"I don't know.  As far as I know, there is little research on the
effects of
such
gifts.  But lets not say 'formula gifts are bad, so give other gifts'
without thinking 'wonder if no gifts at all or some other approach
altogether is better?'."

Gifts to new mom's have become the status quo in major urban areas as
hospitals compete for insurance dollars, and clients to meet demographic
quotas.  L&D is particularly cut-throat becasue insurance companies and
medicare often pay more for care than the hospital actually spends on each
Mother/Baby pair.  I have not seen any marketing research on doctor and
hospital selection based on "gifts" when choosing a place to have a baby,
so I do not know if gift bags have an effect on consumers who choose
hospital birth.  Although, I would hope a mom would not choose a place to
have a baby based soley on what gift she would receive, I do think a
parting "gift" has "word of mouth" advertising value.

I agree that one could probably find fault with many/all "gifts" given out
to new mom's.  In my sister's case (a sample size of one) she felt that the
breastfeeding bag represented approval and support of her decision to
breastfeed by the hospital administration and the peri-natal staff.  For
her, the bag represented something positive and was certainly better than a
ABM sample bag.


Charity M. Pitcher-Cooper
RN, BSN

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