen prey to formula companies' marketing. It means that I have looked at both sides and am as sure as I can be.



This is when you stop talking about how you have more, better facts than others and allow them to make their own decisions. Taking options away will no more make women breastfeed than it would hearing proponents drone on about how they am misinformed.



Isn't this what lactation specialists, le leche leagues and labor classes are for? To inform ahead of the birth and give resources if needed. If someone chooses not to take this information and decides to bottle feed, do we make it more difficult for her to get what she needs? How rude of us.



I say give people options and give them information to make their own decisions. After that, it is no longer your business.

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How patronizing that women are relagated to be worried about if they are made to feel guilty. Sorry that you are so misinformed. The percentage of women who CANNOT breastfeed are less than the actual number of women who cannot get pregnant (probably ess than 5%). Please trust in your feminity and power as a woman. So, your argument is very weak. If a woman chooses to not breastfeed after she understands the risks, then it is her choice. Just like we all choose lifestyle choices that may harm/help our overall health. Here are some excellent points:



Breastfeeding and Guilt

By Jack Newman, MD

One of the most powerful arguments many health professionals, government agencies and formula company manufacturers make for not promoting and supporting breastfeeding is that we should "not make the mother feel guilty for not breastfeeding." Even some strong breastfeeding advocates are disarmed by this "not making mothers feel guilty" ploy.

Because, indeed, it is nothing more than a ploy. It is an argument which deflects attention from the lack of knowledge and understanding of most health professionals about breastfeeding. This allows them not to feel guilty for their ignorance of how to help women overcome difficulties with breastfeeding, which could have been overcome and usually which could have been prevented in the first place if mothers were not so undermined in their attempts to breastfeed. This argument also seems to allow formula companies and health professionals to pass out formula company literature and free samples of formula to pregnant women and new mothers without pangs of guilt, though it has been well demonstrated that this literature and the free samples decrease the rate and duration of breastfeeding.



Let's look at real life. If a pregnant woman went to her physician and admitted she smoked a pack of cigarettes, is there not a strong chance that she would leave the office feeling guilty for endangering her developing baby? If she admitted to drinking a couple of beers every so often, is there not a strong chance that she would leave the office feeling guilty? If a mother admitted to sleeping in the same bed with her baby, would most physicians not make her feel guilty for this even though it is the best thing for her and the baby? If she went to the office with her one week old baby and told the physician that she was feeding her baby homogenized milk, what would be the reaction of her physician? Most would practically collapse and have a fit. And they would have no problem at all making that mother feel guilty for feeding her baby cow's milk, and then pressuring her to feed the baby formula. (Not pressuring her to breastfeed, it should be noted, because "you wouldn't want to make a woman feel guilty for not breastfeeding.")



Why such indulgence for formula? The reason of course, is that the formula companies have succeeded so brilliantly with their advertising to convince most of the world that formula feeding is just about as good as breastfeeding, and therefore there is no need to make such a big deal about women not breastfeeding. As a vice president of Nestle here in Toronto was quoted as saying "Obviously, advertising works." It is also a balm for the consciences of many health professionals who, themselves, did not breastfeed, or their wives did not breastfeed. "I will not make women feel guilty for not breastfeeding, because I don't want to feel guilty for my child not being breastfed".



Let's look at this a little more closely. Formula is certainly theoretically more appropriate for babies than cow's milk. But, in fact, there are no clinical studies which show that there is any difference between babies fed cow's milk and those fed formula. Not one. Breastmilk, and breastfeeding, which is not the same as breastmilk feeding, has many more theoretical advantages over formula than formula has over cow's milk (or other animal milk). And we are just learning about many of these advantages. Almost every day there are more studies telling us about these theoretical advantages. But there is also a wealth of clinical data showing that, even in affluent societies, breastfed babies, and their mothers incidentally, are much better off than formula fed babies. They have fewer ear infections, fewer gut infections, a lesser chance of developing juvenile diabetes and many other illnesses. The mother has a lesser chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer, and is probably protected against osteoporosis. And these are just a few examples.



So how should we approach support for breastfeeding? All pregnant women and their families need to know the risks of formula feeding. All should be encouraged to breastfeed, and all should get the best support available for starting breastfeeding once the baby is born. Because all the good intentions in the world will not help a mother who has developed terribly sore nipples because of the baby's poor latch at the breast. Or a mother who has been told, almost always inappropriately, that she must stop breastfeeding because of some medication or illness in her or her baby. Or a mother whose supply has not built up properly because she was given wrong information. Make no mistake about it—health professionals' advice is often the single most common reason for mothers' failing at breastfeeding!



If mothers get the information about the risks of formula feeding and decide to formula feed, they will have made an informed decision. This information must not come from the formula companies themselves, as it often does. Their pamphlets give some advantages of breastfeeding and then go on to imply that their formula is almost, actually just as good. If mothers get the best help possible with breastfeeding, and find breastfeeding is not for them, they will get no grief from me. It is important to know that a woman can easily switch from breastfeeding to bottle feeding. In the first days or weeks—no big problem. But the same is not true for switching from bottle feeding to breastfeeding. It is often very difficult or impossible, though not always.



Finally, who does feel guilty about breastfeeding? Not the women who make an informed choice to bottle feed. It is the woman who wanted to breastfeed, who tried, but was unable to breastfeed. In order to prevent women feeling guilty about not breastfeeding what is required is not avoiding promotion of breastfeeding, but promotion of breastfeeding coupled with good, knowledgeable and skillful support. This is not happening in most North American or European societies.



Breastfeeding and Guilt

Written by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC - Revised January 1998.

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I delivered my son at a hospital that allowed those freebies. My son had very low blood sugar right after delivery. So, even though the hospital staff knew I wanted to desperately breastfeed, they gave him formula to bring his sugar back up. Why they couldn't just use glucose or some sort of sugar solution, I don't know. They used the formula, and the kid developed a horrid, horrid dairy allergy.



In addition, we had all of the problems in the book: latch-on problems, nipple shields, nipple confusion, terrible colic (from dairy allergy through milk products that I consumed), low milk supply, mastitis, failure to thrive...all within the first month. The failure to thrive turned out to be from the dairy allergy, BTW. The only thing that saved the breastfeeding relationship was a breast pump and a supplemental nursing system.



Don't get me wrong, I'm all for women who want to bottle-feed getting the freebies. I'm all for those women not having some social stigma for not being "perfect", or society's definition thereof. However, there are so very many women who said, "Well, I wanted to breastfeed, but it just didn't work out." They're the ones who are feeling the guilt, even years later. That's not right. They're the ones these rules are designed to protect.



And it is true that hundreds of billions of dollars could be saved in hospital costs, as well as hundreds of thousands of infant deaths could be prevented through breastfeeding alone. I'll dig out the WHO pamphlet that states all of the statistics and research. But it's also true that most babies in Western nations who were raised on formula turned out just fine and didn't die. It's the kids in the underdeveloped, poor areas who can't afford proper medical care (but can afford formula? WTF?!) who suffer the most, IMHO.

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