The CK Public Health Unit understands and agrees that every mother wants what is best for their child and their family. There is never any judgement toward how a mother feeds her child. Our goal is to offer education and support to make informed decisions around infant feeding.  Unfortunately, for the past 120 years, companies that market formula to parents have been using marketing techniques that work to interrupt breastfeeding and undermine a mother’s confidence in her ability to breastfeed. The International Code for the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes is aimed at companies and healthcare organizations to eliminate unethical practices around infant feeding and replace it with education and support that is factual and unbiased.

Mothers who are unable or do not wish to breastfeed should be guided by their healthcare provider, not formula companies, on which formula is best for their child. They need accurate information on how to safely prepare, store and feed formula to their infant. The instructions on the formula packaging do not cover all of the information that a parent should have before feeding the product to their baby. Currently in Chatham-Kent 94.8% of mothers start breastfeeding after birth and state that they would like to breastfeed for at least 6 months but only 11% are able to meet their goal. Removing deceptive marketing practices is one way to help mothers meet their breastfeeding goals and also helps mothers who decide to feed formula receive correct, unbiased information.