How marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding
This is because formula-milk feeding undermines breastfeeding, which the WHO and Unicef recommend for all babies where possible, including those of HIV-positive mothers: Ideally, babies should be breastfed within one hour of birth, then exclusively breastfed for their first six months – this means no water, no formula, or any other liquid or solid – with continued breastfeeding alongside the introduction of nutritious solid foods up to age two.
and aims to protect and promote breastfeeding by regulating the inappropriate marketing of breast-milk substitutes for children aged 0-3 years, removing “commercial pressures”, “conflicts of interest” and “perverse incentives” from the infant-feeding arena. The WHO acknowledges that cultural, psychological and socioeconomic factors also drive low rates of breastfeeding.
Still, Doherty says, “There’s no way a [marketing] representative could walk into any public sector hospital and try and market formula, whereas it’s completely rampant in the private sector.”