Pat asks,


> 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'm not sure when the gifts to mothers began, but the free formula to
hospitals started with Pet Milk in the 1930's.  (Apple, Mothers & Medicine,
p. 83).

In 1974 when Jill was born, I don't remember getting free formula, but I do
remember getting free gift bags full of other "stuff" - tiny bottles of baby
shampoo, baby powder, excedrin, baby oil and coupons beyond coupons.  If I
got any formula (maybe I did), it was in a box with a rattle, certainly not
in a diaper bag.

I don't remember giving any gifts out to mothers in the mid 1960's when I was
in nursing school.  But then my OB experience was not something I cared to
remember, so perhaps I've forgotten it.....

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC -- Wheaton IL
Lactation Education Consultants
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com

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