Hello all,

A Dutch IBCLC-collegue asked for suggestions as to where to buy tubes for tube feeding at breast. Someone answered she bought tubes from an ABM-producer. She (IBCLC) sees no problem in that, as these tubes are not made to obstruct breastfeeding, but to be used with ill children. I said it falls under the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice to be alert in situations like this. And especially because two other collegues (among them Gonneke) answered that they bought them with a different supplier, I would think it is so easy to prevent doing business with Numico for this product.
She says she unpacks them at home consultations, throws away the package and there is no sign of Numico left. To her, my viewpoint of not buying products from a Code-violator was going way too far and she'd rather spend energy on breastfeeding than on fighting Numico and the like, as the first is a better guarantee for higher breastfeeding rates than the latter... (She added that ABM is very necessary sometimes, which I didn't deny in the first place, but that would mean *the mother* buys from the ABM-producer, not *me*.)
I'm having a hard time (see my earlier mail today) with the fact that even the profession who is supposed to "act as an advocate for breastfeeding women, infants and children" (Article 1.4) doesn't feel that it requires a proactive attitude towards these aspects. It is no more difficulty to buy the tubes from a different company; they even turn out to be cheaper (as we have to pay for the formula ads from Numico, probably!), so what's the problem...? Isn't that what the whole Nestlé-boycot is about: giving a clear signal?
She asks me to explain which principles she goes against when buying from an ABM-producer. To start with: does she? Or is it just my broad view of the whole issue that makes me feel bound by the Standards and the Code of Ethics? Thanks in advance for your input.

Kindly,

Marianne Vanderveen, Netherlands

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