Debate Over Breastfeeding in the Philippines

The age-old debate, breastfeeding versus formula feeding, went to the top Philippine court this past week. Health advocates there are arguing that advertising campaigns in the United States and Britain are doing an excellent job of convincing Asian women that formula is better than breast milk. A Health Department spokesman stated recently that breastfeeding rates are declining steadily in Asia because the sales and profits of formula companies have been rising. He claims that formula companies are telling women that their babies will be "geniuses" as a result of taking formula rather than breast milk and that formula "promotes love and affection, promotes family...everything positive."

The Philippine Health Department is working hard to uphold the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, which does not allow formula companies to advertise in many venues. The purpose of this code is to make breastfeeding the norm and to limit the exposure given to formula advertisement. This will be a very difficult goal to achieve in the United States. With the World Health Organization's push to make hospitals "Baby Friendly", where breastfeeding is the primary assumed feeding choice, we need to have full compliance. Formula companies still send their "gift bags" to hospitals to give to new mothers and discharge nurses feel the pressure to clear their shelves of them.

When I had my third baby, the nurses knew what my profession was and still brought a bag in to me at discharge. After I made few defensive (or perhaps, offensive)comments, they told me to open the bag. Inside, they had replaced all formula promotion with breastfeeding paraphernalia--nursing and hydrogel pads, Lansinoh, milk collection bottles. It put such a smile on my face that they were willing to break some boundaries that had been set for so many years. Let's hope this continues and, if you're a pregnant woman preparing for your hospital visit, take this into consideration and be vocal about your wants and desires!