Secular Café: The ethics of infant formula feed and big company profits

Secular Café Discuss philosophical concepts and moral issues.

The ethics of infant formula feed and big company profits Mar 23rd 2012, 14:27 Did you know that breastfeeding is worth 5.2 IQ points for an infant? Did you know it reduces the likelihood of childhood obesity? Of diabetes, asthma and ear infections? And also has significant health benefits for the mother? And did you also know that big companies, such as Nestle aggressively market formula feed in third-world countries, to the huge detriment of poor families, simply to keep making huge profits? There's a period after birth when breastfeeding needs to be established, and if that doesn't happen, the mother's milk doesn't "come in", and breastfeeding is pretty much done for. The initial milk (colostrum) is vital for the baby, and once breastfeeding is established, colostrum gives way to normal milk. What the formula companies do is to interrupt the establishing of breastfeeding by giving bottles for the first few, critical feeds. The suckling reflex in the baby is different for a bottle teat, and after that, it's almost impossible to get breastfeeding going. Once bottle feeding is established, breastfeeding is pretty much gone. In poor third world countries, they give sample packs and bottles for new-borns, so breastfeeding fails. Then, once the free samples are gone, the expense cuts in, with disastrous consequences for all.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions