Getting moms to doubt their bodies so formula makers can shave profits

The yellow and black ads or another brand’s ruched silk. You know what brands I mean, all these years later. That’s the power of marketing

Luckily, such visible tactics for recruiting new smokers have been restricted since I was in school, but there are other industries that use underhand methods to flog stuff on people who don’t want or need it. Because we no longer just occupy physical spaces. We are online.

More than half of parents and pregnant women (51 percent) surveyed for a recent World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF global report say they have been targeted with marketing efforts by formula companies, many of whom oppose violate international standards for infant feeding practices.

In Ireland, companies are using a loophole in EU law to promote unnecessary ‘follow-on milks’ that promote brand awareness, operate online baby clubs or charge due date calculators. They’re going to smuggle a can into a mom blogger’s hospital bag. Offer free samples at a baby fair.

Like a cockroach looking for a crack to get into a kitchen, infant formula manufacturers are doing everything they can to discourage women from breastfeeding.

The Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill has the potential to reduce these harmful practices. A far-reaching law with immense scope in many areas, aiming to regulate harmful content, especially that affecting children and young people.

A moratorium on the marketing of infant formula was one of 33 recommendations made in November by the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sports and Media after considering the proposed law.

Given the wide scope of the bill and upcoming European laws on online safety, it will likely take some time for the bill to come into force, but it is important that politicians seize this opportunity to protect the health of mothers and babies.

Because hardly any topic is more emotional for new mothers than the way their babies are fed. About 60 per cent of Irish women start breastfeeding in hospital, but after six months only 6 per cent of babies are exclusively breastfed. This is one of the lowest rates in the western world, but breastfeeding shouldn’t necessarily stop then.

In fact, the WHO recommends that infants drink breast milk at least until they are two years old. As a first-time mother, I felt the pressure of breastfeeding was so enormous that I somehow had to get my milk to flow. But it did.

With the help of lactation consultants and La Leche League volunteers, I got the hang of it and am now cherishing the two years I’ve breastfed each of my children.

It’s only now that I realize how the lack of baby-friendly policies, readily available support, and education stacked the odds against me.

That’s where the pressure came from. Ireland is one of the world’s largest infant formula producers and these companies are targeting women at the most vulnerable time in our lives.

You bet we won’t succeed. Last year, additional funding was made available for lactation consultants, but they can’t match the deep pockets of the infant formula industry. Until a moratorium on online marketing is introduced, tens of thousands of new moms will doubt their bodies as shareholders slash their profits.

However, the passing of legislation in Ireland is moving at the pace of the sloths gracing children’s clothing.

Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman first mentioned the extension of breastfeeding breaks last May. I had a 10 month old child. When the law comes into force, it no longer applies to me.

“The days are long, but the years are short,” is often whispered into the ear of new moms. My pandemic newborn grew into a miniature Napoleon directing a cavalcade of elephants across the kitchen windowsill.

But then bedtime comes, and the emperor makes Baba comfortable in his pajama pants. I am aware of the smallness of his body, the vertebrae of his spine are no bigger than my finger.

The needs of small people must be met quickly. But so must their parents. In the next general election, the pandemic babies will choose lunch boxes for preschoolers or toddlers. And their parents will choose who gets their vote.