[Editor's note: I recently came across this MedPage Today article about hospitals which continue to hand out infant formula, despite best evidence which tells us it is not a justified practice in most cases. In this post, Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Marsha Walker, shares her thoughts on the topic. Additional information about how to assist hospitals in stopping the practice of formula distribution can be found here. A list of formula sample bag-free hospitals can be found here. To read Lamaze International's policy on product advertising (which pertains to infant formula), go here.]

Distribution of commercial formula discharge bags is a form of marketing, defined as such by HIPPA. These bags are not designed to provide full information on infant feeding methods. That is something that should be done by health care providers, not infant formula companies whose goal is to sell more products. Most of the information contained in these commercial discharge bags is biased to say the least. Peddling pricey products to vulnerable patients is hardly what could be called evidence-based care. Hospitals who engage in this practice have morphed into the marketing arm of formula companies. No other unit in the hospital endorses brand name products and urges their patients to act in a manner that may not be in their best interest. These bags are not free. They cost the mother at least $700 as they promote the most expensive brands of formula, urging her to use those rather than the less expensive store brand formulas. It is time that hospitals stop acting as a sales venue and start providing breastfeeding mothers with sufficient evidence-based breastfeeding care and the services of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, rather than as a front and shill for the formula industry.

Guest Posted by: Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC

Published: October 12, 2011

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