I appreciated Janice Reynolds' advice to Brenda, and I agree that it's better to attend the rep's talk and hear what she or he has to say than to stay away. Getting information doesn't stain your ethical purity, but ignorance would put you at a disadvantage if you join in any discussion with your colleagues later on. I also agree about not trying to debate the rep's points while attending the talk. However, one reason we might want to speak up is if the presentation strays from the "scientific and factual." According to the Code, baby milk companies are allowed to market to health professionals (and that's what this lecture is. . .marketing) provided that the information is scientific and factual. They are not allowed to market to parents no matter what kind of information they present. A formula rep is ostensibly presenting information to the health professionals about why his/her product is better than a rival product from another company. They generally say the human milk is best and that their product is not meant to replace human milk, only to be used when human milk is not available. (I have to admit that I actually agree with that position. In a case where human milk is not available for a baby--from the breast, or expressed by the mother, or from a donor, a milk bank, or a culturally-appropriate wet-nurse, then that is the reason to feed artificial baby milks. I just think that in a well-run world where women had the resources--time, information, food, support, and appropriate care--that they need, there would be precious few babies with no access to human milk.) What we have to guard against--and this is why the LCs need to attend the formula reps' presentations--is the claim that formula is BETTER than human milk. This is how premie formulas have been marketed for years, and now I see baby milk companies coming out with all kinds of "special" concoctions for healthy babies' common infant feeding complaints: colic, apparent lactose intolerance, reflux. Just as with the premie formulas, the LCs have to to be there to monitor whether the evidence being presented is truly scientific and factual. We need to do our best to be ready (at the next opportunity) to present our own evidence-based recommendations, and where the evidence doesn't exist, to make recommendations based on our experience and our understanding of basic lactation science. Actually, we are at a disadvantage. So much of the basic research in lactation management is lacking. An example would be Joan Fisher's expertise in babies with lactose intolerance. We understand the theoretical basis for her recommendations; we accept her "testimony" as an expert in the form of case presentations. But when we suggest management changes to a mom based on what we heard Joan say in an ILCA presentation, we don't have stacks of articles to back up what we recommend. And I bet the formula rep can waltz in to a hospital with a "lactose-free" formula and a bunch of studies that show the efficacy of her product. Ours is a tough job. We are not only trying to re-build a breastfeeding culture and re-discover what our great-great grandmothers knew about how to breastfeed normal, healthy babies, but we also are trying to figure out how to make breastfeeding work for the challenging babies that probably would have died in our great-great grandmothers' day. And we are doing this without the huge financial resources that the baby milk companies can devote to developing new products that displace breastfeeding. I think we are an awesome group of health-care revolutionaries! Cheers, Chris Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC LLL Leader Reserve working for WIC in South Jersey (Eastern USA) Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html