Breastfeeding consultants resign to protest formula training

[Janice in Canada]

Breastfeeding consultants resign to protest formula training


http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/...-burnaby-.html

Wednesday, June 25, 2008


Two lactation consultants have resigned from Burnaby General Hospital because they're concerned that hospital employees are being influenced by an infant formula company.

Renee Hefti-Graham and Linda Good quit after hospital staff received e-mails sent by managers that invited them to attend an educational seminar on infant feeding organized by Nestle.

Hefti-Graham led a protest earlier this month against the seminar.

The company ended up cancelling it but Hefti-Graham told CBC News she quit Tuesday because of what she described as corporate influence.

Good had already quit the day before.



(see link for full item)



Janice

[Mama~Love]

Good for them !!! I'm glad they stood up for breastfeeding!!

Catherine O'Brien, Nestle's manager of corporate affairs, said the seminar is conducted by dieticians who work for Nestle.

"It's a science-based and completely unbranded program which provides education on the full range of infant feeding issues," said O'Brien

Yeah, whatever. Nestle isn't hoping to make any profits from that now, are they ?

[Anna1979]

Originally Posted by Janice in Canada

Breastfeeding consultants resign to protest formula training


http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/...-burnaby-.html

Wednesday, June 25, 2008


Two lactation consultants have resigned from Burnaby General Hospital because they're concerned that hospital employees are being influenced by an infant formula company.

Renee Hefti-Graham and Linda Good quit after hospital staff received e-mails sent by managers that invited them to attend an educational seminar on infant feeding organized by Nestle.

Hefti-Graham led a protest earlier this month against the seminar.

The company ended up cancelling it but Hefti-Graham told CBC News she quit Tuesday because of what she described as corporate influence.

Good had already quit the day before.



(see link for full item)



Janice

That is so awesome - It's nice to see people standing up for what's right.

[Tine]

Originally Posted by mommyofmany

Good for them !!! I'm glad they stood up for breastfeeding!!

Yeah, whatever. Nestle isn't hoping to make any profits from that now, are they ?

Amen, sister. I've seen with my own eyes how dietitians in the employ of formula companies skew their "science."

I edit books (many of them parenting and nutrition books) for a living, and I've worked on several with a dietitian who moonlights as a consultant for Similac. To be fair, I really think she means well. But the influence of Ross Labs on her research and her professional opinions is obvious -- and insidious.

[aprilv]

while i can understand their frustration, how does quitting help the situation? now the two people with the most knowledge and motivation to counteract nestle's message are gone. for a while, people will remember that they quit and the message they were trying to send, but who will raise the issue when nestle comes back next time? i am sure nestle is thrilled that these two devoted breast feeding supporters are out of the way...

[Janice in Canada]

Breastfeeding experts quit jobs, slam Nestlé
Nurses say boss wasn't supportive
Kate Webb, The Province
Published: Friday, June 27, 2008

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ne...3-306c60e96406



(partial quote)

"Hefti-Graham and Good resigned because they felt their boss wasn't supportive of their stance against Nestle.

"She doesn't understand the issues," said Hefti-Graham. "She called [the materials I brought her] propaganda . . . and I've been working in this field for 20 years. I cannot work with a manager who tells me that the information I give her is propaganda."

The nurses' position on Nestlé is backed by the Toronto-based Infant Feeding Action Coalition, which advocates a consumer boycott of Nestlé products for violations of the code, which is not law in Canada.

There is now no lactation consultant at Burnaby General, but other hospital staff are being trained to teach women how to breastfeed.

A spokeswoman for the Fraser Health Authority said the maternity ward's patient-care co-ordinator circulated the invitation, but would not say whether any disciplinary measures had been imposed on the employee, citing privacy rights."

Janice

[Janice in Canada]

Originally Posted by Tine

Amen, sister. I've seen with my own eyes how dietitians in the employ of formula companies skew their "science."

I edit books (many of them parenting and nutrition books) for a living, and I've worked on several with a dietitian who moonlights as a consultant for Similac. To be fair, I really think she means well. But the influence of Ross Labs on her research and her professional opinions is obvious -- and insidious.

From what I have been told by various people in health care - dieticians are amongst the worse in regards to working for private industry, and using the material they provide to educate the public. They cannot see the conflict of interest. Many dieticians work solely for private industry, rather than for public health. (many food company spokespeople are dieticians. So not really surprising that they don't understand the Code. My friend and mentor is a dietician - she refuses to join their professional association because they are so tied in with industry. She has her IBCLC instead, and uses that as her professional association.

Janice

[Janice in Canada]

Originally Posted by aprilv

while i can understand their frustration, how does quitting help the situation? now the two people with the most knowledge and motivation to counteract nestle's message are gone. for a while, people will remember that they quit and the message they were trying to send, but who will raise the issue when nestle comes back next time? i am sure nestle is thrilled that these two devoted breast feeding supporters are out of the way...

Yes, this is a complicated situation.
I am in direct contact with these LC's. They tell me that the Health Region has endorsed the Code in the their policy, and the exec director "gets it" But her direct manager does not, and is instead accusing THEM as the one giving propoganda and misinformation, not Nestle.

When I read that - I thought - this is crazy - the employee cannot be expected to have to educate her boss - I can see why she quit. Plus how can it be good for the moms to have LC's that are educated one way, but have other hospital staff attending Nestle workshops??? Can one mom and one LC really stand up against a whole hospital that is influenced by Nestle??? Is it really right to expect these 2 women to stand up and carry the whole burden of providing correct bfing education themselves??? This is the way we have done bfing education and support for years - determined, self-sacrifing women, working quietly to undermine all the bad information. That's very good, but at some point we have to hold the system accountable. That is what these 2 LC's are doing.

Janice

[Tine]

Originally Posted by Janice in Canada

From what I have been told by various people in health care - dieticians are amongst the worse in regards to working for private industry, and using the material they provide to educate the public. They cannot see the conflict of interest. Many dieticians work solely for private industry, rather than for public health. (many food company spokespeople are dieticians. So not really surprising that they don't understand the Code. My friend and mentor is a dietician - she refuses to join their professional association because they are so tied in with industry. She has her IBCLC instead, and uses that as her professional association.

Janice

Yup, it seems the same here in the US. And here's a bit of irony... The US dietitians' professional organization (ADA) actually has a really strong statement on its members' role in promoting and supporting breastfeeding (http://www.eatright.org/ada/files/servenp.pdf). It plainly exhorts members to work for cultural change and to prevent institutional (hospital/clinic) bias toward formula.

But no one's listening!

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by Janice in Canada

From what I have been told by various people in health care - dieticians are amongst the worse in regards to working for private industry, and using the material they provide to educate the public. They cannot see the conflict of interest. Many dieticians work solely for private industry, rather than for public health. (many food company spokespeople are dieticians. So not really surprising that they don't understand the Code. My friend and mentor is a dietician - she refuses to join their professional association because they are so tied in with industry. She has her IBCLC instead, and uses that as her professional association.

Janice

This made me think to when DH & I attended a gastric bypass seminar. We got a lot of info on what to eat/when, and the one main thing that is recommended is NESTLE CARNATION INSTANT BREAKFAST. Seriously! For like 2 weeks before & after, it's an all liquid diet, and the main staple is Nestle's Instant Breakfast.

I wanted to ask a dietician why it was the Nestle brand that's recommended, but I never got the chance.

[Janice in Canada]

Originally Posted by mommyofmany

This made me think to when DH & I attended a gastric bypass seminar. We got a lot of info on what to eat/when, and the one main thing that is recommended is NESTLE CARNATION INSTANT BREAKFAST. Seriously! For like 2 weeks before & after, it's an all liquid diet, and the main staple is Nestle's Instant Breakfast.

I wanted to ask a dietician why it was the Nestle brand that's recommended, but I never got the chance.

Yes, it makes me think of all the segments on nutrition and eating, on the local news, or on the daytime talk shows. They will always have a "Dietitican" as the guest doing the segment - but alwasy seem to show a whole lot of brand name products, and I just laugh when they just happen to be some of the NEW products that a company is introducing. Geez, I wonder how the dietician got those products, or knew they existed.

No effort made to cover the brand names either.

In Canada,we have a well-know dietician who is the "face" of the dairy industry, (in their ads) but she also writes nutrition columns for newspapers, but doesn't disclose her conflict of interest. Her columns always end up promoting dairy in some way.

Janice

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by Janice in Canada

Yes, it makes me think of all the segments on nutrition and eating, on the local news, or on the daytime talk shows. They will always have a "Dietitican" as the guest doing the segment - but alwasy seem to show a whole lot of brand name products, and I just laugh when they just happen to be some of the NEW products that a company is introducing. Geez, I wonder how the dietician got those products, or knew they existed.

No effort made to cover the brand names either.

In Canada,we have a well-know dietician who is the "face" of the dairy industry, (in their ads) but she also writes nutrition columns for newspapers, but doesn't disclose her conflict of interest. Her columns always end up promoting dairy in some way.

Janice

Wow, I really had no idea that dieticians were so tied into the food comapnies so much until I went to that seminar. I guess I'm still a bit naive.

[G8P4]

I’ve been following this story with interest. I’d like to thank these two women. There have been a few media reports that I have seen and they have picked up on some of the very intelligent points these women have highlighted.....

which is not so easy especially considering that reporters are also immersed in a bottle feeding culture themselves. I can only imagine how distressing it would have been to quit their jobs. However, when you know that your own managers are not supportive of what you believe to be true and just, you can feel pretty unsafe just entering the building where you work each day. ( I write from personal experience ).

[miche28]

I sor tof struggled with this one too - from the patient perspective, I wa sthinking, so you've left all these vulnerable new mothers with no one to turn to in an environment where the management is hostile??

But thankfully, it sounds like the point has been well taken up and I've talked to a number of people who were surprised and disturbed that the professional association is failing to take action. (I am disturbed, but not at all surprised).

However, the problem is way, way bigger than formula companies - this is the way all health care providers here get their continuing education these days.

[ramama]

Originally Posted by aprilv

while i can understand their frustration, how does quitting help the situation? now the two people with the most knowledge and motivation to counteract nestle's message are gone. for a while, people will remember that they quit and the message they were trying to send, but who will raise the issue when nestle comes back next time? i am sure nestle is thrilled that these two devoted breast feeding supporters are out of the way...

I totally 100% agree with this. These LCs are supposed to be offering support and education for women who want to breastfeed, not taking a "stance" against Nestle. I think that these women are trying to spin it so that it seems like an altruistic act, but really, it's quite selfish. How many women are going to turn to formula because the hospital no longer has LCs on staff to help mothers through the often difficult first few weeks of breastfeeding? Who cares what their stance is on Nestle? For the record, I despise Nestle, but they could engage in anti-Nestle activities on their own time.

[spughy]

Originally Posted by ramama

I totally 100% agree with this. These LCs are supposed to be offering support and education for women who want to breastfeed, not taking a "stance" against Nestle. I think that these women are trying to spin it so that it seems like an altruistic act, but really, it's quite selfish. How many women are going to turn to formula because the hospital no longer has LCs on staff to help mothers through the often difficult first few weeks of breastfeeding? Who cares what their stance is on Nestle? For the record, I despise Nestle, but they could engage in anti-Nestle activities on their own time.

If it makes you feel any better, Vancouver has a lot of other breastfeeding support - I believe there are even walk-in clinics with LCs or MDs also trained as LCs... that's what we have here in Victoria, and the MD/LC I saw was fabulously fantastic. Plus Vancouver has a very pro-breastfeeding culture, so it's not as bad as if it happened in some small rural hospital or somewhere in the US where there's really bad support generally. Not that these women weren't making a big difference where they were, but I'm sure that they considered the implications of resignation on their patients and chose the lesser of two evils. They were in a hard place, and I think they chose the route that will lead to the biggest benefit for breastfeeding overall. They certainly got a LOT of media coverage here and drew public attention to how Nestle behaves, and the Nestle apologists in the hospital administration are probably facing some criticism at the least from the top down now.

[APmomto3boys]

the two LC's quit... sounds like there has been other issues and this was the straw that broke the camels back.

I have considered becoming an LC 100 times but at the end of the day, I don't think I can deal with all of other issues that come along with working in a hospital... our hospitals are full of formula freebies.

[miche28]

I have to say too, that it wasn't that they quit because the hospital wouldn't mount an anti-Nestle billboard in the lobby - it was a question of management respecting their professional integrity. APMom, I've struggled with this too - I do outreach and try to get past it, but I just can't imagine having to work in an enivornment as hostile as the ones I encountered in the NICUs here.

[APmomto3boys]

Originally Posted by miche28

I have to say too, that it wasn't that they quit because the hospital wouldn't mount an anti-Nestle billboard in the lobby - it was a question of management respecting their professional integrity. APMom, I've struggled with this too - I do outreach and try to get past it, but I just can't imagine having to work in an enivornment as hostile as the ones I encountered in the NICUs here.

Oh I had a terrible time with my NICU. I had to be a huge B!TCH in order to make it very, very clear to them that my son was not to have formula. Thankfully, he never did. Sadly, even though I tried, I don't think any of the nurses learned anything from me. My son was born at 34 weeks AND had a cleft... and is 100% breastfed at the breast. He did have bottles in the nicu though because I was not able to be there 24/7 but only with my milk in them.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Janice in Canada

at some point we have to hold the system accountable. That is what these 2 LC's are doing.

Janice

More power to them. I hope this creates enough community and patient outrage that the hospital has to change.