So I went to the hospital to see my ADORABLE new niece this week :love, and took a peek at a little sign attatched to her crib to see what I thought was her "info" (you know name, weight, etc.) and instead I saw a little notice that said (not word for word, I can't remember) "Talk to your doctor before changing my formula, it is very important that I have the right kind of formula, and that the doctor knows what it is" or SOMETHING like that, then at the bottom it said "brought to you by the makers of Similac and Infamil".
Are "notices" like that normally on hospital cribs? I mean I DO get that if a baby is being formula fed they might need a specific type and that parents may not know this, but the whole assumption of forumla feeding (no "if I'm using formula"), and the mini ad for a formula company just really rubbed me the wrong way. For the record my niece is breast feeding just fine, and hasn't had a drop of formula, which is partly why it bothered me so much to see that on her crib. She was also a completely natural birh :joy:

I'm sad to say it might be normal - gross, but normal.

Sadly yes it is very common.

Thankfully, it is starting to change. I've seen hospital bassinet cards that say "I'm a breastfed baby _____!" and the name/birth stats/doctor's name.

It would definitely bug me too. Apparently that hospital is still not completely breastfeeding-friendly.

I've never seen that. Is the baby formula fed?

Sadly yes it is very common.

Thankfully, it is starting to change. I've seen hospital bassinet cards that say "I'm a breastfed baby _____!" and the name/birth stats/doctor's name.

It would definitely bug me too. Apparently that hospital is still not completely breastfeeding-friendly.

Both DD and DS had this kind of card. It was sposored by Medela. I loved it because it let the nurses know not to give my babies formula and they were only allowed to be nursed. I am not sure what the ff babies had on their bassinet though. I gave birth in a very breastfeeding-friendly hospital.

My dd's name/stats card had something like that on the reverse side. I didn't even notice until I took it out to take home.

My ds was born in the hospital. His little card on his bassinet that said his name, my name, and our room number was "sponsored" by Enfamil. It didn't technically say anything about formula but it had their logo on it. Also the measuring tape they gave me was from Enfamil along with a bunch of other things. I guess it worked. I used the enfamil they sent me home with when I couldn't get him to latch and didn't know what to do and when we eventually went to all ff at 4 mos old I "naturally" used enfamil. I'm annoyed that the marketing worked so well on me at that time :irked:

I've never seen that. Is the baby formula fed?

Nope, she's exculsively breastfed. A nurse and the lactation consultant were leaving just as I arrived and both spoke as though breastfeeding was completely the norm. when asking questions, so it seemed like the staff was pretty BF friendly, and I know that as my other SIL was leaving after giving birth to my niece they asked if she had a pump and then just gave her really nice one too. I'm sure, knowing my SIL (who is really into AP :) ) would have really liked to have a "I'm a breastfed baby" sign too, I wish the hospital (which otherwise seems to pretty good BF-wise, all of the babies I know who were born there were [and still are] breastfed) would get with it.

My DD's crib sign was sponsored by Similac. :irked:

We have signs like this at the L&D where I am a nurse. I like to irritate the other nurses by writing "Breast only- no paci's or bottles please!" on the breastfed baby's cards.

There was nothing like that on my son's isolette when we were in the hospital after my transfer. They knew he was a breastfed baby. I think it was on his chart that he was BF, but it wasn't on the sign on his isolette.

My older dd had a sign that had similac on it but was crossed out and the nurse wrote "BF" and my youngest had the breastfed sign from Medela

Wow, I have worked L&D and I have never seen anything like that before either...amazing and sad :(

my ds had the "im a breastfed baby boy!" card from medela too on his bassinet

My LO roomed-in and didn't spend anytime in her bassinet thingie (well, we were only there for 36hrs and used it to change diapers) so I have no idea what they used at the hospital DD1 was born in.

It's pretty disgusting that they do that, though. I suppose it's one thing IF the baby is FF - you don't want to go changing the formula willy nilly. However. When the baby is breastfed, there should be NO mention of formula whatsoever. Gah. :bang

Ive only had one crib tag and it was a formula one.. it didnt have anything like that on it though. Just Brought to you by formula company.. Also the little measuring tapes and stuff were formula company ones. My other two kiddos didnt get crib tags

my ds had the "im a breastfed baby boy!" card from medela too on his bassinet

Mine too.

my ds had the "im a breastfed baby boy!" card from medela too on his bassinet

DD had the same, except hers said "I'm a breastfed baby girl!" obviously. :wink

However, that card did not stop them from feeding her formula via a bottle while I was in recovery. :irked::angry (Loooong labor and lots of pushing capped off with an emergency c/s.) I was PISSED.

Y'know, it's not any more moral for Medela to use advertising in an isolette than a formula company. Product placement is product placement, and the hospital shouldn't be advertising for anyone. Period. There is no reason the hospital couldn't have generic isolette cards.

Y'know, it's not any more moral for Medela to use advertising in an isolette than a formula company. Product placement is product placement, and the hospital shouldn't be advertising for anyone. Period. There is no reason the hospital couldn't have generic isolette cards.

Probably right,so maybe the hospitals should put thier own cards on the bassies, that say,"This baby boy/girl will be breastfed,brought to you by the >insert hospital's name<" In my city, it is quite obvious which hospital one should go to if wanting an unmedicated birth, with TONS of bfing support-and this could be one of many ways for them to advertisr themselves as such. Better for everyone,imo. Kinda the way preschools/daycares sell themselves-play/academic/homelike,etc...

:wink

I'm not sure about isolette cards in general (the ones I have are generic), but I know that in the hospital, all the little pads they use for scales were Isomil and the tape measure (that they send home with every baby as a keepsake) was Enfamil.

BLECH!

Y'know, it's not any more moral for Medela to use advertising in an isolette than a formula company. Product placement is product placement, and the hospital shouldn't be advertising for anyone. Period. There is no reason the hospital couldn't have generic isolette cards.
Ah, but if it's product placement, the hospital gets them for free from Similac or Medela. If they're generic cards, the hospital needs to pay for them.

Medela offering "BF baby cards" gives the hospitals a free, convenient alternative to the formula company cards.

Y'know, it's not any more moral for Medela to use advertising in an isolette than a formula company. Product placement is product placement, and the hospital shouldn't be advertising for anyone. Period. There is no reason the hospital couldn't have generic isolette cards.
I agree with you. It's not common, but hospitals are starting to change their ways. My DH works for a health care company, and last year they instituted a policy that employees are no longer allowed to accept gifts of any kind. So while it's a bummer that DH (who works in IT) can't go to sports events and sit in the Microsoft corporate box, it also means that doctors and nurses can't accept pens, bags, lunches, measuring tapes, growth charts, etc. from pharma reps either. I think this is progress :)

Interesting. My kids all had little signs w/name/birthdate/weight/length and a "I'm a breastfed baby. No artificial nipples please."

It was made by Medela.

Huh. Nothing like that on dd2's but she was in the NICU :gloomy: and they were super-pro-bf. (Like, even if you pump two drops bring in it for your baby, please!! Had 2 LCs working there too. :thumb ) Darn $$$$ formula companies. I'm reading that Milk, Money, and Madness book now, about a similar theme. Very enlightening read, if really disturbing facts....

I don't remember if DS's stats card had a similar phrase, but I do remember that it had the little Ross bear on it, which obviously implies sponsoring. I know I have it saved somewhere, I should dig it out to see.

The thing that irked me even more than that tho was those damn Enfamil bags! I had to shove mine back at the nurse 4 times before she'd take it back.. She kept insisting I needed to take it, even tho I told her 80 billion times I didn't want it and wouldn't use it.

My DDs only has a generic card on their bassinet. In addition to an abnormally large sign that said "no pacifiers" and another that said "no bottles of water" or something like that. There was a separate sign, again generic that said "I'm a breastfed baby."

I don't like seeing advertisements anywhere, Medela or Enfamil alike. But I'm a flawed human and would rather see a BF-friendly logo than a formula company logo. Hypocritical, I know.

I'm reading that Milk, Money, and Madness book now, about a similar theme. Very enlightening read, if really disturbing facts....

OT, but if you haven't already I highly recommend picking up Mother's Milk by Bernice Hausman. Milk, Money, and Madness really got my blood boiling!

DD was a ross one. DS1 was Pampers. And youngest ds, I can't recall right now. Scary because that was only 9 months ago! LOL

I've never seen or heard of these cards and I am absolutely horrified to hear that it's not an isolated incident :( I could almost understand if it was a FF baby but on every child's bed??? Horrible. Is there a way to stop this practise?

LP

Yep we have these stupid cards at our hospital too. There is one group of pedi's that use their own special cards though that don't have any advertising on them.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone would put cards that encouraged breastfeeding?

It's also horribly inaccurate- generic formula has to pass the same tests that brand name formulas like similiac have to pass- basically the generics are nutritionally equal to their brand names, only similiac costs $10 more :irked: .