Unfortunately due to my own health issues and the medications I am currently taking I am unable to breastfeed. As much as I would love to breastfeed my son it is simply not possible. So, is there any infant formula on the market that I can feel confident about feeding my son?

Thanks!

We are in ongoing communication with the companies, including Nestlé. We have taken part in public meetings with Nestlé on the issue and asked it to set out its terms and conditions for an independent, expert tribunal to investigate claim and counter claim, which it has repeatedly refused to do. Our current campaign asking members of the public to email the company over its latest global marketing strategy where it claims its formula ‘protects’ babies and is ‘The new “Gold Standard” in infant nutrition’, would not have been necessary if Nestlé had respected the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, which clearly prohibits such practices, and responded when we contacted it directly about this practice over a year ago. Nestlé continues to defend the practice. See:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/cem/cemjul10

Our public campaigns – backed by pressure from the boycott in the case of Nestlé – have forced changes in policies and practices to the benefit of infant health. But violations continue.

Article 11.3 of the International Code states companies should abide by the Code independently of other measures and this was reiterated in the 2010 Resolution.

We agree that there need to be better safeguards at national and international level when companies do not meet their responsibilities under the Code. Baby Milk Action and our partners have been working successfully over decades for effective implementation of the International Code and subsequent, relevant Resolutions of the World Health Assembly, which have been introduced in legislation in over 60 countries. Where these are being monitored and enforced, they are having a significant impact. For example, median breastfeeding duration has increased in Brazil from less than 3 months in the 1970s to over 10 months today.

At the international level, we currently have systems such as the UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. We have tried to use these and found them to be worse than useless as they are voluntary, the bodies responsible for them refuse to investigate reports of violations and they provide public relations cover to companies.

Baby Milk Action has already made recommendations for improvements in the international regulatory framework. As a member of the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition Task Force on Food Security, we developed proposals for strengthening the international framework, which are included in the publication, Global Obligations for the Right to Food. For further information, see:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/policyblog210510

Our work has undoubtedly helped to save the lives of many people who would otherwise have died as babies. That is because we do not accept companies dismissing reports of violations and continuing to put their own profits before the lives of babies. We find ways to hold them to account.

But, it isn’t easy to breastfeed in our society. There’s the rub. Lack of traditional knowledge transfer from grandmothers/mothers/ aunts/sisters/friends, lack of familiarity, lack of effective health professional support, short maternity leaves, a society obsessed with sexualizing breasts that makes it hard for most mothers to breastfeed around others, the increasing involvement of fathers in infant care and their desire to feed the baby — just a short list of the barriers to making something — that should be relatively easy — actually be easy.

I heard a Pediatrician say this once: “If feeding babies was an Olympic Sport, breastfeeding would win the gold medal. Feeding breastmilk from a bottle or cup would get the silver, and supplementing breastmilk/breastfeeding with a little formula would get the bronze. Formula feeding would make it to the competition, but not the podium.”

Now, in some cases, this may be justified. But I suspect that in the vast majority of the cases, it is not, and the problem can be solved. But many women give up because they think there should be no problems. That is just not realistic in our current society.

I think we should be honest: breastfeeding is better, but formula is not horrible. Breastfeeding is easier in some ways (I always have food on hand for my baby, for instance) but there are some things that are hard, particularly early on. Many, many woman think that the effort to get through the early days is well compensated for by the pay off later- I can honestly say that breastfeeding my daughters has been one of my favorite things about motherhood.

And then we need to work on the cultural environment. We shouldn’t make women go hide in a back room (or a bathroom!) to nurse their baby- unless the baby needs the quiet. Our society should get over our hang ups about this.