Winne says:  "If I know a mom is on WIC, I will mention to her
which one our local WIC uses, but I don't tell her specifically to
use that one."

I am interested to know why you mention the WIC brand at all to these
women -- is it because, if they supplement, that's what they will be given?

I think it is an interesting dilemma -- one might want to be specific to the
situation, etc., but surely the brand used by WIC is the one they chose
through some process that involves the companies bidding through price cuts
and other inducements, rather than made on any attempt at choosing the
particular copy of human milk which seems least crude at the time (and if
they were to try to do that, wouldn't they be choosing on the basis of
company information -- or at the very best, company sponsored research??).
To have your brand mentioned in a context where breastfeeding is honoured is
one of the goals of companies with an interest in infant feeding.

Speaking of which, as a UK practitioner, my eyes nearly fell out of my head
to notice that an IBCLC and office holder in LLL is also has a position with
Lansinoh Labs (don't know the parent company).  I wouldn't say that this
could never happen in the UK, but I hope there would be quite a lot of
vigorous comment if it did.  As a worker for and office holder in one of the
UK's mother-to-mother support organisations, I certainly would not be able
to have such a position with a company with an interest in infant feeding.
For reasons similar to above -- the association of the product with a
breastfeeding-respected name/organisation is worth lots and lots of money to
the company, and raises questions about the independence of the person
involved.  Is this combination simply accepted and acceptable on the other
side of the Atlantic?

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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