Shockingly Worrying

For infants whose mothers don’t receive the right support early on to succeed with their breast feeding goal or face structural or cultural barriers to breast feeding, infant formula can be the sole source of their infant nutrition. “That is all they will consume, six to eight times a day. Therefore, it would seem that there would be more regulation of infant formula instead of less. It would seem the companies would take more care to ensure the scientific soundness of all nutritional claims.”

It is alarming that you can find more nutritional information on the back of a pet food product than a infant formula product. We are indoctrinated by marketing to believe the claims of ‘close to breast milk’, ‘hungry infant’, ‘colic solution’ without any evidence at all to substantiate. ‘Close to breast milk’ describes products with 5 key ingredients vs 15 in breast milk (excluding 90+ minor but essential ingredients that change on a daily basis according to developmental and health need) . If that was on the product would consumers think differently? If we were asked by a Dr to take an unregulated, un peer reviewed, non NICE approved drug where the leaflet inside only contained some of the information about it, would we?

It’s worrying such products are allowed to be produced and marketed without strict scrutiny about content and without proper regulation. These products are for some babies their only foundation for life, these are children’s lives that are being commercial sidelined for profit.

Greater education and normalisation of breast feeding in children and young adults including the long term health benefits to women not just babies, and crucially support in the early weeks for new mothers, is required in countries where formula companies have literally brainwashed the market to believe their claims. We at Neo have also fallen for it at times in the past so we understand how frustrating and worrying it can be to find decisions you thought were based on solid, reliable, trustworthy information were biased before you took them.

Try not to worry. And if you do. Take a look at our links page on our website for sources of support or contact us for more.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-report-most-infant-formula-claims-not-based-on_us_5a3136dbe4b04bd8793e9616