I believe that we in the healthfield should be willing to take a more aggressive stand against the promotion of breastmilk substitutes. I hope that the medical institutions and/or professional organizations we represent would be in the forefront of BREASTFEEDING ADVOCACY!

Thank you very much for sharing the blatant scheme of milk companies directed to mom bloggers. Kudos!

as a childbirth educator, i am in contact with many moms and most of them blindly follow what their pediatricians and obgynes tell them. for example, nearly all of them are convinced that their children need milk formula even into toddlerhood or up to school-age! why? because their doctors told them so.

doctors have to be part of the solution because they are a big part of the problem.

It’s really bothersome how these milk companies blatantly show how much clout they have on some medical professionals. I pity those doctors.

For Dr. Hoffman, if you check the website of the Retina Foundation, it shows there that his study on ARA and DHA is funded by Mead Johnson. There is just no credibility.

@lady cess- I would think most mom bloggers won’t.

@dexie - if I were the mom encountering breast feeding problems in the Philippins, I would consult lactation consultants and not the OB-gyne because these doctors are being promoted by Milk Companies. Some doctors could be biased towards Milk Formula

I prefer breastfeeding. I did for both my children. BUT, whenever we went out I gave them formula as an option because I had a terrible time pumping for milk at home. As much as I support breastfeeding I was uncomfortable doing it in public. Who knew I’m still capable of modesty…LOL. Although sometimes I breastfeed in the car but if we’re out and they were hungry I was glad I had formula readily available for them.

Having said all that, I think promoting Formula because it will increase intelligence is false advertisement. I think they’re using a bad tactic to promote formula. Breastfeeding is the best but formula has it’s benefits too. Raising IQ is not one of them.

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@Jane- Elvira is a good friend of my sister-doctor who is a breastfeeding advocate herself. They aredoing such a great job!

@BrianB- If you watched the documentary, it’s all these ads telling them that the milk formula is just as good as breast milk. It’s just disgusting.

One reason, I think, is the Filipina’s sense of worth. I think many believe their milk is not as good as these “scientifically” produced products, some of which are imported sounding. This can explain the openness of Filipina mothers to milk substitute. Pag libre at galing sa kanila, tingin nila inferior. Pag mahal at de lata superior.