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A mother breastfeeds her child: should women be protected from marketing?
Photo: Monika Skolimowska / dpa
Health experts accuse the milk powder industry of "exploitative marketing" of their products.
They are calling for a tougher crackdown on companies' marketing practices and more support for mothers to breastfeed.
A legally binding contract is needed that protects women from marketing and bans companies from political lobbying, they write in the medical journal The Lancet.
The authors argue that manufacturers exploit the insecurities of young mothers to do business.
They gave the impression that babies who do not sleep through the night or suffer from colic would be better supplied with industrially produced baby food than breast milk.
Babies should be breastfed until their second birthday
However, restless behavior of babies is common and such problems can be solved with the support of professionals.
Breastfed babies would undoubtedly have the best start in life.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that babies should be exclusively breastfed for six months.
Babies should also be given other foods after that, but they should continue to be breastfed at least until their second birthday.
The WHO had already sharply criticized the marketing practices of manufacturers in a 2022 report.
Sometimes employees take part in groups for young mothers on social media.
They fueled fears and touted powdered milk as a solution without saying they would be paid for it, it said.
Misleading or unscientific claims are being made to lure mothers into giving babies formula instead of breast milk.
The manufacturer with the largest market share worldwide, the Swiss company Nestlé, rejects such machinations.
"We support the WHO recommendation that babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives," the company said.
According to the WHO, 100% breastfeeding for the first few months of life has lifelong health benefits.
Among other things, this reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and breast cancer in mothers.
apr/dpa
