Cow and Gate have started a campaign to target newly qualified midwives, to 'help' them in their day to day practice.
The In Practice website is full of useful information, resources and services for the exclusive use of registered HCPs.
The site offers leaflets, study days and training days, And All You Ever Needed To Know About Cow & Gate Formula. Including downloadable patient information sheets, on such things as the benefits of all that chemical junk they put in formula,
to fool Mums into buying the top brand with all the
untested ingredients.
Sickeningly, on top of all that, they also offer free podcasts downloads of Formula sponsored 'nutritional synposiums' on baby nutrition... including info on the pre-term baby and nutrition.
All targeted directly at a newly qualified midwife near you.
All of which directly
contravenes Code:
7.2 Information provided by manufacturers and distributors to health professionals regarding products within the scope of this Code should be restricted to scientific and factual matters, and such information should not imply or create a belief that bottle feeding is equivalent or superior to breastfeeding. It should also include the information specified in Article 4.2.
4.2 Informational and educational materials, whether written, audio, or visual, dealing with the feeding of infants and intended to reach pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children, should include
clear information on all the following points:
1. the benefits and superiority of breastfeeding;
2. maternal nutrition, and the preparation for and maintenance of breastfeeding;
3. the negative effect on breastfeeding of introducing partial bottle feeding;
4. the difficulty of reversing the decision not to breastfeed; and
5. where needed, the proper use of infant formula, whether manufactured industrially or home prepared.
When such materials contain information about the use of infant formula, they should include the social and financial implications of its use; the health hazards of inappropriate foods or feeding methods; and, in particular, the health hazards of unnecessary or improper use of infant formula and other breastmilk substitutes. Such materials should not use any pictures or text which may idealise the use of breastmilk substitutes.
Go on, search their 'helpful' site, and find all that info on the social and economic cost of not breastfeeding, and in particular the research on the many problems on using soil bacteria to mimic mother's milk.
I'm sure you'll find it all there.
Cow & Gate: because the best person to tell you about your baby, nutrition and formula, is the company making a profit from selling it to you. Oh, silly me... the best person to tell your midwife about your baby, nutrition and formula is.... the company making a profit from selling it to you....
