Hi all!  Jenny,! I understand and agree with your concerns re: the code and the bottle/nipple (teat) feeding system marketed by medela.  There are a couple of things that strike me, though, that I think are part of this.  I ran a hospital's outpatient lactation center here for 8 years (300 babies a month, 70% bf at discharge).  Probably 80% or more of the moms I helped were returning to full-time work at 6 weeks (or less!).

Bottlefeeding is a very real and important part of getting babies to be breastmilk-fed beyond a month in the US.  Our society is not very child-friendly, and we have virtually no paid time off for new families; these moms HAVE to go back to work (yes, I discuss all the ways to lower expenses and stay home, but its just not reality for most US families today).  We also do not typically have extended families nearby, so these babies are usually going to daycare, so continuing to receive mom's milk is even more important.  Yes, Medela could have left the packaged "feeding system" product out, and let the formula-associated companies make that money, but personally I would rather have that product help fund the work of folks like Australia's own Dr. Hartmann than have it go elsewhere.  Are there issues here?, yes.  But I also recognize that the WHO code was structured to help all babies all over the world, especially the 1-2 million who die from lack of breastmilk each year.  Whereas in much of the world, the use of bottles and teats means the end of breastfeeding, in the US today they are indispensable to helping it continue.  Do we have to provide good education and support for their APPROPRIATE use? absolutely!

Even in the US, the numbers of working moms was far lower when the Code was developed, and although I am 100% in support of it's objectives, the reasoning part of my brain tells me that Medela's motive with this product is to support the working breastfeeding mom, (and remain in business through profitability, of course), not to promote artificial feeding.  I DO wish they would improve the "system", all the way back to the pumps, to include and allow for the use of wider/breast-shaped/better-for-breastfeeding-babies nipples (perhaps just a collar adapter?).

I've probably lost some credibility here, but I just felt I had to chime in.
Kay McKee, IBCLC
Langley AFB, Virginia, USA

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