How Ironic...
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Wal-Mart's Newest Target: Nursing Mothers
Largest U.S. Retailer Takes Advantage of Trend to Breast-Feed
By Sandra Fleishman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2000; Page E01
Teresa Lear, the mother of 21-month-old twins, said she has found it a
little easier to buy nursing products this time around than she did after
her three older children were born. The Alexandria woman, though,
emphasizes the words "a little."
Despite growing public awareness of the value of breast-feeding, she said
she typically still has to order nursing items from a catalogue or shop at
specialty stores such as the Columbia Hospital for Women's breast-feeding
center in Northwest Washington, where she volunteers.
Lear, 37, whose older children are 4, 7 and 9, said those options also
typically are expensive and not that convenient.
All that makes her exactly the shopper Wal-Mart is setting its sights
on. The nation's largest retailer confirmed earlier this month that it is
developing a section dedicated to products for nursing moms. The move is
considered the first effort by a major retailer to sell to the
breast-feeding mother market, and suggests that a consumer group once kept
under wraps is gaining mainstream visibility.
"I think it'd be great if Wal-Mart does it," Lear said. "At Wal-Mart,
you'd have longer hours to shop and convenience and usually you get
discount prices."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Jessica Moser said increased customer
demand was one factor in the company's decision. But she added: "The main
reason we're offering the products is because we think it's the right
thing to do. We have worked with many professionals in the field and have
become very aware that this is a healthy choice for women and babies."
The company is shipping 33 breast-feeding products and 11 books to 950 of
its 2,485 stores across the country. The items--such as creams, pads and
nursing nightwear--will be available by early February. A special
four-foot section in infant departments will be labeled the Lansinoh
Breast-Feeding Collection, with banners marking the spot.
Resheda Hagen, founder of Lansinoh Laboratories Inc. in Oak Ridge, Tenn.,
and developer of a lanolin-based skin cream that makes breast-feeding less
painful, sees Wal-Mart's decision to sell her collection as a major
marketing breakthrough. While maternity and baby stores routinely carry
nursing items, Hagen said it took five years to persuade Wal-Mart to offer
her signature Lansinoh cream. After seeing the success of that product and
the size of the potential market, Wal-Mart came to Hagen to put together
the section, she said.
Wal-Mart's decision to set up a "destination point" for nursing mothers,
Hagen said, "reflects that they've done their homework and they understand
there's a real opportunity here"--not only to sell products but also to
educate consumers. Lansinoh, meanwhile, plans to move its headquarters to
the Washington area in April, Hagen added.
Nursing was standard practice in America until homemade breast-milk
substitutes--generally Karo syrup, water and condensed milk--came into
vogue in the freewheeling 1920s, according to the La Leche League
International in Chicago. When companies began marketing baby formula in
the 1940s and 1950s, more women gravitated toward the promise of
technology, said La Leche spokeswoman Mary Lofton.
Surveys by the Ross Products division of Abbott Laboratories show ups and
downs since 1951 in the numbers of women who breast-fed while
hospitalized. After dropping steadily through the '50s and '60s, the
all-time low came in 1971, when the survey showed only 24.7 percent
breast-fed in the hospital.
Now the number is at its highest ever: The 1998 Ross survey showed that
64.3 percent of mothers were initially nursing.
Lofton credits a steady increase since 1990 to recent medical studies
documenting nursing's "enormous benefits" and to 1997 guidelines from the
American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that mothers nurse for at
least a year and as long after that as is mutually desired.
The big challenge in meeting those recommendations, according to the
league and Hagen, is keeping mothers nursing after they leave the
hospital. The drop-off is about 50 percent after the first two
weeks. Hagen said Wal-Mart's decision offers an opportunity not only to
reach an audience that might not be as likely to continue to nurse but
also to provide products that might ease the experience. She said William
Sears, a California pediatrician sometimes called the new Dr. Spock, plans
to dedicate a new book to the Wal-Mart collection.
However, lactation consultants in the Columbia Hospital for Women's
breast-feeding center and nursing mothers interviewed there were not
totally enthusiastic about Wal-Mart's plan.
While consultant Julie Edgerton said the move would broaden exposure for
nursing, she warned that offering equipment without personalized advice on
how to use it or how items should be fitted "could be dangerous." Citing
the high drop-off rate after two weeks, Edgerton said, "The mothers just
don't hang in there because they don't get the backup help they need."
Eveline Shum, a new nursing mother from Capitol Hill, agreed that
Columbia's program of equipment plus consultants offers the best
approach. But she called Wal-Mart's move "a very positive sign" because it
would show that breast-feeding has reached "populist America."
Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company
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