>Does anyone know the exact policy of bfhi regarding formula? Our 
>hospital does not give out any gift bags with formula. We have a 
>nice gift bag instead, with a water bottle, picture frame, etc. But 
>I still have nurses on the unit that every time a mom asks for free 
>formula (whether they are bfding or not) they fill up the gift bag 
>with formula. The mother usually gives them a sob story about how 
>they don't have any money for formula. I'm pretty sure that if we 
>want to achieve bfhi some day, that we need to stop giving out any 
>free formula, right?


That's correct. You would be expected to follow the WHO code on the 
distribution of free formula that is, not to do it, ever.

In the UK, maternity units have not routinely given formula to take 
home for decades, now, to anyone,  so it's not a big deal not to do 
it, but both BF hospitals and non-BF hospitals  will give mothers in 
a genuine emergency a small amount of formula to keep the family 
going until they can provide their own, say sufficient for one feed.

It strikes me that the easiest way to resolve this is a  *policy*, 
which would allow you to give a small amount of free formula to a 
formula feeding mother, if you judge the situation to be an 
emergency.  This would be recorded and signed for.

Any give-away of formula (and filling up a bag with it can never be 
right) is a promotion - it is a promotion of formula in general and a 
promotion of the brand that's given away. It also strikes me as 
disempowering - the most basic act of parenting is to ensure your 
offspring have food, and while of course it's caring to give a 
desperate mother in an emergency a small amount of formula (if she is 
ff), providing a whole lot of it so she doesn't even have to collect 
it/arrange for it to be collected is just not necessary.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc,tutor, UK


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