Regardless of their Code abiding status or not I would never recommend a
product by name to anyone. I just don't think that is appropriate. Yes I
warn against bike horn pumps but that is not a brand issue. I offer the
bigger Medela pumps from the dealer for purchase for mums but always
with the prefix that "I do not like to recommend pumps or brands but the
reason I am showing you this catalogue is because this company is the
only one importing better quality, less damaging electric pumps into
this country." If there were more brands on offer selling well regarded
pumps I would offer them all.  There are ways of guiding a mother's
choice without mentioning a brand, like saying "look for a teat that is
long and wide and soft and all that" but in reality with our lay
helpline I discourage all those answering calls to speak about bottle
equipment because it is beyond the scope of our training, and we say so.
We are trying to establish some credibility in the community for
accurate and up to date bf info and I feel if we start advocating brands
and products then we will jeopardise that and just become a vehicle for
all those companies that do not respect the Code here because they can.
I have found it interesting reading of your belief in the Avent products
because here I just see them exploiting mothers  and ignoring the Code,
and while it is good they seem to be abiding by it in some countries
they are not in the UAE. When citing companies that are respecting and
upholding the Code I think we have to consider their compliance on a
global level, after all a company that is still abiding by the Code in a
country where awareness and legislation is almost nonexistent is worth
citing as a good example, but I cannot name one.can you? I sympathise
with the problem of how to fund major breastfeeding events.we have this
problem every day and fund our BF clinic with cake stalls and loads of
hard work and our own money and it frustrates us no end, which is why I
think we need to be looking for governments to get more involved because
they are the ones reaping the benefits of more bf kids in the community.
Not the private sector. If we want to see new products then why can't we
look in the supermarket like the mums do? It's the marketing of these
products that is restricted, not their existence, so why do I need to be
marketed to at a conference?

This may be all a bit off the track but I think knowing that companies
are still behaving badly when they can get away with it makes their
appearance of Code compliance in first world countries seem even more
hypocritical. After all if bf is worth protecting there then why not
here? You should see the sub standard baby food sold here under
international brand names well known to us all.they would never get away
with it in first world countries and yet here profit is obviously their
only motivation. Once I wrote to the American head asking why food for 4
month olds had sugar added here but not in Australia? You know what he
wrote.and I am kicking myself I never kept this.that if there was no
sugar in it then babies wouldn't like the taste, therefore wouldn't eat
it and then they would die!  He also said that the addition of cornflour
(starch) was essential for growth!  So when these companies start
accepting the Code for what it is and what it is meant to achieve,
instead of just a way to get brownie points in the "important"
countries, I might feel a little less hostile towards them. Here I just
see a society that in one generation has had their bf tradition almost
destroyed by multinational companies eager to exploit them with their
unethical marketing practices.

Meg Kingsley      embittered lay person

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