Should we regulate the way follow on milk is advertised?

When I recently heard of a petition to ban the advertising of follow on milk and breast milk substitutes to babies over six months, I initially thought it was Lactivist gone mad and a step too far from the pro breastfeeders.

Surely everyone has the right to make an informed choice about how they feed their baby? It’s personal preference isn’t it?

I couldn’t help but wonder if banning the advertising of follow on milks and formula was putting it in the same category as cigarettes? What next, will it have to be kept behind the counter and no longer available on the main supermarket shelves. Perhaps you could put the two together and people could ask for ‘20 B&H and a carton of your finest formula please.’

Parent Cath Jevon said; “My main beef with advertising formula is that it promotes the concept that breastfeeding is only for the first couple of months and then it’s portrayed as inadequate and you should be moving on.”

Lucie Mann, mum to two boys who were both breastfed added; “If you look at the TV adverts they portray a woman feeding on her own – she isn’t holding the baby in the correct position. When the adverts start to talk about follow on milk, the colours become brighter, the baby takes on a blue ‘ready break’ type hue and the whites of the eyes are enhanced to make them look bright and healthy. All of this gives the impression that your baby will be healthier if you use follow on milk.

“We are very lucky to have perceived choice in this country, but there really is no need for follow on milk. It was really only made when the ban of advertising formula came into place.”

Joining the debate is Corrine Suddes from Southampton; “Unfortunately, these giant companies are very astute in manipulating mothers to think ‘I’ve done this for six months, I’m weaning now so it doesn’t matter.’ Having researched it, there appears to be no strict guidelines and ingredients can change from batch to batch. It’s such a shame we can’t compete financially with these big companies to get the message across.”

Looking into this debate further, the call to action isn’t actually against the use of formula or bottle feeding parents, it’s not even about breastfeeding snobbery or Lactivist going too far. It’s actually about stopping the massive corporations playing on the vulnerability of parents and selling them a product which is not always necessary and doesn’t live up to its claims of being better for their health.

If you peruse the supermarket shelves you will find a plethora of follow on products starting at six months all the way up to two years plus. Where will it stop? Will they design a follow on milk for five year olds about to start school? As a parent guilted into buying a non essential product, how do you choose the best one for your baby, when you are bombarded with a wealth of mixed advertising messages from companies all struggling to get their share of the pie?

One group lobbying to stop the advertising of follow on milk and breast milk substitutes is Baby Milk Action. There slogan is, ‘Protecting Breastfeeding – Protecting babies fed on Formula’.

The non-profit organisation is far from anti-formula and is not trying to get formula banned; it wants tighter advertising controls and actually want to try and make it cheaper for mums to use without the massive mark up and ensure everyone has the right to accurate information about the products.

The latest success for Baby Milk Action is the cancellation of Wyeth’s SMA Baby Know How roadshows following protests.

Mike Brady, Campaign Coordinator told me; “Wyeth’s promotions of its SMA products benefit no-one but the company. Its advertising is misleading and does not provide objective information – the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints in the past. It is designed to drive up prices by making idealising claims about formula, while those who purchase formula also end up funding the marketing campaigns. For example, Wyeth claims its SMA formula is the best, but that claim does not stand up to scrutiny. By law, all formula have to contain what is known to be necessary for infant nutrition. Unfortunately, companies are getting away with misleading promotion because the regulatory system in the UK is failing parents. It is shocking how little action is taken over company marketing, even when it is acknowledged they are breaking the marketing rules. It seems often that if they apologise after the event, that is the end of the matter.”

In 2009, the infant milk market in the UK was worth £263 million and had grown by 73% since 2004.

I can’t help but think though that if people choose to use a follow on milk then they will do so with or without the organisations advertising the products. Although at the moment there are mixed and perhaps incorrect messages, if we take it away, where will the people looking for information turn to? I have asked my health visitor before on advice of which formula I should choose and was told they had to be impartial and not recommend one particular product.

It seems a good compromise would be to not ban the adverts and instead make them adhere to stricter guidelines. Education is essential from an early age about feeding a baby and we must not forget, there are ladies out there who want to feed but can’t – where do they turn? Surely being a parent comes with enough guilt.

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• Lu

  I am a parent who has breastfed both my children and still am feeding my 20 month old, after having a really tough time feeding my first i had to change to formula at 3 months because i just couldn’t cope any longer, it wasn’t vanity, it was for health reasons if i had carried on battling with every feed i might have got to a stage where i couldn’t have been a stable mother. Looking at the comment regarding giving formula as child abuse surely allowing my baby to be constantly hungry and not thriving would have been far more abusive? Since then i have trained in supporting women with breastfeeding and live in an area where we are incredibly fortunate to have wonderful breastfeeding support, As part of my training i would never judge a mother who chooses to formula feed but would be keen to find out her reasons, it is a parents prerogative to choose their parenting methods. But by learning how to help women and their children with their breasfeeding journey i have learnt factual, scientific, emotional and practical elements of BF, its brilliant that we have been able to keep mothers going when they are so desperate to breastfeed and have got them through the difficulties they have faced, some of which are purely about social perceptions. In other areas of the country the support is not so good and i’ve known people to give up easily. Obviously this training and services do cost money, we start teaching women about the benefits of BF and where they can go for support during the ante natal period, we then make our services known after the birth should they wish to choose BF they know where the support is. Its a shame the amount of money these organisations have to research the make up of their formulas and their advertising campaigns could not be reciprocated into funding to allow us to create greater support networks for BF throughout the nation. I wonder if it is possible to get some funding to make adverts for tv, radio, national posters etc to promote breasfeeding? This could be the next step for our project!

• kawasakiman

  There are far too many advertisers who over step the mark when it comes to false claims and false representation.

  Little ‘legal’ notes along the bottom of the screen in some cases clearly contradict the full screen, full colour, facts being implied above them.

• http://www.facebook.com/karen.elliott.5243 Karen Elliott

  I do not disagree with people using formulas for their baby if they think it is best. But I do know some people that have just used formula as an easy way out of breastfeeding too. I believe that breast milk is the natural and perhaps ‘best’ way to feed your baby as the milk created has been done so that it provides your child with everything it needs to grow healthily, otherwise we’d be made with boobs producing formula, which of course hardly any of us really know what is in it in the first place; we just trust the adverts. Therefore, more guidelines should be implemented on how formula milk is advertised as I think many people are too easily persuaded by it if they have not tried breastfeeding for long. I know for some people that it may not be ideal or for other reasons are not able to breastfeed, and so formula is another good way to provide some nutrients to your child. But personally, I am not really interested in the idea of having the promotion of glowing babies from formula as advertised most recently, as a positive way to do it. I for one, will stick to breastfeeding for my children, even if it might hurt like hell. All comes as part of the package.

• Joree

  Every advertisement for baby milk should clearly [not in small print] state that breast is best for both mother AND baby – and refer to good, independent information about why breast milk is best if the mother is able to give it. Obviously, if the mother is not able to nurse her baby, bottle is the second best. Every advertisement should be required to make this very clear.

• JM10

  I agree: my 2 month premature son was born by emergency caesarian, and was in an incubator for the first 6 weeks of his life. I tried breast-feeding, and also expressing milk for bottle feeds, but after about 8 weeks I had to give up as I could not produce enough and my child needed hourly feeds, day and night. Sometimes, despite all one’s good intentions, it’s just not possible.