>What is it with this expectation of gifts? GEEZ. Kathleen

Does anyone know when this began? When my little brother was born in
hospital there were no gifts. "Everyone" was bottle feeding back then.

Did the "gifts" begin when formula began to have some real competition? Is
there anyone on this list who had a baby in a hospital before there were
the formula samples given? Or when they were just beginning?

I know that now that they are entrenched they are are an effective
endorsement by the medical center of a given brand of formula, which works
for later sales. Did the bags appear when there were more competition
between the formula companies?

Charity writes that the bags are supposedly supplied to intice mothers to a
given hospital or, at least, the absence of the bags would seem like a
mother was shortchanged.

Have any of you who are connected to a Baby Friendly hospital had patient
population decrease because of not giving the sample bags? Or a substitute
gift?

But the main problem here is that the people at the hospital are giving and
endorsing a product that assures sub-optimal health. I have had more than
one mother tell me, when I was encouraging her to build her milk supply so
that she could exclusively breastfeed, that she could not accept that there
was anything wrong with formula for the health of her baby because, if
there were, the hospital wouldn't have given it to her.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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