New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg started an initiative called "Latch on New York" that is asking hospitals to take the formula samples off the bedside tables of new mothers and put them behind the nursing stations or in the drug cabinets so mothers have to ask for them. People are up in arms about this, crying that Mayor Mike is trying to prevent women from choosing and that he's creating a "nanny state."
No.
What he is doing is trying to even the playing field, so huge corporations that don't know or care about your health, your child's health, or any of the decision you make as a parent do not have the ability to pay to have access to your bedside table.
Does it make you angry that formula companies have paid to have the kind of access to you that no one but your chosen medical providers should have? That they have unfettered access to tell you things about your body that may be blatantly false? It makes me angry, but money buys your freedom. I'm surprised the formula companies haven't started striking deals in which women come out of labor and delivery with adhesive stickers (with the name of the formula) stuck across our breasts so the only way even to try to breastfeed is to peel off the stickers first.
Taking formula off your bedside table does nothing to change your ability to choose for yourself. If you are not handed a formula sample in the hospital there is NO EFFECT on your ability to give your child formula when you get down to the lobby, when you get home, a week later, six months later. None. If you are given formula in the hospital we know (based on formula company research) that women are less likely to breastfeed. This means that being given formula in the hospital narrows our choices. Not being given formula, no restriction on choice. Being given formula, restriction on choice.
If you truly care about a woman's right to choose what's best for her and her baby, you will take the financial pressure out of the equation, and eliminate any actions that impede free choice. Putting formula samples right next to the baby's head impedes free choice. Having to ask for formula (just like you have to ask for tylenol, or an extra chucks pad, or another container of orange juice) doesn't impede free choice. It doesn't change anything for women who cannot breastfeed--they can still get those formula samples easily by asking. It doesn't change anything for women who don't want to breastfeed--they can still get those formula samples easily by asking. It could change everything for women who want to breasfeed but don't have correct information or are experiencing problems they can overcome if they're given help, because they will be given EQUAL ACCESS to information that can help them breastfeed and formula samples. They ask for help or they ask for formula. Equal access. No privilege for formula.
I don't want the decisions I make about how to parent my children made by the highest bidder. Especially since the highest bidder doesn't care about me and only wants my money. (Let's not forget that those formula samples are worth about $1.50. A woman who chooses to feed formula based on those samples has just been signed on to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on formula once she leaves the hospital. She is never informed of that. Is THAT free choice?)
I don't care how you feed your baby. But I want you to make a decision about it with all the information, all the support, and all the help you can get. Free choice. I do not want your choices narrowed by the huge financial incentives formula manufacturers pour into hospitals.
As usual, Mayor Mike has gone about his objectives in a ham-fisted way, barrelling in and offending people in an effort to protect consumers. Had I been mayor I'd have gone about it a different way, by requiring any formula company that wants to market directly to consumers in a vulnerable position to fund the salaries of three full-time lactation consultants for every 10 beds in a maternity ward so there is always an LC available to troubleshoot problems, along with providing training in breastfeeding once a year for every RN, LPN, and MD on the floor. Then, go ahead and put formula on the bedside table because there would be an LC right there, too.
But until there is an even playing field, ACTUAL FREE CHOICE WITH BOTH OPTIONS REPRESENTED EQUALLY, don't believe the hype.
(Special thanks to Dr. Aneel Karnani of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan for several discussions that informed the argument in this essay.)
UPDATE: Don't beliueve that having formula on the table affects your likelihood of breastfeeding? PhD in Parenting has a roundup of the research on it at the bottom of this post.
Very well said, Moxie. Thank you for presenting such a rational argument.
Posted by: Christine | July 31, 2012 at 07:56 AM
I could not agree more with this post!
Posted by: Kelly | July 31, 2012 at 08:08 AM
And extra breast pumps! Make them provide more breast pumps too!
Posted by: Kelli | July 31, 2012 at 08:12 AM
What I object to is that the women will be subjected to a lecture about how breastfeeding is best each and every time they ask for some formula. There is so much wrong with this. If I am struggling to keep my baby satiated and not producing enough I don't need a lecture every time I top my baby off with some formula. If I have been sexually abused and breastfeeding triggers flashbacks, I don't need a lecture each time I go to feed my baby a bottle of formula. If I have decided I don't want to breastfeed for any reason whatsoever I don't need a lecture each time I go to feed my baby. It is disgusting that he is doing this to women. Honestly it annoys the crap out of me that people think that just because my baby got some free samples in the hospital that I am brainwashed into using that formula. I have a brain and I know how to comparison shop and pick a generic brand. This initiative will do nothing to increase breastfeeding rates and it treats women like children. That is why I am up in arms over it.
Posted by: Awesomemom | July 31, 2012 at 08:12 AM
Great article.
Posted by: Kate Hegs | July 31, 2012 at 08:21 AM
And they do influence. I didn't take any of them home, remembering this issue, but a few weeks later when I was standing in the grocery in tears looking for a formula to feed my starving baby (as advised by a lactation specialist who had worked with us for six weeks) I know I recognized the one I'd seen in the hospital.
(end of story:) An unknown woman came up to me and put her arm around me as I stood there sobbing. She asked me how old my baby was and helped me choose a formula. I stuck with her recommendation for a year (and yes, 100's of $).
Posted by: My Kids Mom | July 31, 2012 at 08:35 AM
Yes! Now if we can only fill in the gap in lactation consultants. Educate the nurses. I know in some areas of the US, breastfeeding is totally the norm and mothers feel an extraordinary pressure to do it. But it's not that way everywhere. I have a friend who had a baby over the weekend and had to wait days to get an LC to come see her. That's just not okay.
Posted by: Sam | July 31, 2012 at 08:40 AM
What about premies and the stress already encountered by having a sick baby? I went through so many lectures on how to care for the baby and staff questioning me why she was a premie. I wanted to know why I couldn't hold her, why they couldn't let me even try to breast feed her even though she was MINE. Too much government intrusion into our lives. It's just another move toward socialism. You can't even get a Big Gulp in NYC now. What if I want to save some of the soda for the next day? MR kids can't get heart transplants now, old people with cancer can't get cancer treatment but they get death counseling, and now big gov't making a mom feel bad for wanting or needing formula!
Posted by: Susan Case | July 31, 2012 at 08:43 AM
What I wish is that nurses would not feed the babies formula if the mother has asked them not to. In my case, I was never brought my babies to feed until the third day. Granted, I was awfully ill at first, but after 8 hours or so I could have started feeding them with assistance. But they didn't bring me the babies until Wednesday morning. They were born Monday afternoon. I was knocked out (literally, they had to fix something) until about 1am Tuesday but I remember finally waking and then being all alone in the room. The babies were in the nursery and I didn't even see them until my husband came the next day. Why didn't they bring them to me and help me feed them, instead of feeding them with bottles? By the time I was well enough to think clearly again, they had been fed with formula for two days.
Posted by: Kathleen | July 31, 2012 at 09:02 AM
Women are smart. If they want to breastfeed, they will regardless of whether formula is sitting in the diaper bag on the counter.
I'm really torn. I breastfeed, but you know, I want more support for it in the hospital, but I don't want to make any vulnerable person feel bad by choosing formula (or feeling guilty for having a nurse give a bottle overnight so she can rest on day #3 after no sleep in the hospital because hospital schedules are convenient for the nurses - not the patients). It's tough. More LCs and more training for staff is a great idea, but there is more to it than that.
(And recent studies suggest that unrestricted access to pacifiers means greater success at breastfeeding and that makes total sense because if you are the human pacifier, you are a lot less likely to stick with it.)
Posted by: SarcastiCarrie | July 31, 2012 at 09:03 AM
Yes, well ... There's nothing "free choice" in getting a mandatory lecture on the merits of nursing. I can accept your argument; just don't force us to listen to some anonymous LC/RN/whatever once we've already made the decision to feed with formula.
In other words, if these city-run hospitals are gonna stick the formula at the other end of the hall in a secret cabinet, at least they better get out of our way and shut up once we've made our decision.
Posted by: SWObserver | July 31, 2012 at 09:13 AM
I disagree. I gave birth in a hospital that was so pro-breastfeeding that my baby nearly starved. No formula was given. I didn't know to ask - they just kept telling me my milk would come in and he was latching fine and not to worry. I told them I had no milk and the nurses kept shaming me and telling me not to supplement or I'd ruin my chances to breastfeed. I was in a post partum haze and didn't know what to do except to trust these medical professionals. And guess what? My baby was literally starving. I never got any milk and I found out later o have severe breast hypoplasia which means I never WILL get any milk. So Joe was I given free choice? I wasn't given any options - I was just shamed and told to keep trying to breastfeed and it would work. My child suffered because of it.
Posted by: Becca | July 31, 2012 at 09:13 AM
Wow. So you guys had formula on your bedside table? At my hospital (one of the big ones in San Diego), it was... I don't know where. Available, but not visible. (I know it was available, because the lactation consultant had me supplement with some with my first, because we had a really hard time getting breastfeeding established and she was literally starving. We eventually went on to breastfeed for 21 months. In retrospect, it was completely obvious why that tube supplementation helped- she was and is an impatient kid!)
Anyway, women still choose formula here, so I don't think that not having it on the bedside table is really hurting anyone.
Posted by: Cloud | July 31, 2012 at 09:17 AM
Great post, as usual, Moxie. To the people saying that women are smart and that formula samples don't make a difference, we know that is patently false. As Moxie said, the formula companies' own research proves this to be true. Think about your own experience. When it came time to supplement or wean, did you choose the brand you were given in the hospital? I know I did. That doesn't make me dumb. It just means the marketing worked (and if it didn't, they wouldn't spend so much money on it.....which is why this stuff which is only about 25 cents to produce costs $15 a can).
I do agree that moms shouldn't get a lecture every time they ask for formula. They should be counseled on the risks to formula feeding once, sign a waiver and be done with it. This is the policy in hospitals that are certified Baby Friendly. Initially the Mayor had set a goal to have every hospital in the city certified by BFHI but it is a looooong, painstaking process, so my guess is that this program is a way to get some of those same policies in place until certification is possible. It needs some work, but the intentions are good.
Posted by: Elita @ Blacktating | July 31, 2012 at 09:17 AM
I am confused how taking the free samples of formula out of labor/delivery rooms would make a woman feel guilty about her choices. I remember being given the "breast feeding support bag" and thought it was such a nice gift until I got home and found it was full of formula. I felt patronized - that, who was I to think I could successfully nurish my baby? Shortly there after, I was buying formula to donate to the orphanage that my other son is from and was told that I better get ready to start buying it all the time because my milk was going to dry up any day now (by a man of course). Formula marketing is full of scare tactics and under cutting vulnerable mothers efforts to breastfeed. I think all the pressure should be taken out of the delivery room, there is enough in life as is.
Posted by: heather | July 31, 2012 at 09:19 AM
Please pardon all my typos - on a mobile device
Posted by: Becca | July 31, 2012 at 09:37 AM
Wait, really? I should be counseled on the risk of formula feeding and SIGN a waiver before being allowed to feed my child? Yeah that's not shaming at all.
Posted by: Becca | July 31, 2012 at 09:40 AM
I'd like to politely disagree with the "women are smart" and "we can make our own choices" arguments.
Hear me out.
Yes, women who are educated, that reach out to forums of support, that do their research, that have the ability to contemplate the pros/cons of brestmilk vs. formula, that have a supportive partner, that have mothers/sisters/cousins/aunts that have been in the trenches with breastfeeding and know the perils and the heartbreak that goes along with being sole-source food service for an infant... those are the women that aren't easily influenced by the "free" diaper bag & Welcome to Motherhood!!!! free formula samples...
But what about the rest of the population? There's far more women that have absolutely no idea the countless benefits of breastfeeding, that it's free, that it's not gross, that maybe you'll surprise yourself, that maybe you can help another mother that's struggling with the same choice one day... and hey, if it doesn't work out or if it's not for you, ask us and we'll provide some formula samples. There are teen moms, low-income moms, moms that just haven't seen breastfeeding... don't they deserve an unbiased, un-marketed, un-corporate-incentivized post-labor chance at breastfeeding?
I don't see this as "big government" - and I'm a huge conservative anti-big-government-small business owner,blah blah blah. I don't see it that way. This is a public health issue. This is an economic issue. This is about corporations running hospitals. This is everything that is wrong about marketing products to new mothers.
Call me crazy. But I don't think keeping samples behind the counter with the frozen maxi pads is going to hinder a single mom from choosing formula. But it might inspire them to choose breastmilk.
And yeah. Nurses shouldn't be lecturing new moms. And more LCs on staff would be a dream. And if the corporations started sponsoring nurse-education programs and paying for in-house LCs - and when that happens, maybe the argument will change.
Posted by: anonanana | July 31, 2012 at 09:51 AM
I think no matter what you choose, the ability to have both options clearly, and in an unbaised way, laid out in front of you.
They gave out formula samples when I had my children, in 'goody' bags. Plastered all over the walls were the 'Breast is Best' signs. The nurses were very supportive and helpful with breastfeeding, there were breastfeeding clinics most days that you could attend to get help from the Health Unit and LC's.
And yet? When I got home and looked through all of the magazines that were given to me, and wanted to use the formula samples that were given to me, because breastfeeding was working but was absolutely painful torture for me (and no one knew why), I could find articles upon articles upon ads upon stories of HOW TO BREASTFEED. And HOW TO KNOW IF YOUR BREASTFED BABY IS EATING ENOUGH.
I couldn't not find one single solitary resource to tell me how much formula to feed my baby at their age. I found every comparable bit of information about BF'ing and how to resolve issues and how to latch and how to 'measure' success and how long to feed, but not a single fucking thing about how to actually go about making and feeding formula.
I cried something awful trying to figure it out myself so that I would a) Feel less guilty about switching, and b) Not overfeed or underfeed my baby.
Having the samples didn't pressure me to stop breastfeeding, but not having all of the information I needed regardless of my choices was extremely hurtful.
Posted by: amy | July 31, 2012 at 10:00 AM
"Taking formula off your bedside table does nothing to change your ability to choose for yourself." Nor does putting formula on your bedside table. It only makes it easier to choose formula. If you want laws to make making "bad" choices a little bit harder go ahead, but admit that's what you're advocating.
Posted by: Cathy | July 31, 2012 at 10:18 AM
This is a tricky issue. I think it depends what your baseline is. I think most of us can agree on the following:
- education on the benefits of breastfeeding, and counseling on how it might be difficult at first should be provided or made easily available to every new mother, but should not be shoved down throats
- access to LCs and breast pumps should be offered generously to all who want them
- hospital staff should be supportive of the new mother's choices (no formula-shaming, no shaming of desire to exclusively BF), provided there is no unusual medical issue
and then I also think that access to formula should be offered generously.
It may be that at one time the balance was tipped pro-formula at the hospitals because of the active marketing attempts of the formula corporations, but I do think that things have in many cases tipped the other way. I had my first 5 yrs ago at a NYC hospital, and formula was made available, but I was also guilted by the nurse when I wanted to give my screaming, unconsolable baby a bottle. At the same time, I didn't know that I could ask for an LC (for free) until several days into my stay (had a c-sec). Then she told me I could get a pump. When I left I was given a huge bag of samples (definitely more than $1.50 worth, probably more like $40 worth), which I was grateful for a used tiny bit my bit over the next few months (because they were small bottles, I could do that, wouldn't have been able to do it with a big tub). I ended up breastfeeding for 14 months, supplemented with formula, but it never got easy. I hated it, honestly.
Ok, getting off topic. I think that Bloomberg's intentions are good, but he is going about it in the wrong way. Don't take away easy accesss to formula samples, but do be more open about breastfeeding resources (LCs, pumps). For those who say, you could always ask for what you want, I disagree. The first few days postpartum are so emotional, confused, physically difficult, etc. and for some it may be their first hospital stay and some are not as aware of confident in making their demands. I know I was.
Posted by: AK | July 31, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Shouldn't have to hide any baby formula behind the nurses' station. New moms should be presented with options and helped to proceed with any choice thay make! I am a nursing mom and this is a CHOICE I made! Starting to feel like government sticking their nose in everything.
Posted by: Dstern51 | July 31, 2012 at 10:44 AM
In bc I had the nurses refuse to give me formula and try to shame me, after my dd screamed with hunger for 24 hours. I finally had to really insist and make for the stores myself i went on to BF exclusively for 9 months. I will forever hate that nurse and how she treated me. No hidden cabinets, I am with awesome mom.
Posted by: Anon | July 31, 2012 at 11:15 AM
Call me crazy, but I decided what I was going to do BEFORE I entered the hospital. The can of formula siting on the counter did not sway me either way.
Posted by: Amy | July 31, 2012 at 11:16 AM
Excellent post!
Wanted to clear up a few misconceptions about this program, as there's been a lot of hyperbole in the media. (Shocking, right?)
1. This a voluntary public health initiative, and hospitals decide for themselves whether or not they want to join. There is no government mandate here.
2. For commentators who were concerned that mothers would be "lectured" every time they asked for a bottle, here's the actual language in the policy. It's very much about respecting a family's choice and offering resources and support.
"What do we tell our staff to do when mothers (families) request infant formula?
While breastfeeding is healthier for both mothers and babies, staff must respect a mother’s infant feeding choice.
Educating mothers and families about breastfeeding and providing encouragement and support, both prenatally and after birth, is the best way to ensure breastfeeding success in your hospital.
While in the hospital your staff can:
• Assess if breastfeeding is going well and encourage the mother to keep trying.
• Provide education and support to mothers who are experiencing difficulties.
• If the mother still insists on receiving formula, document it in the chart along with the reason and distribute only the amount of formula needed for the feeding.
• Train staff in breastfeeding support (CLC, IBCLC) who can be available to assist new mothers at all times regardless of day, night or weekends."
Posted by: HygeiaKate | July 31, 2012 at 11:19 AM
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The lectures mothers get over using formula would only increase if they actually had to ask for it. Women have the right to make the choice that is best for them without getting lectured on how breast is best. I struggled for FOUR MONTHS feeding my daughter. I was miserable. She was miserable. But every time I talked about formula I got lectured by the lactation consultants. I got lectured from the doctors. I got lectured by nurses. She was my first. I didn't know better than to say, "this isn't good for us. it isn't working". With my second, breast feeding was easy for him. It was easy for me and I breast feed him happily for his first year. How I wish I could have enjoyed those first months with my daughter instead of being in pain, angry, and ready to cry because I felt pressured into doing something that would work for me. Why make the decision harder for women?
Posted by: Kate | July 31, 2012 at 11:21 AM
I agree that women should not have to listen to a lecture or sign a waiver in order to get formula if they ask for it. Information can be OFFERED, but should not be forced on anyone, and the idea that you have to sign a waiver is just absurd and insulting. The proven differences between formula fed babies and breastfed babies are not so huge that this level of intervention is required. Removing the samples from the room, ok - providing information and support for breastfeeding from birth on, yes, please - but making women SIGN A WAIVER to get formula? That's condescending. That's treating adult women like children.
Posted by: dregina | July 31, 2012 at 11:24 AM
@HygeiaKate I am not reassured by what you have posted. Note the language in bullet 3: "If the mother still insists on receiving formula..." (emphasis added). Really? I can't just ask for formula? I have to be educated (and can't decline to listen to the advice?)? I can't "request" but must "insist?" Yikes.
(Background: I gave birth in a hospital that's literally nationally known for its LCs, made extensive use of their services both pre- and post-discharge, BF'ed my son until he self-weaned at 13 months, and also fed him formula -- though I'd never imagined I would -- which I started at the advice of the LCs using an SNS as my supply was low and persisted with when, despite my extensive pumping in addition to on-demand nursing, it never did rise enough to meet demand. I also got both formula samples and a manual breast pump as "gifts" through my hospital, without asking for either).
Posted by: Alexicographer | July 31, 2012 at 11:47 AM
Whoops -- I tried to italicize the "still insists" in my quote above, but apparently these comments don't incorporate tags. Thus the odd "emphasis added" in my remark -- I was *trying* to add emphasis!
Posted by: Alexicographer | July 31, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Why not simply educate the woman on BOTH right at the start, ask what her intentions are, have her sign something that says, "Yes, I want to breastfeed" or "Yes, I want to formula-feed," and "I have been informed of the risks and benefits of my choice" and be done with it? Anyway, I don't think educating/lecturing/whatever you want to call it at 1 hour postpartum is going to do much good. The education needs to happen prenatally, with clear heads. Use the magic hour to encourage at least that first feed. I know someone who wasn't planning to breastfeed until that first latch-on, and she went on to breastfeed for 3 years because "it was just so cute!" You never know.
I do know that if a woman goes in uneducated or under-educated (as I did with my first baby), when the nurse suggests a bottle of formula because "you need to rest" and "his blood sugar might be low," and you don't know the damage that "just one bottle" can do, you trust the nurses and the hospital to do what's right for your baby. And if they suggest (endorse) a particular brand and send you home with a box of ready-to-feed bottles, that's what you're going to continue to use if the lactation support is not on par with the ease of just letting someone else give the baby a bottle so you can rest.
(Although, I was intelligent enough to realize that $14 a can for the identical Walmart brand is way smarter than $28 a can for the Enfamil.)
If you go in already SURE that you want to breastfeed, it's easy to ignore the formula. If you don't, it's easy to decide that formula will be just fine, thanks. If you decide to use formula, then it's certainly easy enough to get. And I agree with the above poster who said that you do need information on how to properly prepare and feed the formula if you're going to go that route.
But if you, like me, go in figuring you'll breastfeed and then get derailed by an unexpected c-section and major postpartum hemorrhage, and you don't know that you might need to work for it a little bit, and the hospital nurses and doctors are telling you it's just fine to give the baby formula and keep him in the nursery, then you're going to end up formula feeding even though you didn't really want to, and you're going to spend the next two years crying about it. At least, I did. Fortunately, I was able to educate myself and go on to successfully breastfeed my second for two years and am now happily breastfeeding my third for going on 11 months and counting, but I still wish I could go back 5.5 years and tell my first-time-mom self what I've learned since. I often wonder how things would have been different if they'd just kept encouraging me to try one more feed, one more feed, we'll help you, instead of giving me a breast pump and giving the baby bottles in the nursery.
Posted by: Jessica | July 31, 2012 at 11:52 AM
I came to comment but I think the other commenters have done so very eloquently. I see your point, but until we don't have any judgment going on with the nursing staff (or rest of the staff, it's not just the nurses), then you are not simply leveling the field.
Posted by: Melissa | July 31, 2012 at 11:52 AM
The risks of formula feeding? GMAFB. I'm all for breastfeeding (and am currently doing it myself) but this is a ridiculous statement.
Posted by: KAJ | July 31, 2012 at 11:57 AM
If we want to talk about increasing breastfeeding rates *at the margins* (which is pretty much where this discussion is because if you're heck-bent on one way or the other, this doesn't matter), then we really need to talk about WIC.
WIC supplies the formula for free for lower SES women. If the woman breastfeeds, she can have a free pump and a small increase in her monthly calories (I think they add carrots and tuna/beans to her food stipend, but I'm not 100% sure about that). So, here we're looking at FREE formula (not samples in the hospital but FREE for a YEAR) and trying to figure out how to increase breastfeeding rates in a population that historically has lower rates of breastfeeding. What you do in the hospital doesn't matter if free formula is available for the entire year. Perhaps a bigger incentive to breastfeed (cash, I don't know) is what is required.
The WIC lady came to my hospital room all three times to find out if I wanted to enroll or continue my enrollment now that I was a mom. (Also, she asked if I wanted to apply for Medicaid since Medicaid pays for about 40% of births in my state.)
Posted by: SarcastiCarrie | July 31, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Thank you MOXIE! Great backup to the mayor's initiative.
someone said that signing a form is shaming. I had to sign a form when I refused the eye goo, I wasn't ashamed. I was making the best choice for my baby IN MY EYES. Choosing formula, not trying to BF at all, may be the best choice for some mothers IN THEIR EYES. Its not in the eyes of the hospital so you have to sign a waiver. NBD.
Posted by: Erin | July 31, 2012 at 01:01 PM
Like @anon I had to wait until the nurses shift ended and walk down, with my drip stand, to the store of formula to get formula for my baby who had by then been screaming for more than 12 hours.
I wanted to breast feed. I did go on to breast feed. Until she weaned herself.
But due to losing so much blood I just had nothing in my breasts. Apparently the body reabsorbs liquid in desperate times.
I tried to explain my baby was dehydrated and was told she was my first, and I knew nothing, and she wasn't.
So I got the formula, she had a lot! and she slept. First rest the other 30 women on the ward got too.
The nurse tried to get colostrum out by placing empty, without a needle, injection needles on them and pulling the plunger to make a vacuum.
32 stitches, a haemorrhage, a bruised by my bones and the ventouse screaming baby, a Rhogam injection in the sore behind and then that. Yikes. The Royal London is pro breast feeding and it's good, but they won't give out formula without a fight.
Other friends at other hospitals describe a bizarre " milk round" with nurses going round with the ready made formula in throw away bottle. That's not ideal either.
The same nurse also arranged breastfeeding support on the morning of our first day out of hospital and that led to complete success in terms of the feeding. Milk had come in by then.
For me it was the wonderful support I got, at home, to help me nurse that made the breast feeding relationship. And that relationship was a beautiful one and a privilege. And free of charge, completely.
I don't think the hospital bit of formula had any real influence. Sometimes you need help. Formula is help. If you don't need it, great!
Posted by: Wilhelmina | July 31, 2012 at 01:18 PM
Part of the problem is you can never predict what kind of nurses or LCs you're going to get - someone rabidly pro-BFing no matter if your baby is failing to thrive? Someone who thinks everyone could use some free formula and assumes folks know how to make choices and comparison shop? Or the rare person who actually respects a patient's own preferences, free from judgment?
Latch on NY rubs me the wrong way. My hospital nurses didn't exactly show up at my bedside the minute I called them. I now appreciate the fact that nobody hid the formula samples from me, or made my baby wait 40 minutes until some employee found the stupid paperwork and the time to actually go fetch it for us.
If Bloomberg really cares about breastfeeding, then instead of this window dressing he will make some Actual Substantive Changes like mandating NYC employers to provide pumping rooms and break time, and signing into law guaranteed paid maternity leave for all.
Posted by: hush | July 31, 2012 at 02:30 PM
Unless hospitals also have samples of different kinds of snacks available for all their patients who are of the solid-food eating stage, I don't see why they should have samples of formula in rooms with newborns. It's marketing, it's not a public service.
I think they should only have unbranded formula available in the hospital. The point is to get you hooked on their brand of formula instead of someone else's brand. I know, I know, *you* aren't influenced by marketing, but it does work on almost everyone else. That's why the companies spend the money on it.
Posted by: Brooke | July 31, 2012 at 03:45 PM
Oh, God. This post vividly brought back the utter shame and despair I felt when I had to supplement with formula because I wasn't producing enough milk the first week. The poster in my hospital room mocked me by telling me colostrum was enough for my baby. It wasn't enough for my baby.
Fortunately, I had a wonderful and sympathetic pediatrician who knew exactly what I was going through and assured me I wasn't a failure as a mother because I couldn't manage to feed my own child.
Honestly, personally? It would have made me so much happier if there had been formula on the table. If anyone had told me that formula was okay. It did make me so much happier when the pediatrician said that.
(My kid went on to BF for more than a year, after formula supplementing for about a week.)
Posted by: charlene | July 31, 2012 at 03:46 PM
As someone said to me today, no where in the world does big business dominate over all else & masquerade as freedom than in the USA.
THAT is why Bloomberg is right. He is taking away free advertising from the formula companies and giving back the right to women to make their own choice over whether to breastfeednor artificially feed. WITHOUT being brainwashed by free advertisement.
Posted by: Maria | July 31, 2012 at 03:52 PM
NOWHERE else in the DEVELOPED world do governments allow formula companies to push their product in the way that it happens in the US.
Posted by: Maria | July 31, 2012 at 03:54 PM
In the rest of the developed world, if a woman decides she wants to formula feed her child. She just asks the nurse to get her some, and she is given it. Bloomberg is NOT taking away choice. It is taking away the freedom of formula companies to brainwash and advertise for free.
Posted by: Maria | July 31, 2012 at 03:57 PM
For those talking about how mothers will get lectured for not breastfeeding: this one's a catch 22. They'll get lectured for not giving their baby formula, lectured for giving their baby formula, lectured for having an epidural, lectured for NOT having an epidural, lectured about using birth control, lectured about NOT using birth control, lectured about working, lectured about NOT working . . . you get my drift. It has nothing to do with formula or breastfeeding, and nothing to do with the mother. It's a broader cultural problem, and there's no escaping it. The best you can hope for is to find a way to deal with it quickly and effectively, and to find ways to minimize how it gets under your skin.
Actually, the very best you can hope for is that the process of becoming a parent makes you fierce, and that you don't put up with that garbage anymore.
Posted by: Schwa de Vivre | July 31, 2012 at 04:37 PM
I don't know if this will add to the conversation but I didn't expect there to be free *anything* in the hospital when I delivered. I was really grateful that they gave us a ton of diapers because we didn't know how big he was going to be... and he came 3 weeks early... I didn't notice any formula on the table but I think since it was a Baby Friendly Hospital they probably didn't. I did however get formula in the mail that I threw out awhile later once I knew that my supply was fine and my son was thriving. I am torn on the issues in this post; I agree with a lot of what Jessica said. Talk about these things at prenatal appointments, discuss options, encourage her to give BFing a shot, and if it doesn't work out, here is what she can do instead to make sure baby doesn't starve, etc. PLENTY of support for whichever choice is made... and like birth plans we don't know what's going to happen at the actual birth; that is when support and a backup decision-maker can be key (like a doula could even advocate for BFing if wanted)
Posted by: Vacationland Mom | July 31, 2012 at 04:37 PM
How about real support for families and breastfeeding, like a decent maternity leave? Most / many women give up breastfeeding before 1 year and a lot of this has to do with the difficulty of working/pumping. Many women do not have supportive work environments or private offices and the stress of work/commuting does not encourage long-term breastfeeding, which is most beneficial if continued for at least 6 months!
Posted by: jj | July 31, 2012 at 04:48 PM
YOU may have had a horrific experience breastfeeding. I am sorry for that and sorry for any new Mom that has a shitty time trying to figure out feeding/sleeping/whatever-- we all need more support and better information, etc. YOU may be completely unaffected by marketing (congratulations on being so intelligent and self-aware). YOU may find asking for a bottle of formula degrading or humiliating (really? it's not condoms or crack.)
However, your individual experience is not necessarily the basis for sound public policy. This is a public health issue. And public health policies have to be based on representative data, not a few anecdotes. Studies show higher breastfeeding rates are, in general, very good for babies health and very good for moms' health (your starved baby and personal medical details notwithstanding). Studies also show that allowing formula companies to market their products in hospitals decreases the likelihood that women will breastfeed (an alternative to formula that has only a brief biological window to succeed before becoming impossible-- think about it, formula companies will do everything they can to wreck that window so their product can triumph). So, public health policy, if actually aimed at, you know, promoting the public's health, should do what it can to prevent formula companies from wrecking a woman's chance to breast feed WHILE STILL PRESERVING FORMULA AS AN OPTION FOR WOMEN WHO CHOOSE IT. (Which has been said a gajillion times, already!)
Formula can be a godsend. But in terms of public health policy, it should be seen as a back up, not a default first option. That's all this new policy is saying.
BTW, this whole 'any choice a woman makes is awesome because it's her choice and she chose it' is bullshit. Sometimes people make less than optimal choices (lord knows I have). That's ok. But acting like public policy should bend around to make people feel like "all choices are awesome! Yay for your choices 'cause you made a choice!" is not really a good use of public resources.
/end rant
Posted by: Anonforthisone | July 31, 2012 at 04:59 PM
This is fascinating. I live in a VERY pro-BF area, and the only free formula I ever received (or even SAW) was one can that came in the mail because I bought something at stupid Motherhood Maternity with a credit card.
Not a single nurse even mentioned it to me and it definitely wasn't in the room with us.
The bigger problem is always going to be the nursing staff, I think. Most of mine were fantastic about helping us get started (and I was really not enthusiastic about bf but willing to give it a shot). But I had one who just kept telling me I was doing it all wrong and didn't help either. If I had 3 or 4 of her, I'd have given up, I think.
Another friend was not introduced to the SNS thingy at all and didn't even know such a thing existed and had a much harder time than she needed to.
It's just crazy how everyone's experience is so variable based on what kind of nursing staff they have. And it's such a vulnerable time that any suggestion, either way, has a way bigger impact than it would normally.
Posted by: ARC | July 31, 2012 at 05:35 PM
I live in an area where BF is not the norm! If fact in the city I live in I only know of three people who BF and stuck with it other than myself...one of which was my mother! The doctors here seem to know nothing about it either...I went to have my wisdom teeth out and the dentist told me if I was put to sleep I'd need to pump and dump for THREE days! I did not have them taken out but later learned that I could have nursed my son as soon as I woke up...However the LC in my hospital was AMAZING! She was so positive and spent so much time with my son and I! I got the free samples of formula and ended up donating them! But I will say I was VERY tempted to use some and had my DH not been so supportive, I probably would have gave in. My hospital did NOT put formula in my room and I'm not sure if I would have been given any but I asked for samples "just in case"...I live in Ohio in a very low income city, most mothers here are on WIC and very few breastfed.
Posted by: ACG | July 31, 2012 at 05:48 PM
It's DISASTROUS to me the way that formula companies have co-opted the term "choice" and used it to convince women that they're giving them a choice when all they're doing is trying to take a choice away. But the people who KNOW BETTER know exactly what predators they are. The people who take their side either have a vested interest in them, or haven't done an ounce of research on this. Thanks for including PhD in Parenting's link. I also wrote about this from the Privilege perspective: http://thefeministbreeder.com/you-think-women-arent-vulnerable-to-marketing-check-your-privilege
Posted by: TheFeministBreeder | July 31, 2012 at 05:53 PM
Possibly the solution to this problem is to address it before a baby is born during prenatal care. That way when a mother delivers her baby (and is tired, hormonal, and crazy emotional)the appropriate support system is already in place and she is just simply being taken care of.
(I nursed both of my babies and delivered them in a "must ask" hospital)
Posted by: Kibbie | July 31, 2012 at 06:20 PM
If only there was a free sample of breast milk prepared for my newborn baby instead of formula, while I was in recovery from an emergency c-section, I would have felt I had a choice; formula was given to my child without my consent. How can that be allowed? Where was a LC to voice support of my choice to breastfeed? I really appreciate your blog post! Well said.
Posted by: Zhenchka | July 31, 2012 at 07:30 PM