I would like to see if I can help Rachel be less grumpy as I don't want one of our listmothers to be unhappy! In all of NABA's work since 1995, we have found no bottle manufacturers to be Code compliant or even working to become Code compliant, so this is a first. I think this is something to be excited about and a step forward in the promotion and support of breastfeeding.?NABA has been working daily with Evenflo to start and keep the process of becoming Code compliant on track. I have also consulted with the International Code Documentation Center in Penang, INFACT Canada, and Baby Milk Action in the UK to help advise on how best to assure complete Code compliance. Evenflo has done more than just put out a press release. So far Evenflo has already removed bottle/nipple images and connection to internet sales from?their Web site. They are developing Code compliant packaging graphics which is expected to ship to the market in the?Summer of?08, and they have?eliminated all bottle/advertising from print and web sites.??So next summer (there is not an exact date yet)?is when the new packaging will hit the shelves. Old packaging will not be re-labeled or recalled. It will be replaced with the new packaging. I am looking at each page of the website to check that graphics and language are Code compliant. Any noncompliant sections will be changed. Moving a company to complete Code compliance is a process that will take some time, but much has already been accomplished. 

I certainly agree with Rachel that the US has a very long way to go with actually helping mothers to breastfeed with real maternity leaves and worksite support for breastfeeding. Yes, there is a lot that is not being done. ?However, the goal here is much more modest than making the world a better place for all children and solving all of the problems that beset a woman wishing to breastfeed. I wish I could wave my magic wand and make that happen. The goal here is a first step to help remove a commercial barrier to breastfeeding, which the Code is all about. Yes, this is a minimal acceptable standard for marketing products, but how many other bottle manufacturers have done this? We have to start somewhere as Morgan said and I too want to look at this as the glass being half full. This action has brought the Code to light for all bottle manufacturers, as knowledge and awareness of the Code has been both?absent and ignored. 

If we want the Code to be implemented, then a company must make the start to do this, which is what Evenflo has done. This will take time. ?All of you could really help if you would send any non-Code compliant language and graphics from Evenflo to me, so that I may pass it on and get it changed. We all have the option of writing letters to other?bottle manufacturers asking when they intend to become Code compliant. Let's seize this as an opportunity to showcase the Code to the public and to health care providers (who could use a dose of the Code). The Code cannot fix everything in Rachel's post but Code compliance one company at a time is a good start.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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