I think we have a real opportunity here with the publication of the article on formula discharge bags and how the media has picked up on it. The national campaign to eliminate commercial bag distribution started in Massachusetts with Anne Merewood and myself as co-chairs of the Ban the Bags campaign. Ban the Bags has a wonderful website, www.banthebags.org, full of helpful information on how to eliminate this formula marketing practice from hospitals. In Massachusetts we have 49 birthing hospitals, 39 of which have eliminated the bags. The website has a section where you can report when your hospital has eliminated these bags, which is useful to others working on removing this challenge to breastfeeding. Massachusetts has also hosted 3 summits on improving hospital practices, drawing administrators from hospitals to hear why this practice is so detrimental and how to eliminate it. See http://www.motherbabysummit.com/Home.html. 


Now is a good time to approach your hospital and ask that commercial discharge bags be removed, informing them that this practice is even defined as a form of marketing by HIPPA. Hospitals should not be in the business of peddling pricey products to vulnerable patients. There is probably not more than 25 cents worth of ingredients in a can of powdered formula that costs mothers $25 dollars. This kind of markup is what pays for the bags, the pizza for the nurses, the educational offerings that disguise more marketing, and all of the rest of the glitz that bombards mothers to replace their own milk with a product that is hyped by misleading advertising. Ultimately the mothers who purchase the overpriced formula are the ones who pay for every piece of literature and every morsel of food that formula companies use to bribe health care providers and parents to use their products.


If you are working on eliminating these commercial bags from your hospital or even thinking about it, I am happy to help and share what we have learned from our Ban the Bags campaign.


Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA








 

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome