The Attached Mother

Nestle isn’t exactly a well loved company by many people who are concerned with breastfeeding or infant nutrition. They have a pretty nasty reputation, so far in that a Nestle boycott has been held by many people. So it makes me a bit proud to see some professionals standing up to Nestle as they once again try to hurt breastfeeding women in the name of profits. Using their usual tactics, wine and dine hospitals and their staff to get prominent placement and product pushing, they elbow past any information or support breastfeeding women might have gotten. Instead cans of formula, bottles, products with their name plastered all over it, and pamphlets telling women exactly how to wean and switch to formula are passed out like candy on Halloween.

Two breastfeeding experts have resigned from Burnaby General Hospital over a dispute involving infant formula giant Nestlé.

Renee Hefti-Graham and Linda Good both quit last week.

The issue began with an invitation circulated through the hospital’s e-mail system to a Nestlé-sponsored “wine-and-dine” event to be held June 12.

Both women were adamantly opposed to the event.

And it was criticized by Health Minister George Abbott and the hospital’s executive director, Arden Krystal, as a violation of a World Health Organization code that deals with the marketing of breastmilk substitutes.

The code states “no financial or material inducements” may be provided by formula companies to promote their products to health workers.

Nestlé cancelled the event following news of the controversy.

The WHO code is not enforced in America, mostly because the high profit formula companies have strong enough ties with the lawmakers who would be in charge of actually enforcing it. It’s nice to see that in Canada some people can actually get the giant Nestle to step back. Sadly it means that women now birthing in the Burnaby General hospital have lost what might have been their greatest breastfeeding support.

The hospital says that they are training the nurses in infant feeding. I hope that they will be teaching them how to support breastfeeding moms rather than push formula on them over every little thing. Perhaps the hospital will ask Renee Hefti-Graham and Linda Good to come back. With all of the news this story has been generating perhaps Nestle will think before aggressively taking over a hospital.

Sadly, I doubt it.

Nestle, breastfeeding