Linda -- I assume your post is written, tongue-in-cheek, in frustration over
persistent confusion about the Int'l Code of Marketing of Breast-milk
Substitutes ... and your ethical requirements as in IBCLC.
So here goes.
(1) No, you don't *have* to give students in your working moms pumping class
a "written notice" that you do not endorse any partiluar pump company. But
doing so strikes me as rather savvy. You can do it verbally, if you want,
at the start of class. This tells the students "where you are coming from,
so that ...
(2) When you show them pumps by various manufacturers, they can decide for
themselves whether this is fact-based information, or a mere infomercial.
(3) Yes, a hand-out describing the use of cup-feeding, finger-feeding, and
different flow rates of bottle nipples[teats] would probably be an excellent
addition to your class materials! How many of us have worked with the mom,
who is panicking because she is to return to work and the baby "won't take
the bottle?" I reassure those moms that their babies are brilliant (in
that they know who mom is, and that she has the best feeding delivery
system), and discuss means other than a bottle by which baby can be fed
their expressed breastmilk. Isn't it amazing how many moms don't even know
there is something other than a bottle?
I do hope your hand-out will also discuss paced bottle-feeding (discussed
here a bunch of times on Lactnet, sometimes using other terms to describe
it. It will also be illuminating to your class attendees to know how the
"flow rates" on the various nipples are by-and-large a bunch of hooey ..
and often vary from package-to-package, and depend on how well the
hole-boring machine was working at the factory when the teat was
mass-produced.
(4) The Lactnet archives will yield a wealth of information about
Code-violators, and their products. They will also remind you that as an
IBCLC, your Code of Ethics AND Scope of Practice AND the Int'l [WHO] Code
all permit and indeed require that you discuss with any mother the use of
any product., and its impact on that mother's lactation.
(5) You should avoid taking free samples or freebies from Medela or any
other Code-violator. I suggest to IBCLCs that the easiest way to "stay
clean" is simply to refuse samples and freebies (gifts, meals, pens, tote
bags, etc etc) from ANY manufacturer of ANY product. That way you don't
have to worry about who is a Code Violator ... and you also are able to
avoid the appearance of a conflict-of-interest for the manufacturer of any
other product or device.
(6) I share your disbelief that a company that has shown such historic
allegiance to breastfeeding mothers, and research in lactation, would risk
that fine reputation and decades-long good-will-building all for the sake
of *marketing,* to mothers, teats that go on top of bottles. Like that is
such a new and novel item on the market. I'd have thought it more in
keeping with their company mission to keep the good will, keep the fine
reputation, and simply take the offending ads off the boxes and website.
And continue to sell the teats, as they have for years, using their old
marketing methods which were Code-compliant.
It is rather stunning, isn't it?
--
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
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