NYC hospitals ban formula and bottles

When Walmart promotes their best BBQ grill are they taking away other people's choice to buy a lower quality one? When KFC promotes their best chicken sandwich are they taking away their customer's freedom to choose a different meal?

There is nothing standing in the way of a woman's choice here. This is about marketing material that is allowed up on hospital walls. I don't understand how someone can be insulted because certain hospitals don't want enfamil posters up on their walls. McDonalds isnt' taking away my freedom of choice because they took down their Big Mac posters and replaced them with their McSalad posters. And they certainly aren't giving me anything free...

If not having formula posters on the walls and free samples in the take-home diaper bags makes a woman feel like her choice to formula feed is being taken away then how should a woman feel about her choice to breastfeed when hospitals are obviously endorsing enfamil products by having the posters and free samples everywhere? Is her choice to breastfeed being taken away?

And because mother's often choose to formula feed means that the hospital owes it to them to have enfamil posters on the walls and free samples in the bag?

What's wrong with a hospital trying to promote the healthiest choice for it's patients...isn't that what we should expect from our health care professionals?

 

Well said.:applause:

it makes about enough sense to argue that a woman's right to choose formula is being compromised as it does me claiming my right to eat cheese is under attack if my supermarket stops offering me cheddar cubes on a toothpick.

 

1. No, but I'm sure they can be handy if the baby needs them when you get home and it can save her some money if she does need to go to formula.

2. Formula is expensive, and even a small can can help a mother who is trying to support her baby. If a baby is put on formula and the mother is not on welfare, it can cost her $100 a month for milk. They will pay enfamil for this, a few samples is at least something back. Yes, breastmilk is best, we all know that, but some babies do grow and thrive just fine on formula...a few here on this thread alone.

3. I feel this is the best argument!! I hate it, I hate how much garbage we produce and once again, I believe we need to take responsibility for ourselves here. For example, if you aren't going to use the formula...at least donate it, don't put baby's milk in the garbage just because you don't agree with it. I do believe that giving a woman a choice helps to reduce this waste as well. If a mother chooses to accept the samples, she assumes the responsibility for the waste it will produce just like if she were to buy any product with packaging. If she will not need it, she can make the choice to say no.

4. We are talking about NYC here, not third world countries. I think we can do things to help these countries, like education. I don't know if more babies would die with or without formula in these countries, but I seriously don't think that a mother that is struggling to keep her children alive is gonna be moved at all by an advertisement.

5. It's business, as sad as that sounds, and most aren't ethical. I'm not trying to argue that companies don't play dirty, just look at all the adds directed to children (McD's, Capri Sun, Nintendo) but I'm trying to argue that a woman should be educated to make her own decisions. They can't just keep banning things to get us to do things a certain way...not even breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is a very personal relationship with your child and I do believe that if a woman wants to nurse, she will make it happen. I'm just afraid that we are moving backwards here as a country and having decisions made for us.

And I am by no means Pro-formula, I exclusively breastfeed. That is a choice I made for my children. But I do enjoy samples because I'm poor and it is nice to get something for free now and then. I believe that the goal to get more mothers to breastfeed is best met thru education of parents and staff. I think it is wonderful when a hospital supports breastfeeding (and I wouldn't deliver there if they didn't, aha..another choice). I don't think a nurse should be able to give formula without mothers permission, I would completely flip out. But of course formula companies are going to target new mothers...that is their demographic...no different than Pampers providing samples....would I put them on my baby? No!! That is my choice! But, having a sample has actually come in handy here and there when in a pinch. Does using that sample make me want to put paper on my baby's bum? Hell no because I am her mother and have many many choices to make for what I feel is best for her.

 

There's no benefit, except to make it easier to reach for a bottle instead of nursing through a difficult moment?

Yes! Formula is expensive! If finances are sticky, breastfeeding saves over $1200 in the first year of life, a few free samples saves what? $12.00? $14.00? WIC programs alone purchase more than 37% of all formula manufactored. Not to mention the potential medical expenses directly related to formula feeding.....colic, lactose intolerance, diarrhea, ear infections, lower and upper respiratory infections,etc. etc. etc. Saving a few dollars in the first week is not justification for a year of potential expenses. The lates estimates for increased health care costs is $14,000 per year for a formula fed babies. For every 1000 formula fed infants, 77 will be hospitalized in the first year (the numbers for breastfed babies is 5/1000). Not to even mention later diseases that have been strongly linked to formula feeding, like Crohn's Disease, celiac disease, and Juvenile Onset diabetes. 12 or 14 dollars compared to an expense that could be in the thousands. That one small can does much more harm than good.

This is more education. You are assuming that most of America is even aware of the issues of over-production and the environment, or even applies it to one or two cans of free formula, or even has the luxury and free time away from struggling to survive to even give a shit. The truth is, most women who recieve the formula, especially first-time breastfeeders, will not donate or toss the freebie formula.....they will feed it to their babies, and then toss the cans, and go buy more formula. The formula companies know this, and are laughing all the way to the bank.

Take a look around you......there are millions in the US who struggle daily to put food on the table, pay their rent and medical expenses, and keep their families with enough clothing to keep warm. In NYC, more than 25% of the population is waaay below the federal poverty line. It could be argued that 1/4 of all Americans DO live in a Third World nation, and like those who live in other countries, they are more likely to die from nutrition-related diseases at an early age.

In Third World nations, it was normal and expected to breastfeed, often until a child was 3 or 4 years of age, until the formula companies came in and "educated" the women about formula. Nestle actually hired women, who had no training in infant nutrition, dressed them as nurses, and put them in hospitals to hand out just enough free formula to last just long enough to dry a mother's breastmilk. Do a Google search on Nestle formula boycott and be prepared to be outraged.

Again, I MUST re-iterate. There is NO BAN on formula. No one is saying that a woman CANNOT formula feed her baby. What a few (pitifully few, IMHO) hospitals are doing is trying to encourage and support a positive breastfeeding message by not promoting or endorsing (even if it is an implied endorsement, such as giving away Similac or Enfamil samples) infant formula and providing on-going support and education to new mothers.
In light of our current political state, it makes much more sense to put your money where your mouth is, and refuse to support companies that practice un-ethical marketing.

We don't have an inherent "right to receive free samples". Yes, samples are nice.....I give my mothers a lovely, muslin zippered bag from Whole Foods "Whole Baby" which contains Burt's Bees baby oil, some Mother's Milk and Red Raspberry leaf teas, re-usable nursing pads, some Lansinoh, and organic baby soap. There's no reason hospital freebies can't be more breastfeeding friendly and still satisfy our greed for free stuff.

Right, education is key, (and I believe the hospitals have stated repeatedly in the article that they are also providing breastfeeding classes, support groups and LCs within an hour of birth) but can a person really make an informed decision if she is not given all the facts? Are we all so afraid of making someone feel guilty if we tell them the truth, that formula can HARM your baby? Cause your baby to become severly ill, or even die? It sounds great and PC and accepting to say "Freedom of choice!", but is it really, truly, honestly freedom of choice if ALL the information is not provided, or glossed over with rhetoric like "your right to choose" and "Don't feel guilty if you can't" or "plenty of babies do just fine on formula"?

I've never heard of a baby suffering more than a diaper rash from a disposable diaper. My argument against disposables are that it is unhealthy for the environment, not that it could cause a baby to become seriously ill. My argument against formula is that it is unhealthy for everyone (excluding those babies whose mothers TRULY cannot nurse, then formula is a god-send) except the formula companies.

The WHO does not even include formula as a second-best alternative for breastfeeding...it is a lowly fourth place, after donor milk from another human mother.

Now, I don't think formula is evil. I certainly won't come down on a woman who chooses to formula feed. I totally recognize that it has it's necessary place in infant nutrition and is an adequate substitute for the real thing.

I don't think hospitals should be handing it out willy-nilly to every woman who walks through the L&D doors, just because formula companies need to make a profit. I am not invested in seeing that those companies meet their bottom line. I am not interested in protecting their profit margins. If a woman chooses to formula feed, not getting a free sample will not be a deterrent, (Oh, I can't formula feed ever again because the hospital didn't give me an Enfamil goodie bag! Woe is me!) It's just not going to happen.

 

Thank you! You made some really good points! I will admit that I do see where you guys are coming from, and have been educated lots from this thread (please don't close it, it is very interesting). I do enjoy samples and was lucky that my hospital did give me a bag with Lansinoh and lots of info about breastfeeding with local support, including a great pro-breastfeeding bag that is perfect for trips to the library. I hope more women do breastfeed. Where I live (northern AZ), it is the norm and it is actually weird to see a baby bottle LOL. And everyone nursing in public everywhere. I guess I didn't realize how easily a person can be swayed by advertising...very sad really.

And in case you were wondering, yes disposable diapers pose a health risk to a baby and the population in general. That's not even to mention the effects on the environment. Feces should not be placed in landfills, it can get into our water supply, therefore ignorant people that put their babies in sposies then put it in the trash are posing a risk to me and my family. As for the health of the baby, Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic carcinogenic by-product of the paper-bleaching process and Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. And have you ever seen what gets on a baby when they burst open?

 

I've also heard that the gels used in disposables can cause sterility or decreased sperm motility in boy babies.


What I would REALLY like to see, is all women of childbearing age receive the financial, emotional, and physical support she needs in order to stay home, nurse her baby, and not suffer from poverty.
But that would be {gasp!} Socialism! :whistling

 

That about sums it up for me.

 

A great book to explain about the history of breastmilk substitute and how formula companies (especially nestle) opperate is "Milk, Money, and Madness" by Naomi Baunslag, MD.

 

No one is banning anything. They are doing away with automatic free samples. They can still get their formula if they request it...

 

:banghead: :beatdeadh

I've come to the realization that certain people are never going to get it. How many of us have explained the situation? 5? 10? I give up... its just gotten annoying that people can be so obtuse.

 

Maybe you should get disagreeing with you banned to.

 

Yep.. that is next on my to-do list. :H