Pamela writes:

Our  hospital got books as a "gift" from Abbott Nutrition  written by an 
IBCLC  for the American Academy of Pediatrics...on the inside cover it states 
"A gift  from Abbott Nutrition"...Abbott nutrition is the makers of  
Similac. 
 
~~~ Ah marketing folks are VERY smart. They spend millions on  marketing 
campaigns because of the return they can get. 'A gift from Abbott  Nutrition' 
notation means the hospital has now promoted a specific  company/ brand of 
formula. While wandering through a local store's  Natural Feeding aisle, I 
see that it contains breast pumps, bottles and  pacifiers. It used to also 
contain formula on the opposite side of the aisle.  Now they have moved the 
formula to its own aisle. ( Progress? Dunno, now moms  have to back to the 
aisle with the breast pumps to get their bottles... hmmm.)  Oh anyway, but I 
digress... so I saw a mom reaching and taking several  containers of powdered 
formula, all name brand. I looked at the store brand and  it looked, well, 
exactly the same. Same ingredients, same amounts of things, and  even said 
"compare to name brand....". So I asked the mom, actually very  interested, how 
does a mom choose between the brands and she said "oh this is  what he's 
used to ".  I asked how does she decide  between the Name brand and the X 
brand ( as I pointed to the store  brand) and she said "oh that's the store 
brand" like it's not as  good. I said from looking at the label it has all the 
same ingredients  but costs less and again "well that's the store brand." 
 
Research shows that moms can be extremely brand  ( and even  formulation of 
the same brand I think) loyal when it comes to formula ( read any  formula 
company website's testimonials....) so any subtle mention of a  company name 
could mean months and month's worth of VERY highly marked up  product for 
each baby. I think I remember also that formula companies ( which  are very 
smart, again) learned that mom's who wanted a breastfeeding  relationship, 
but switch to formula for whatever reason, end up buying more of  it over 
time. They  tend not to start solids or juices, etc as early so the  baby who 
now isn't breastfeeding, is consuming more formula over time than a  baby who 
is formula fed from birth. Does anyone remember this info? ANyway, if  that 
is true, then promoting breastfeeding literature and mentioning a formula  
company name can pay off big time.
 
So: Breastfeeding Books printed by, and with name of, Abbott Nutrition: The 
 gift that keeps on giving.
Also, the fact that the AAP accepts this angers even some pediatricians  
themselves, like Dr. Jay Gordon's interview in Bottled Up's promo...go Dr.  
Jay!
 
Peace,
Judy  


Judy LeVan  Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL
Brooklyn, NY, USA
[log in to unmask]  



             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome