Gift bags with less than subtle messages

[Writerbird]

I had my twenty week appointment today (and I was totally wrong, we're growing a baby boy, not a girl - I am still adjusting my brain!) and got my second goody bag.

The first goody bag I got at my first appointment, and it was entirely prenatal vitamin samples, deodorant samples, etc. Nothing overtly BABY, just in case.

This bag was filled with ad cards for cord blood banking (but none on donation, go figure), discount cards for portrait photography, Similac formula samples, and a little plastic case. When I opened the plastic case, I found another formula sample from Enfamil, AND a sample of vitamins from the makers of Enfamil "should you choose to breastfeed." And a packet of Balmex.



I'm sorry, but you just have to laugh, else you'll waste valuable pregnancy energy on being angry.

The nurse was laughing with me. She said if someone would make a cool giveaway for breastfeeding stuff, they'd happily give it away too. But as it is, they feel like they can either throw out the samples or give them away... so they choose to give it away, even though it totally creates the idea that breastfeeding is not the norm.

[flapjack]

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WHO code, WHO code, WHO code violation. If I send you a copy of the Politics of Breastfeeding, will you make sure that nurse reads it?
Breastfeeding specific giveaways off the top of my head: ovaltine, breastpads, nipple cream, how-to DVDs- I've had all of these in the last few months. Avent does a fairly good DVD on how to breastfeed which I'd imagine they'd make available to the US- literally, my breastmates group watched it and we couldn't find anything to shout about. That doesn't happen often. Cereal bars, because breastfeeding mothers only stop eating when they're drinking or asleep. The list goes on.
OK, I'll climb down off my hobby horse now. Sorry. I've seen far too many formula ads recently and the buggers are getting trickier with the way they word them. We haven't had a complaint upheld in months

[Mindi22]

... but if the breastfeeding friendly products aren't being given to offices for distribution, the gift bags will remain formula focused. I agree that there are issues with it, but beyond just refusing the bag, unless other companies step up and offer samples, a breastfeeding friendly bag won't ever exist.

[SamuraiMom]

Wishful thinking, but why can't "we" lobby breast pump co.'s to make breastfeeding friendly bags???? It's probably a stretch of idealist thinking... but WHY NOT???? There are so many items that a BFing mama could use, though I think I only made use of the breast pads, it's just a thought.

[nausicaamom]

At this point, I just say, "No thank you" and give it back and I'd probably have something to say to them about the fact that they are handing out formula samples - at least a letter addressed to the head of the practice and the office manager.

[nascarbebe]

this is my second pregnancy here and I've never gotten a goodie bag from my obgyn

[Writerbird]

Okay, I guess I was alone in thinking it was funny. I also laugh at absurdist drama, which really? Is what this reminds me of.

The way the goody bags are made up is pretty simple. Corporate shills go from office to office dropping off boxes of stuff. The practice I go to, or will until I relocate, has a closet the nurses literally call "the crap closet." I have heard them direct the shills with boxes to said crap closet.

When a woman is there for her first visit, a nurse goes around with a big bag and fills it with one of each item "in stock" that wouldn't traumatize a woman who happened to miscarry a week later. At twenty weeks, they do it again, but the sensitivity rule that guides the first haul means the twenty weekers sometimes get funny stuff - like I got a pocket planner, emblazoned with some formula logo, meant to fill out over forty weeks.

Almost all the stuff in the first wave was vitamin-related, sponsored by Big Pharma, Making Your Pee Really Expensive Since 1905. Also deodorant. And a stool softener. And Tums. Almost all the stuff in the second wave was formula company related... except for a pack of prenatal vitamins helpfully labeled as being good for nursing mothers as well. And deodorant. And Tums. (I actually used the Tums and went and bought more, too. The chewable berry flavored ones, "Smoothies.")

The reasons are simple - the companies bring the stuff. ANYONE is welcome to bring a box of stuff to the crap closet, and the nurses will dole it out until it's gone. People like goody bags. It makes them happy. Heck, my insurance company sent me a diaper bag loaded with coupons just for submitting to their questions about my prenatal care.

The trouble, obviously, is that most people don't question the messages they're getting with their Similac Baby Planner and their Enfamil Baby Name Guide. My tiny packet of Balmex aside, there was nothing in the bag to encourage me to breastfeed.

But why doesn't La Leche League have a stack of glossy handouts in the crap closet? How come the local boutique that sells slings and carriers doesn't have 10% coupons in the coupon stack? Why the heck is Balmex the only BF product company dropping off samples? If Secret can dump a crate of deodorant samples at the crap closet, why not a little sample envelope of breast shields? The answer, I suspect, is that the people who control the money don't think there are enough of us.

Honestly, half the problem is the marketing. The breastfeeding advocates are not subtle, and seem to think that LESS subtlety is called for. The formula people are all "you want what's best for your baby, and you're so tired, and you're a good mom, and if you CHOOSE formula, ours is best because X." THAT'S the approach I'd take if I were in charge of booby marketing.

"You're a good mom, and you're so tired right now, and you want the best for your baby, so instead of getting up three times a night and testing the temperature of something that artificial, why not roll over and feed the wee one? And if you need help, see this website for clear, step by step instructions, or call this 1800 number for help from a real nurse." You know, like the formula companies do.

And hell, while I'm at it, I'd stop saying "breast is best." Yes, it IS. But no one cares. (No one mainstream, I mean, and if we want OUR goodies in the crap closet, our goodies need to be mainstream!) They'll settle for "good enough." People ALWAYS DO. I'd frame it as "formula is worse, and breastfeeding is the standard." Not gold standard, again, because only overachievers care. The standard, the status quo, the thing formula can only imitate.

Sorry, this was long. How messages are presented is my pet hobby horse... can you tell? I'm going to slink away now.

[Gunter]

"should you choose to breastfeed"

one time i was having a conversation with a woman about "choosing to breastfeed". she was saying that most people have to make the choice to not breastfeed b/c colostrum is coming out of a woman's breasts after giving birth. it's a choice to stop it. something like moms who give birth have to chose NOT to breastfeed. am i making any sense? a little OT.

and, ITA that LLL should drop off their handouts about BF to every OB office in the area. They are the direct community reps for BF more than Avent or some bigger corporation, right? I will try to do something about it when i am back in nc, for sure. thanks for the inspiration.

[mama-meg]

Tell your local LLL leader about it - my group brings meeting notices, etc to be included in those bags. There are pamphlets and tear off sheets that can be included as well, depending on how well off your local LLL group is.

[flapjack]

Writerbird, I get your point about how messages are presented: I'm trying to find a copy of the UK's one and only TV formula ad to post a link to, but I have a serious point.
In 92% of the world, your doctors would be breaking the law by giving out those bags. There is legislation in place to protect mothers from the "formula is NORMAL" assumption that's in place- because everyone knows that breastmilk is best but formula is what you do, in the same way that a home-cooked roast is best but when you're starving hungry and standing next to Subway, that's what you do. Right? : Being serious, change would be so easy to effect. All it takes is for the OB and nurses to believe that giving formula samples is wrong...and it would be fantastic publicity for the practice.

[snozzberry]

Originally Posted by Writerbird

But why doesn't La Leche League have a stack of glossy handouts in the crap closet? How come the local boutique that sells slings and carriers doesn't have 10% coupons in the coupon stack? Why the heck is Balmex the only BF product company dropping off samples? If Secret can dump a crate of deodorant samples at the crap closet, why not a little sample envelope of breast shields? The answer, I suspect, is that the people who control the money don't think there are enough of us.

Honestly, half the problem is the marketing. The breastfeeding advocates are not subtle, and seem to think that LESS subtlety is called for. The formula people are all "you want what's best for your baby, and you're so tired, and you're a good mom, and if you CHOOSE formula, ours is best because X." THAT'S the approach I'd take if I were in charge of booby marketing.

"You're a good mom, and you're so tired right now, and you want the best for your baby, so instead of getting up three times a night and testing the temperature of something that artificial, why not roll over and feed the wee one? And if you need help, see this website for clear, step by step instructions, or call this 1800 number for help from a real nurse." You know, like the formula companies do.

And hell, while I'm at it, I'd stop saying "breast is best." Yes, it IS. But no one cares. (No one mainstream, I mean, and if we want OUR goodies in the crap closet, our goodies need to be mainstream!) They'll settle for "good enough." People ALWAYS DO. I'd frame it as "formula is worse, and breastfeeding is the standard." Not gold standard, again, because only overachievers care. The standard, the status quo, the thing formula can only imitate.

Amen!

That's a great idea about 10% off coupons from the local boutique and LLL handouts! I bet if you called one or both of them and suggested this, they would seriously consider it, especially LLL. It's got me wondering what the LLL in my area does, if anything, about goodie bags...now I'm off to email them!

[nausicaamom]

Glossy hand-outs and 10% off coupons cost money - LLL is a volunteer organization and I'm sure that the vast majority of leaders don't have the money lying around to order glossy print-ups. Frankly, I don't think anyone should be getting stuff "for free" (not really free since it's part of the advertising budgets of the companies providing the items and part of the cost of the actual items). I have to agree with Helen on this one - until more women object to this treatment, nothing is going to be changed. How many breastfeeding relationships are going to be sabotaged by having those formula samples in the house aside from the fact that medical professionals are giving their stamp of approval to formula which is heinous considering the well know facts regarding the risks involved with formula feeding.

[loraxc]

One of the reasons I loved my birth center (and of course, my HB midwives this time) and love my ped: no freebies, no gift bags, nada. Not a formula ad or product in sight, ANYWHERE. I'd write a letter, to be honest.

[justmama]

When I gave birth to my second daughter, she was premature and needed the nicu for 2 weeks. I got a bag of formula(a full-sized can plus coupons for more!) and other related stuff when I gave birth and went home the same day. Then I got another bag when I left the nicu even though the nurses KNEW I was breastfeeding whenever she latched finally and I told them that I wouldn't need it. So I took them and donated the formula to a battered women's shelter and gave the coupons to a formula feeding friend. But it's so frustrating. I get so angry about it because I don't need this stuff and with it in the house, it makes it really very easy to say, oh I'm getting frustrated that baby won't latch right now so I'll give a bottle of formula. My SIL is on the verge of doign that with her sampler bag from the hospital and my 2 week old nephew(but it's due to some serious emotional stressors and a death in her immediate family right now so I'm not surprised). I wish she hadn't had it because I KNOW she wants to nurse him. But it's in the back of her mind that it's there and it's the easy way out it seems.

[justmama]

Originally Posted by loraxc

One of the reasons I loved my birth center (and of course, my HB midwives this time) and love my ped: no freebies, no gift bags, nada. Not a formula ad or product in sight, ANYWHERE. I'd write a letter, to be honest.

Yep. Same here this time around.

[guestmama9972]

I got a great goodie bag from my midwife with Lansinoh, avent breast pads, and a couple of magazines sponsored by Lamaze. Then I had to switch to an MD due to being dubbed "high risk" and needing more specialized care. I got no goodie bag from him but interestingly the office is devoid of the usual formula paraphanalia.

When I had my first daughter with midwives at a birth center they actually gave out formula samples. They should be ashamed. It was my first baby though and I was so uneducated at the time that I just took whatever they handed out. THankfully dd was a champion nurser and I never needed any formula. Now I would just decline.

[ksera05]

The bag from my first OB had a ton of formula (Nestle mostly) crap in it. We let our 14 month old tear it all up

I haven't seen anything from the second OB yet but they also don't have the formula stuff lying around their office so for all I know they might just not accept samples.

[smokeylo]

I think they tried to pass a law in Mass. to make this kind of propaganda illegal, but the formula companies wigged out.

I can see why it is laugh-off-able for an individual who knows what she's doing, but for most women these things set them up for failure. If they want something to do with the formula, why don't they donate it somewhere that actually might need it, instead of acting like it isn't a tacit promo for formula feeding, which it is? If a doc is serious about breastfeeding, he won't hand that out. That's why dentists don't give us candy, right?

[flapjack]

Rant deleted, because you'll never talk to me again if I post it. Suffice it to say that I think that the only people laughing are the formula manufacturers who are laughing in the face of human decency and international law, and possibly the politicians who choose to let them. They're laughing at you, not with you.
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[Gunter]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Rant deleted, because you'll never talk to me again if I post it. Suffice it to say that I think that the only people laughing are the formula manufacturers who are laughing in the face of human decency and international law, and possibly the politicians who choose to let them. They're laughing at you, not with you.
:

i hear you on that one. it's terrifyingly amazing what i heard about them doing in asia to buy off or silence people.