Is it always bad to advertise for baby bottles? Does it always break the WHO International Code of Marketing Breast milk Substitutes? Would it be unethical of a blog to advertise for baby bottles if no imagery was used? What about if that site was a beastfeeding site and the ad was meant solely for pumping moms? What if it was just for a one-day-only baby bottle giveaway?
These are a few of the questions going through my mind as I write this post. Breastfeeding Moms Unite! is about supporting and being accessible to all breastfeeding moms. That includes pumping moms. And pumping moms need to put their breast milk in something don’t they? It’s not like if a mom who pumps her milk sees a baby bottle that she’s going to think “I should really switch to formula.” Don’t pumping moms deserve to see and learn about their baby bottle choices so they can make an informed decision? Let me back up here and tell you how this train of thought got started.
A representative from Pure Glass Baby Bottle contacted me about a giveaway. Today, January 18th, the first 2000 people to register at their site between 12-1 PM EST will receive one free 8 oz glass baby bottle, complete with nipple, cap and ring. Of course they wanted my help to get the word out. Of course the first thing that crossed my mind was “no way.” But then I thought about the pumping moms I know. So I looked at their site.
They have a nice site. They don’t show any photos of babies drinking from bottles and they emphasize the purity of glass and the environment. (If I had ever pumped my milk I would have used glass). They also emphasize that breast milk is best. Of course, this is what we hear from formula companies too so it’s not like I was convinced of a sole loyalty to the breastfeeding consumer. I also wondered if there was a catch to registering at their site to receive one of these free bottles so I asked the representative and this is what she said:
“After moms register on our site they are then sent the glass baby bottle to the address they choose to provide. No additional materials or information are sent unless they choose to “opt in” for additional promotions and information from O-I. To answer your second question, O-I is not currently affiliated with any formula companies, and I am not aware of any coupons for breast milk substitutes that will be provided.”
If you went on a breastfeeding site and saw an ad for bottles would you think, “Ah, those are for pumping moms” or would you just think “Oh, lookie, she sold out.” Would you look at them any different than if you saw that same ad on another non-breastfeeding site? What if there was a disclaimer attached: For pumping moms. It’s not like formula feeding moms read breastfeeding blogs anyway, do they? If they do, come out, come out wherever you are! So my thinking is that pumping moms need to be marketed to too right? And if we can agree that pumping moms are a rather determined bunch of women who want to ensure their babies get the absolute best (no formula shall touch the lips of my baby!) then wouldn’t it be safe to assume they’d want the very best kind of bottle to put their precious breast milk in?
But what about bottle imagery? What about the Blog Her ads that so many mom bloggers opted out of displaying on their sites because the very sight of a baby bottle conjures up the belief that the image will in turn cause moms to feel good about formula feeding?
Before Annie from PhDinParenting challenged BlogHer ads to allow bloggers to opt out of displaying ads for bottles on their sites she said:
I do understand that bottles are sometimes used to feed breast milk. As a former pumping mom myself, I did allow a bottle ad on my blog in the past that specifically mentioned using the bottle for breast milk and that didn’t point to any specific super powers of the bottle. I know that in theory it is a violation of the Code, but personally I didn’t feel that it crossed the line. Others may disagree, but given all the extremely unethical and deceptive marketing practices by manufacturers of breast milk substitutes, I felt this one was acceptable.
I feel like there has to be a grey area somewhere. I’ve told many of my readers that I support the Code and that I will never advertise breast milk substitutes or baby bottle gear. If a bottle company approached me and offered to pay me to advertise their merchandise on my site I wouldn’t do it. I don’t want to be affiliated with the sale of breast milk substitutes or gear. But is offering up some free glass baby bottles to the pumping moms that read my site that are only available for one hour on one day, without any bottle imagery, without marketing this post as a giveaway, and with all of this questioning of the practice to begin with still wrong?
I’m really interested in what you have to say. I hope you won’t throw me under the bus, but if you feel the need to, let me know.
By the way, I am not receiving compensation of any kind to write this post or display this giveaway. I decided to do it because it was good fodder for a Monday Musing post and I really wanted to generate a discussion on this since there hasn’t been one since the Blog Her ads situation and I’m trying to come at this from a different angle.
The Giveaway is now over. The bottles are all gone.
Related posts:
- Monday Musings: Were You Breastfed?
- Monday Musings: Would You Nurse Another Woman’s Baby?
- Monday Musings: Do You Nurse Your Baby To Sleep?
View full post on Breastfeeding Moms Unite
@Danielle – Even though this is just a tiny bit of what you posted I wanted to respond to your saying you pump so you can have an adult drink once in awhile. Now everyone’s comfort levels are different and what works for me and others won’t always work for others, it depends on the age of your nursling too, but I don’t generally worry too much if I have a drink or two when nursing. I like that you are pumping and not giving formula at these times. I guess I just felt the need to address this not solely to you but other moms who might be reading this. You can drink responsible and nurse at the same time. I wrote a post about it here: http://www.breastfeedingmomsun…..stfeeding/
Reading your comment over again (and @Zoeys) is making me realize more specifically that moms need information about bottles and formula – not just glitzy advertising. Does anyone write reviews on formula? I suppose there are blogs out there that do. That might be a good place to actually learn about it rather than just being drawn in by ads.
@Heather – I love your views as a staunch breastfeeding advocate. What you said reminds me of my best friend’s reaction when I shared all the thoughts I was having. She was like “You’re overthinking this!”
@Laura – You’re right to point out that we never know the story behind the bottle. It’s hard to get over those initial gut reactions to things we’re so passionate about though. I know I have to tell myself not to judge others when I see someone doing something I wouldn’t necessarily support for myself.
@TFB – Thank you for chiming in. I had hoped you would. If ever down the road I had a chance to advertise bottles on this site it would have to be done pretty much exactly the way you are saying. It would have to be damn obvious I wasn’t on the fence on the issue between formula and breast milk. But even if I did it that way, wouldn’t that still be breaking the Code? I’m not sure. There’s that fine line. I should go round up Jake Aryeh Marcus to speak up about this too.
@Andrea – I know they are making glass bottles a lot more often now what with the BPA scare. I bet you could find a good one out there somewhere if you’d really like to get your hands on one. Probably a natural health store or natural baby shop?
Melodie´s last blog ..Monday Musings: Is It Okay To Advertise Baby Bottles To Pumping Moms?
I think it is definitely okay! I solely breast-fed, I never gave a bottle to either girls but I do pump so I can add breast milk to their cereals. I also give them milk in a cup so at dinner they can have a drink like us. I would love to store my breast milk in a great glass bottle.
Of course, as you’ve pointed out, this is a really confusing issue. As a working & pumping mother, bottles were an absolute necessity for me, and a very real part of my breastfeeding. However, advertising bottles, like Amber said, at best usually confuses the issue. HOWEVER – there *might* be a way to do it so it’s clear you’re marketing to pumping mothers only, and that would be to show the bottles hooked up to a pump, or to at least show a pump in the picture. If it sends the message that the bottles are geared toward breast pumping mothers, that seems to be the only fair way around the issue.
Thank you, Melodie – though really it’s just my stubbornness, and a bit of luck. Right this minute pumping seems easier than feeding from the tap, but that’s because DS got startled while nursing sleepily earlier and bit me. Ow. I’ll get over that (no significant damage done) but it was sure a shock to me.
Watching these comments, I am beginning to realize why I felt so strongly about this (and so positively). We live in a culture where the drive to promote breastfeeding has also tried to demote formula-feeding (probably good), but has unfortunately extended that to demote formula-feeding parents (more problematic, especially given the difficulties in getting donor milk – other than on a parent-to-parent basis – for healthy babies). Worse, we’ve extended it to everybody with a bottle. I remember being appalled, months ago, to read one over-the-top (my opinion) lactivist (her word) say she “felt sick” every time she saw someone feeding an infant with a bottle. Without having ANY idea what was in the bottle or why.
That could be my husband, feeding my son my EBM. It could be my coworker’s day care provider, giving her girl the one bottle of formula she unhappily gives per day because she responds poorly to the pump and hasn’t found a better solution. It could be another coworker’s daughter giving her daughter the formula she MUST have because she has galactosemia and can’t have her mother’s breast milk. It could be a dedicated formula feeder whose child receives only formula. You can’t know.
Bottles. Aren’t. Evil. They’re a tool for delivering a liquid food – any liquid food – to a baby. It isn’t fair or right to marginalize people for using bottles, and that’s exactly what saying “no bottles in breastfeeding spaces” does – says bottle-feeding is a lesser thing than breast-feeding. Even if it’s EBM. Even if it’s donor milk, desperately acquired to supplement a low supply, or provide where the mother can’t due to medical issues that require lactation-unfriendly medications.
Not to mention, on a more practical level, it removes an entire category of useful information so that, if we want it at all, if we think for a moment about it existing, we have to go hang out at neutral or pro-formula sites to find it. WHA? How…interesting. And how wrong, IMO.
I am a major breastfeeding advocate. I don’t believe in formula ever if at all possible (has never been needed here) and that all formula companies should be shut down in favor of human milk banks for low supply moms and those who just don’t, for whatever reason, want to nurse their babies. That said, I see absolutely nothing wrong with your advertisement of this promotion. Your reasons are so valid that they shouldn’t need to be so concerned. A bottle is not a breast milk substitute, it’s a breast substitute and until our parental leave system in the US is fixed, there will be a critical need for moms to pump and have bottles to put it in. Even if it gets fixed, there are reasons for bottles (I had surgery at 4 months postpartum and my baby wasn’t going to be starved for those 6 hours, lol! and while she hated the bottles–or my pumped milk, who knows–she still had a food option that way) and they are exclusive of formula. You can put formula in a lact-aid, but I bet if there was a giveaway for those, you wouldn’t hesitate to advertise it. Pumping moms deserve the support just as much. This is not an entirely pumping-friendly country and not everyone has the option to be a SAHM, particularly single moms (who have to feed their babies and pay for their homes!).
I agree with you posting this giveaway. In way too many words,
I think it would be great to have information about bottles for babies. I had to return to work when my DD was around 9 months for one day a week and was pumping milk for that day. But as she was always breastfed, it took a lot of persuasion for her to take the bottle and I must have tried a million different types until I found that was breast-like enough that she would grudgingly accept it if nothing else was on offer.
And even if you aren’t pumping, an older baby will often find a bottle of cool water quite soothing when they are teething.
Zoey @ Good Goog´s last blog ..We Are Family
I nursed my son, and will be nursing my new little one when she’s born in May. I absolutely want bottle info. I’m unemployed and hope to be doing natural breastfeeding most of the time, but having extra on hand in case I’m at the store, or in case hubby and I need a date night works out best for us. My son will be two when new baby is born, and if I pump, I can spike his regular milk a little too. And yes, it’s selfish, but I also pump so I can drink an adult beverage sometimes too. I realize that my feelings on this kind of stuff isn’t the absolute ideal. But if women are pressured to do it all perfectly, then it’s going to cut down on the number of women willing to even try. So advertising and promoting the in between, pumping to feed, or even supplementing with formula so long as breastmilk is always the preference, then it makes breastfeeding in general more obtainable for more women. Studies show that ANY amount of breastmilk is better. So I think it’s silly to leave out the women who can’t exclusively do breast to baby 100% of the time, for whatever reasons they choose.
As far as advertising for it on a blog, I think that’s entirely up to you. With a blog that specifically promotes breastfeeding, my preference is just to have your explanation along with the advertisement. Just basically, hey, for those of you that pump . . . That’s all. I personally don’t even think that it’s necessary to go all in depth into making sure the company has a preference of breastmilk over formula. Anyone looking for bottles has already made the decision. If you can’t handle seeing a formula ad on the bottle page, then I don’t know what to tell you. So long as the formula ad isn’t on the site or blog that is specific to promoting breastfeeding, then it doesn’t bother me. And truthfully, I also wouldn’t mind seeing information on formula, though probably not ads, on a blog like this, just because I had some problems, and I know others who have too, and had to supplement with formula. It’s not ideal, but being able to make a good decision based on the circumstances you are faced with is the best. Better for a mom to have to use a supplemental can of formula for a little while than to give up all together. It’s not an all or nothing issue.
Danielle Miller´s last blog ..Stock Up Deal of the Week