Goidellick Designs is a tiny family run business. We run our business from our remote farm cottage in the Highlands of Scotland.
We have three children who are educated at home. We decided to start up our own business to allow us to be at home with the children. We wanted this business to reflect our values and opinions. We are enthusiastic about breastfeeding, home education and environmental issues. Through these interests we came up with our range of shirts and bags.
We’re now running a busy household full of children and cats and trying to promote our business too.
Dear Aunty Lactivist, There has been some discussion at an ante-natal group I attend about the merits of Vitamin K and how best to administer it to babies. Given fears about the injection potentially causing a leukaemia risk, there is some support for an oral dose administered through formula feed, as Vitamin K deficiency-related illness tends to mainly affect breastfeeding mothers. Please can Aunty Lactivist weigh in with some facts and figures? Kind regards,Anonymous
Aunty Lactivist is all of us so if you can help the person who wrote the question, if you have links to research, have read anything useful or have opinions you want to share on the matter please use this space.
I’m really pleased that Lactivist t-shirts are now available in Norway! The shop Ammebutikken stocks them, along side all sorts of interesting looking things.
Here is the site translated through google, for those of you, who like me cannot read Norwegian!
I would like to start up Aunty Lactivist and ask Lactivist readers to become agony aunts and help people with breastfeeding problems.
The idea is that we take one problem, say ‘my baby won’t sleep through the night and people say formula will help’ then Lactivist readers can comment and try to help. I know for a fact that some of you are Breastfeeding Peer Supporters and Lactation Consultants so we could theoretically have a good mixture of professional help and personal experience.
What do you think?
If you have a problem you’d like discussed you can email me at moomum@lactivist.co.uk and I can post it anon for you.
September 9th, 2010 by Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths
There are many myths surrounding breastfeeding and to be honest they’re all pretty unhelpful… One of the ones you hear most often though, is that breastfeeding your baby will make your boobs saggy.
In light of the unhelpful & (IMO) highly misleading article in closer magazine by Dr Christian Jessen I thought it might be a good idea to set the record straight (again).
In one online survey, half of the young women (aged 18-25) polled said they had no intention of breastfeeding, and 32% stated that their reason for making such a decision was that they didn’t want to develop saggy breasts.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of such a decision, anyone aiming to encourage women to breastfeed needs to take such figures seriously.
Last year in England and Wales there were nearly 700,000 births. If the above poll is in any way representative, last year something in the region of 350,000 mothers (around half) may have chosen not to breastfeed.
A belief that breastfeeding would adversely affect their figures may therefore have prevented over 200,000 mothers from breastfeeding their babies in England and Wales alone*. *(Until further research is undertaken these figures are purely speculation on my part, however they are based on a large survey of over 1,000 women).
Setting aside for a moment the range of other issues which influence a woman’s decision concerning how she feeds her baby, these statistics are horrifying because they show a huge degree of ignorance when it comes to the facts.
Thousands of women choose never to start breastfeeding because of a myth – they may as well believe the earth is flat.
IT’S SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
Last year thousands and thousands of babies were denied the protection of breast milk and breastfeeding. Not because their mothers weren’t adequately supported (which is so often the case), but actually because their mothers believed alie.
Who told these women breastfeeding would make their breast sag? Their mothers? Partners? Friends? Doctors?
It’s incredible in the C21st, but this myth is so virulent that despite scientific evidence to the contrary, people still believe it.
So here’s the truth.
Breastfeeding doesn’t make your boobs sag.
Here are the facts on breast sagging (breast-ptosis) and why it happens:
The majority of women undergo some breast changes during pregnancy. These changes include breast enlargement, increased blood flow, the development of small lumps (‘Montgomery’s tubercles’) on the areola. These changes happen so as to prepare the breasts for breastfeeding a baby after birth.
Many women put on weight during pregnancy and additional fat stores are laid down in the breasts. This adds to their increase in size. Both of these changes will result in a stretching of the skin, and stretch marks may appear.
In the days and hours following birth, the breasts begin to make milk. This will happen whether you intend to breastfeed or not. A few days after birth the milk (usually) ‘comes in’ and many women experience some engorgement. Their breasts become full and the skin may feel tight and stretched, (breastfeeding is a great treatment for this). ;)
If you don’t breastfeed, the breasts gradually stop producing milk and the engorgement subsides on it’s own as the body realises no milk is required. The milk-making machinery then shrinks back in a process called ‘breast involution’. The skin (which has been stretched as explained above) may or may not ‘snap back’ into shape.
The additional weight gain/ breast enlargement caused by pregnancy may have also stretched the ligaments supporting the breast.
If a woman smokes, this can affect the ability of her skin to recover from changes (such as those brought on by pregnancy). This is because smoking reduces the levels of collagen and elastin in the body.
If a woman continues to breastfeed her breast involution will be delayed and will take place when the child weans.
Age matters – the older we get, the less collagen and elastin we naturally have in our skin (hence wrinkles!), and so with age everyone sags a bit. It’s a fact of life.
The number of pregnancies you’ve had can also contribute to breast sagging. The associated weight gain/ weight loss and breast enlargement/ breast involution is to blame. Basically, the more pregnancies you have the more you’re putting your body through & the harder it will find it to recover.
The bigger your breasts are anyway, the more likely they are to head south at some point. This is because of gravity and the weight of the breast pulling on the supporting ligaments.
If you lose a lot of weight, your skin may struggle to shrink back once the fat has gone – this can leave your breasts looking ‘empty’. Again, the supporting ligaments may have been stretched in the past.
Breastfeeding has not been found to be a cause of breast-ptosis.
Breastfeeding helps the body to recover from the changes of pregnancy because it helps the uterus to return to it’s pre-pregnancy size. It also uses up additional calories and therefore assists in post-pregnancy weight loss.
Take a look around you. Can you honestly say you can tell from looking which of the mothers you see out and about have breast-fed? Can you tell if their impressive cleavage is down to a good bra, a set of chicken fillets, good genes, a good surgeon or a breast full of milk?
Posted by ceridwen on September 7th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Here’s how it should go: As a part of the basic biology curriculum, children are taught about breastfeeding. How the milk comes in. What’s in it. How it helps the baby. Students see pictures of women of multiple ethnicities breastfeeding. There’s a homework assignment and several questions on a test. Twenty or thirty years later these kids, now fully grown new parents, may not even remember Ms. Morris’ biology class, but there might just be one less mental hurdle to breastfeeding.
The website Nursing Freedom ran a piece last week called, “Why Children Should Witness Breastfeeding in Public.” Here’s a line I liked:
“We need to make nursing in public so boring, so quotidian, that it garners no more of a glance or second thought than seeing someone drinking a coffee or hugging a friend in public.”
I read this on Friday and over the weekend kept thinking about public breastfeeding. Usually this issue comes up when some ignorant manager of a mediocre eatery stupidly asks a nursing mother to cover up and then has to endure all kinds of grief, including being read to from state laws concerning breastfeeding in public and/or local press coverage of a “nurse in” in which a posse of breastfeeders show up and breastfeed in front of or inside the establishment.
I support a woman’s choice to breastfeed in public. If breastfeeding is kept out of sight, no one sees it. No one sees it and it’s mysterious. It’s mysterious and people feel weird about breastfeeding. And on the feedback loop goes. More exposure would make the sight of breastfeeding “boring.” Or normal.
But then I saw a new mom in the park nursing under a kind of nursing tent/cover-all. It was a pretty cool-looking gizmo and propped up so that the baby could nurse privately without a blanket literally plastered over his or her face. I thought about the feedback loop and wondered whether this mother should just toss this fancy tent aside to help the rest of us get over our baggage.
Then I thought back to when I first had my baby.
I was quite engorged and it wasn’t the hot kind of engorged, the fake boob kind. It was the, Wow, how’s your back doing? kind. I won’t tell you the cup size, but let’s just say many people I do tell had no idea that size even existed. My over-supply meant that milk would often squirt out all over the minute I started unfastening things. The idea of doing all of this in public– as much as I supported the idea in theory– was hard.
After a few months when I’d gotten it all down, I nursed at friends’ houses, in restaurants and parks discreetly and without much fuss or a blanket. But at first I felt like this was all nobody’s business. I also felt a little cranky about the situation. Why do I have to change attitudes about public breastfeeding?? It’s hard enough learning all these new things. Do I have to change public opinion at the same time?
This is how I came to the breastfeeding in school concept. If Bill Maher and others had seen breastfeeding when they were kids, and been taught that it’s a normal part of life, like digesting or breathing, maybe there wouldn’t be so many snickers. Get to the kids before they get to the giggling stage– teaching teens about breastfeeding is also a great idea but by then too much squeamishness has settled in. The sooner the better.
“I am a nearly 37 year old mum with two children (Connor nearly 4 and Katie nearly 2). I gave up teaching in a primary school (which I loved) so I could look after my son and haven’t looked back. Although money is tight, my husband and I are content with our lifestyle choice which is just as well as we are going to home educate our littlies and so won’t be bringing in much money any time soon.
I like being creative, when I get the time, and I am not looking after children, cats, dogs or chickens. I enjoy cooking/baking, making jams and chutneys, making ring slings and clothes, making cards and my latest Sok Doodes. Sok Doodes were sock dolls that I made for my children but after I put photos on Facebook, I had lots of friends and family asking me to make them all kinds of creatures. My midwife loved them and asked if I could make a breastfeeding doll and I accepted the challenge as it was something that I had wondered about in the past myself and so Boobee Mamma was born!
As I posted the orginal photos on Facebook, a friend suggested I make a toddler as well as a baby so she could be a tandem feeding doll. Already she has created a lot of discussion at a family party and if I don’t get the opportunity to feed my daughter in my efforts to normalise breastfeeding (which to be honest, happen fairly regularly ) then at least I have something else to help the cause!
All items start at just 99 pence with NO RESERVE. Come on over to The Bundle Jungle pregnancy and parenting forum now, sign up for your FREE account and get bidding! It’s all for a great cause and there are some serious bargains to be had.
“We have had a few enquiries about my association on the Nestlé whole grain cereals campaign. I was initially happy to work with them on a range of healthy cereals which met my ideals on nutrition. However after listening to people’s comments, I have made the decision not to continue my association with Nestle. Annabel”
Nestlé don’t want you to see the video above, because they complained to Youtube that we were infringing their copyright. Youtube removed the video but now we’d like to offer it to you, as a gift. Download the video and put it on your favourite video sharing site. The more people who join in, the more interesting we’ll make it for Nestlé.
We all like a break, so it’s time to give orang-utans one. Nestlé uses palm oil in Kit Kat and many other products which is bought from suppliers that destroy rainforests in Indonesia to grow their plantations.
As a result, threatened species like orangutans are being pushed into extinction and huge quantities of greenhouse gases are being released, accelerating climate change.
Nestlé have so far refused to stop buying palm oil from the worst suppliers, so it’s time to make them change their minds.
“We have had a few enquiries about my association with Nestle whole grain cereals campaign. Amazingly 90% of Brits don’t eat enough whole grains, so we had great fun devising recipes using Nestle whole grains such as buzzy bees and salmon fishcakes. We know that all mums are pressed for time so not only are my recipes fun but are really quick and easy to make.
We were only involved with the whole grain cereals campaign, however there were a few concerns about the association Nestle parent brand itself and the marketing of infant formula. We are happy to work with Nestle the company and my decision was based on the evidence as it stands today.
I agree with and firmly support Nestle’s belief breast feeding is the best way to feed a baby. However, not all mothers can breast feed and the only suitable substitute to breast milk approved by the World Health Organisation is infant formula. It is evident that Nestle complies with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes (1981) and is very sensitive to the challenges that confront mothers in developing countries.
Further details are available at www.babymilk.nestle.com”
Where is that evidence Annabel? Baby Milk Action says that “Nestlé is targeted with the boycott because monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be responsible for more violations of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby foods than any other company” http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html
Now who will I believe? Annabel who is sponsored by Nestle, or Baby Milk Action who are not?
Angry mums have again blasted GMTV after a programme expert claimed breast milk is as bad for infants as drinking cola.
The breakfast show was bombarded with hundreds of complaints about midwife Clare Byam-Cook. Her views have been passed to Ofcom.
The fury comes just a week after GMTV, whose weather slot is sponsored by baby-milk maker Nestlé, was accused of an anti-breastfeeding agenda. Yesterday Byam-Cook told ITV1 host Lorraine Kelly: “Breast milk beyond the age of two isn’t necessarily good because it’s very, very sweet. The fact that it’s breast milk doesn’t make it any different to a glass of Coca-Cola.”
The rest of the panel debating the subject were visibly shocked. Author Ann Sinnett demanded: “Can I ask your evidence for that?” But after mumof-two Nicola Harris said, “My daughter has perfect teeth”, Byam-Cook went on: “I am all for breastfeeding but if your toddler wanted to spend all day eating sweets you wouldn’t let them.”
Emails to GMTV called her opinion “nonsense” and “outrageous”.
Advertisement – article continues below »
Mothering forum Mumsnet said the show had “crossed the line” after its recent poll that asked if it was “wrong” to breastfeed a child over 12 months.
A gmtv spoksperson insisted: “This item was fair and balanced.”
Feed facts
Experts say mums should breastfeed on demand from within an hour of birth for at least six months
This is a trailer for The Baby Breakfast Club with Sheree Murphy. It is very sad that the baby on the trailer is bottle fed, not breastfed. I think it might be a bit ‘out there’ for GMTV to put an actual breast on the TV screen if it is not for petty sexual stimulation but to put a bottle feeding baby on is just not a clever move.
If (like me) you want to have a rant I started a thread on their forum at netmums, which, interestingly are sponsored by the evil Nestle. I originally had all my pregnancy and baby diaries on there but I withdrew them as soon as I found out. More on Nestle/Netmums here http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2007/05/netmums-are-delighted-to-welcome-nescaf.html
And the link to the coffee house for GMTV’s baby breakfast club is here, please join me in a rant but be aware that any mention of Nestle is likely to be deleted by them.
The ongoing boycott focuses on Nestlé’s flagship product, Nescafé coffee. We list all products from which Nestlé profits, so if you don’t normally avoid the whole lot, why not do so during this week? You may surprise yourself with how many alternative products are out there.
If you find that your friends and colleagues say they would boycott, but…. then challenge them to do so at least for this week.
We would welcome other poster designs specifically for the week, so feel free to send them to me at mikebrady@babymilkaction.org
You can also find items for promoting the boycott in our online Virtual Shop at:
Peakpublish links with the charity, Baby Milk Action, for true breastfeeding stories.
Peakpublish are pleased to announce the publication of a book promoting breastfeeding with support from Baby Milk Action, the charity famously tackling the multi-national company, Nestle, on their baby milk promotions.
Lyndsey Bradley has collected 40 true and unique breastfeeding stories and poems, from the UK, USA and Canada, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always poignant, but delivering a fresh approach about the breastfeeding experience, to create an anthology to share with mums who are thinking about, or are already breastfeeding. Lyndsey says, “These stories gave me motivation to continue feeding my two boys when I was finding it difficult.” Lyndsey, who works alongside and supports Breastfeeding groups in Derbyshire, says, “I want this book to inspire other mums to breast-feed”.
Written by mums (and some dads) for mums, this collection is not an alternative to professional advice, but a unique approach to explain breastfeeding from people with experience.
Geraldine Rose, Director of Peakpublish, says, “We are delighted to be working on the book with Lyndsey and Baby Milk Action, who are one of the leading charities for the encouragement of breastfeeding.
Baby Milk Action say, ” There is no food more locally produced or sustainable than breastmilk. A breastfed child is less likely to suffer from gastroenteritis, respiratory and ear infections, diabetes, allergies and other illnesses. Breastfeeding also provides health benefits to the mother, such as reduced risk of some cancers”.
Donations from the sales of this book will go to Baby Milk Action.
The book will be released in time for the World Breastfeeding week in Aug 2009.
An extract from Just Call Me Daisy – True Breastfeeding Stories by Lyndsey Bradley can be read at www.peakpublish.com
Please contact Geraldine Rose or Sridhar Gowda for author interview, extracts and further details on 01629 816701 / 0771 4296 479
IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT THERE, SIGN UP TO THE VIRTUAL EVENT. You can also hold your own event at a Nestle factory or retail outlet selling Nestle goods. Contact Baby Milk Action for help and resources.
Protestors are calling on Nestle to abide by the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby milk. According to UNICEF: “Improved breastfeeding practices and reduction of artificial feeding could save an estimated 1.5 million children a year.”
Nestle practices undermine breastfeeding and endanger those infants who are fed on formula.
Come along. Placards and leaflets will be available on the day. See the Baby Milk Action website for further details.
This is from 1999, so I don’t know if they are still calling sweets “Psycho Sam,” “Looney Jerry,” and “Weird Wally” but it just about sums Nestles irresponsible actions up.
“Arlington, VA — Nestle USA believes the names of three of its Tangy Taffy flavors are “rooted in a silly, playful humor” that “amuses children and gives personality to our cartoon characters.”
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), on other hand, considers the names to have “long-standing stereotypical associations with person suffering from mental illnesses” which promote stigma in society.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter agrees with NAMI, but so far the giant candy maker doesn’t seem to care.
NAMI’s Campaign to End Discrimination therefore has launched a second phase in its efforts to persuade Nestle of the error of its ways.
In a letter to Joseph Weller, CEO and chairman of the board of the California-based company, released today, NAMI Executive Director Laurie Flynn wrote that the organization is “outraged and offended” by Nestle’s continued use of the product names “Psycho Sam,” “Looney Jerry,” and “Weird Wally” for its Tangy Taffy bars. “We join former First Lady Rosalyn Carter in expressing our profound objection to such names and images in the promotion of candy sales.”
Since 1998, NAMI has engaged in “quiet diplomacy” with the company, but this time it is going public in its efforts, calling on its network of Stigmabusters and others to join in protests against the candy names. “We assure you that mental illnesses are not silly, playful, or humorous; in no way can these devastating disorders be related to fun,” Flynn declared. “We know this because we face these illnesses every day.”
Flynn also cited President Clinton’s radio address before the recent White House Conference on Mental Health, which spoke to the “tremendous harm caused by the stigma surrounding mental illness, particularly in relation to children” and announced a national public education campaign to combat it.
“Stigma leads to children committing suicide rather than revealing their inner struggles; to adults failing to seek treatment that could salvage their lives, careers and family relations; and to tragedies like the Columbine High School massacre,” Flynn advised Weller. “Nestle cannot make the injury disappear by ignoring or dismissing our concerns, as you have thus far.”
“We are sure you have acted out of ignorance, not malice, and that it was not your intent to cause harm or to perpetuate discrimination,” Flynn said. “But you have and will, unless and until you remove these products from the shelves or repackage them more appropriately.”
Letters of protest can be sent to Mr. Joseph Weller, CEO & Chairman of the Board, Nestle USA, 800 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California 91203.”
We all know that breastmilk is the best start a baby can have in life but unfortunately for Infant Formula companies there is no money in mums feeding their babies all by themselves. They will do their very best to sell artifical milk to the detriment of the health of the babies, exclusive breastfeeding protects children from all sorts of meanies, formula does not and can in fact lead to allergies.
So, if you see Infant Formula being promoted in an illegal or irresponsible way you can complain about it.
What can I complain about?
There is a law in the UK against promoting infant formula in shops and in the media (no special offers, no money off coupons, end of aisle displays or extra reward points for example) but not for follow on formula which personally I think was thought up just to slip through the legal net.
15. The labelling of any infant formula and any follow-on formula shall
(a) be designed to provide the necessary information about the appropriate use of the product so as not to discourage breast-feeding;
(b) not contain the terms “humanized”, “maternalized” or any similar term suggesting that the product is equivalent or superior to breast milk,
and the term “adapted” may be used only in relation to adapted protein and then only in conformity with the provisions of regulation 13(3).
Restrictions on advertising of follow-on formulae
18. No person shall publish or display any advertisement for a follow-on formula which does not comply with the requirements, prohibitions and restrictions relating to labelling contained in regulation 15.
Restrictions on promotion of infant formulae
19. No person shall at any place where any infant formula is sold by retail
(a) advertise any infant formula;
(b) make any special display of an infant formula designed to promote sales;
(c) give away
(i) any infant formula as a free sample; or
(ii) any coupon which may be used to purchase an infant formula at a discount;
(d) promote the sale of an infant formula by means of premiums, special sales, loss- leaders or tie-in sales; or
(e) undertake any other promotional activity to induce the sale of an infant formula.
Provision of information and education regarding infant and child feeding
21.(1) No person shall produce or publish any informational and educational (or informational or educational) materials, whether written or audiovisual, dealing with the feeding of infants and intended to reach pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children, unless (subject to paragraph (2) below) such materials include clear information on all the following points
(a) the benefits and superiority of breast-feeding;
(b) maternal nutrition and the preparation for, and the maintenance of, breast- feeding;
(c) the possible negative effect on breast-feeding of introducing partial bottle- feeding;
(d) the difficulty of reversing the decision not to breast-feed; and
(e) where needed, the proper use of an infant formula or of infant formulae, whether manufactured industrially or home prepared.
“Promotion of follow-on formula is permitted by the UK Law, but not the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. It is still worth complaining, citing the International Code as this strengthens our case for bringing the UK Law into line with the Code.
The World Health Assembly has adopted Resolutions recommending exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age and stating that complementary feeding should be fostered from ‘about 6 months’. It is, therefore, inappropriate for complementary foods (weaning foods) and other substances such as teas and juices to be promoted for use before 6 months of age. This is not yet covered by UK Law. You could bring these recommendations to the attention of your local
Trading Standards Office and the relevant establishment where they are being broken.”
What is the WHO Code?
The “International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes” was drawn up by the World Health Organization.
This is from the
IBFAN website and you can click the link to read the full code.
“The International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes presents a code, developed jointly by WHO and UNICEF, for the marketing of breast-milk substitutes. The code applies to the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, including infant formula, and other milk products, foods, and beverages, including bottle-fed complementary foods, when marketed or otherwise represented to be suitable for use as a partial or total replacement of breast milk. The code deals in successive articles with information and education needs concerning the feeding of infants, advertising or other forms of promotion to the general public, and standards for product labelling and quality.”
And here is a useful snippet:
“5.3 In conformity with paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, there should be no point-of-sale advertising, giving of samples, or any other promotion device to induce sales directly to the consumer at the retail level, such as special displays, discount coupons, premiums, special sales, loss leaders and tie-in sales, for products within the scope of this Code. This provision should not restrict the establishment of pricing policies and practices intended to provide products at lower prices on a long-term basis.”
New adverts to Complain About
6th March 2007Organic Life Magazine has adverts promoting infant formula which is illegal.
6th March 2007Asda has bright red acetate over the prices of its infant formula. This draws the eye to the price and is therefore illegal promotion.
6th March 2007 Here is a letter from Lactivist Jenny, asking Blooming Marvelous to withdraw their romper suits with bottles on.
Dear Blooming Marvellous,
Last year I emailed and complained about a romper suit that had the slogan “Party, Where? My cot, Time; 2am, When; every night, Bring a bottle” as things like this undermine breastfeeding by normalising bottle/formula feeding. I was in your Chester store today and I see that not only are you still selling an updated version of it, but also two other rompers with bottle motiefs and slogans on them.
Did you know that recently Marks and Spencers withdrew a romper with a bottle motief on it after complaints about it? I devote a lot of my time as a volunteer promoting and supporting breastfeeding, and things like this which make bottlefeeding out to be the normal way to feed a baby undo so much of the work that people like me spend so much time doing. Whilst these rompers are not actually in breech of the 1995 law on Infant Formula, they are in breech of the spirit of the World Health Organisation Code.
You may say that as a company you support breastfeeding, but if you continue to sell items like these you are actually almost promoting formula use, and this is immoral, unethical and irresponsible.
27th January 2007Healthy Start is a scheme where you can get free vouchers every week which you swap for milk, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and infant formula milk. You can also get free vitamins. Healthy Start replaces the Welfare Food Scheme.
On the page describing what you can buy with the vouchers there is a paragraph about Infant formula but nothing about the benefits of breastfeeding, the WHO guidelines for BF exclusively for 6 months, nothing about support groups or helplines.
The contact us box only allows you 500 characters so if you are complaining you might need a couple of trys, unless you want to phone them for a rant on 0845 607 6823.
A big Lactivist BOOOOOO to the Life Channel who are advertising SMA in GP waiting rooms. If less babies were fed SMA there would be less people in the waiting rooms!
15th January 2007 Mother & Baby Magazine marketing mailings from
www.motherandbabymagazine.com “HiPP Organic Purely Fruits are ideal for babies and children of all ages
from 4 months onwards” Tut tut tut, we all know that the Code guidelines say nothing but breastmilk until 6 months. Of course this means that Hipp stand to lose millions of £ in sales and the magazines stand to lose advertising revenue but what is more important? Babies health or money?
thank you Stella for this. “There is major hoohah in the Phillipines at the mo because the Govt brought in a law to restrict advertising of formula in a move to protect breastfeeding and it is being challenged – by 3 formula manufacturers. The US Chamber of Commerce has written a letter to the Phillipine Govt advising them to re-consider or risk dis-investment! Please see
Baby Milk Action website for further details.”
thank you Stella for this one too.
“I don’t know if any of you have spotted the Cow & Gate advertisement for the Healthy Start initiative? It is a full page advert too. It shows a baby sitting holding an empty bottle, surrounded by healthy fruit and vegetables. It is so totally misleading. It appeared in the Daily Mail on Friday 8th, poss Mon 11th, the Daily Mirror and the Sun too! Please feel free to contact the
Advertising Standards Authority to complain – the more the better!. The advert reads:”Heard about Healthy Start but don’t know where to start? That’s why we’re here to help.” Cow and Gate logo prominent and gives the C&G helpline number. When you ring it, it gives them the chance to embed their name into your memory and all they do is give you the official Govt helpline number for further info. It really gives people the impression that C&G have something to do with the initiative – which they don’t.”
If you spot any dodgy marketing of formula and you want me to publicise it justmail me I can put pictures up too.
How to Complain
You can fill in an online form on the
The Baby Feeding Law Group website. They say to send them “information even if you think someone else may have done so. Your reports will help us to build up a picture of baby food marketing practices across the UK. We will use this in our campaign to have the International Code and Resolutions implemented in UK legislation. Where practices break the existing legislation we may be able to encourage the authorities to take action.”
You can complain to your local
Trading Standards Office saying that the law has been broken and formula has been illegally advertised. Remember that the law only applies to infant formula and that currently people are allowed to promote follow on formula but that is in breach of the WHO code.
UK baby food laws are not as strict as the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and it is currently legal to promote follow on milk. The Baby Feeding Law Group is working to get the UK to International standards and they are the people to tell if you are unhappy with the way a company is promoting infant formula.
Baby Milk Action is a non profit organisation that aims to save babies from the ill effects of formula. Water mixed with baby milk powder can be unsafe and it is often impossible in poor conditions to keep bottles and teats sterile. Unsterile bottle feeding can lead to infections that kill children and formula is also expensive, often costing more than half the entire family income.
The International Baby Food Action Network consists of public interest groups working around the world to reduce infant and young child morbidity and mortality. They monitor the baby feeding industry and produce profiles showing how companies such as Danone, Gerber, Heinz, Hipp, Milupa and Nestlé promote formula and baby food in innapropriate ways. Check out the picture of the health worker in a Nestle apron!
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Goidellick Designs is a tiny family run business. We run our business from our remote farm cottage in the Highlands of Scotland.
Dear Aunty Lactivist, 
From Baby Milk Action site:![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3b1d795d-d9ba-4718-a597-2128a3f099e6)
6th March 2007 
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