Lactnet can decide which.
I was asked by my professional association (midwifery) to review the text of
a poster promoting BF AND advertising a specific breast pump.  The marketer
of the pump wishes to have the logo of our association as a stamp of quality
on the poster.  They are eager to pay the association for this.  I will
receive no money personally but will of course benefit indirectly from the
strengthened economy of the association.  My name will not appear on the
poster.  The sales rep is new to the job but her previous experience was in
marketing reputable skin care products for babies for a related firm.  She
does not have children, I don't think.

I looked at the text and found numerous points that were unacceptable to me
as an IBCLC, and as a midwife, and as a mother, supporting the WHO code in
all those roles.  I made editorial changes.  For example, one point on the
poster said 'avoid feeding by bottle and using pacifiers until BF is well
established, as babies sometimes suck differently on breasts and on
artificial nipples, but later on, they can be a good supplement'.  I said it
had to be changed to 'avoid using artificial nipples or pacifiers with BF
babies because babies suckle differently at the breast and it may harm BF.'
The picture already showed a bottle and a pacifier with a big red X through
them, fine.  There were several other examples, all correctable.  I also
demanded that the pump be shown alone, WITHOUT the feeding bottles or other
paraphernalia which tend to accompany such illustrations.  It is to be a
small advert picture, placed unobtrusively in one corner, closest to the
text on how to maintain milk supply if baby is temporarily unable to nurse
due to illness or prematurity.  The pump is a model I know to be effective
and reasonably priced or I wouldn't have bothered with the editorial work.

The rep says thanks very much, she will make all the changes in the text,
which of course I will check before the association goes further with this
slippery slope venture.  Then she said she will be present at a hospital
update seminar on baby friendly practices at which I am speaking next week,
and could we meet for dinner?  I think, why not?  She wants to hear more
about why I am sceptical to the use of nipple shields, which she also sells,
in the first two or three days of life if baby is reluctant to latch or
mother is sore.  And she wants to discuss her company's plan to award a
small grant each year to a midwife doing BF research, which I have already
told her I might have problems applying for.  Even so, I think she'll be
surprised when I pay for my own meal.  And I will be taking bets from anyone
who wants to gamble, on whether she will accept my freebie offer to her, of
a T-shirt promoting the BF mothers' organization.  A small amount of the
money in the pool will be used to defray the cost of the T-shirt.  E-mail me
off list for info on how to place your wagers (T so far IC that it's
tickling my ear now!).

If they were approaching the BF mothers' group with this offer, it would be
considered carefully and likely rejected.  I would vote not to accept this
kind of sponsorship of a volunteer BF group.  I don't feel it is quite so
clear-cut as far as the midwives' association goes.  FWIW, the journal I
edit does not carry ABM adverts of any kind.  The association does not allow
ABM manufacturers to have displays at our meetings or conferences, but we do
let the pump companies in.

So, to paraphrase another well-known slogan, What would Lactnuts do?
genuinely interested
Rachel Myr
Norway

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