heather <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  The bit about preparing formula for *breastfeeding mothers* to drink 
to *enhance* their milk is just stupid.

That idea is not new.  Long ago two of the leading companies marketing products for the artificial feeding of infants also targeted breastfeeding mothers. Glaxo was promoting the idea, in 1915, of the mother drinking 1-2 hot cups of the company's dried cow's milk product to enable her to produce plentiful breastmilk.  Later (1925) this company exhorted pregnant women, too, to drink Glaxo to make breastfeeding possible.  Nestle, which had bought the Lactogen brand from a Victorian company in 1920-21, at various times urged breastfeeding mothers to drink their product to enable them to make plenty of good quality milk.  This idea was promoted in the various post-World War II editions of Nestle's mother booklet, distributed to new mothers, and I've also found the same recommendation in Lactogen advertising in 1930.  Other products were promoted for breastfeeding mothers to drink, as well as for "infants, invalids, and the aged", e.g. Ovaltine.  

The rationale behind all of these marketing ploys is increasing the market.  If the mother isn't going to buy the product to feed to her baby (or not yet), the various companies have from time to time encouraged her to drink it herself, as she "needs" it.  Of course, once the product is in the house, there is always the likelihood that it will be used for the baby from time to time, too, and that there will be brand loyalty if the mother stops breastfeeding.

Just a thought - If artificial baby milks (ABMs) are again being recommended for breastfeeding mothers to drink, that may indicate that marketing of special milks for Mums, in cans similar to those for ABMs, has not been effective.  That is, they may not be selling as well as projected.  I don't have any figures - this is just a suggestion.  Does anyone know of any figures, or of any companies withdrawing from marketing special milks for Mums?

Virginia

Virginia Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant (original cohort of 1985).
Cultural historian of the History of Medicine.
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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