A Canadian report was released looking at the impact of free formula on breastfeeding rates. At parentcentral.ca, Laurie Monsebraaten and Noor Javed wrote about the study in Free formula spoils breastfeeding:
Almost 40 per cent of new mothers leave the hospital with free infant formula, a recipe for spoiled breastfeeding according to a new Toronto Public Health report.
Women who didn’t receive the free samples were 3.5 times more likely to be breastfeeding exclusively after 2 weeks, said Breastfeeding in Toronto, Promoting Supportive Environments, released Tuesday.
The study, conducted in 2007 and 2008, found that of 1,500 first-time mothers surveyed, 39 per cent were given formula at hospital discharge. As a result, many of these women stopped breastfeeding sooner than those women who weren’t given formula.
These numbers are astounding, considering that 90% of Canadian women who give birth initiate breastfeeding. If we assume that the 10% that went straight to formula got a handout, then that means that almost 1/3 of women who do initiate breastfeeding are leaving the hospital with formula samples.
Overall, by 3 months:
- 32% are exclusively formula feeding
- 16% are combination feeding (some breast, some formula)
- 52% are exclusively breastfeeding
I am willing to concede that some of the mothers that leave the hospital with formula samples may not have overcome their breastfeeding difficulties even if no sample had been offered. That said, the combination of the high number of women receiving free formula when discharged and the likelihood that they will break into that sample by the two week mark is likely a strong contributor to the significant drop between breastfeeding initiation and continued exclusive breastfeeding.
According to the parentcentral.ca article:
“They give it to the women ‘just in case’,” she said. “But the real message is that you will probably fail… and one bottle leads to another.”
The Toronto East General Hospital is the only baby friendly hospital in Toronto, canceled its contract for free formula in 2005 to comply with the baby friendly requirements and the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes. Since they do not get the formula for free from formula companies, they need to actually assess whether a mom needs the formula, instead of handing it out ‘just in case.’
Other countries with a larger percentage of baby friendly hospitals than we have in Canada and the United States also have higher breastfeeding rates. I think one of the many things that needs to be done to give moms the best chance possible of being successful at breastfeeding is to ensure that they aren’t being sabotaged from Day 1. Don’t you?
Note: source for all statistics on Canadian breastfeeding rates is the Maternity Experiences Survey from 2006/2007.
Image credit: D-Arb on flickr
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