What an awful thing to do to babies

[baajee]

I've just gone to my fridge to have a look. Did you know that Gerbers are nestle ? Dang

 

[ellie]

I think its always good to have a reminder about how evil Nestle are (lots of others are too, just that this is particularly nasty of them as it literally did put profits before lives). Unfortuantely as someone else said it is very hard as they own a LOT of things including companies you wouldnt think are Nestle owned and so they continue to be massively rich and have no consequence from their evil actions.

Yes it is probably true that if women in third world countries were better educated about BF then they wouldnt "fall for" the advertising ... lets not forget how poorly educated people are generally in those areas (unless they are lucky enough to have a school / good resources in their area) we take our knowledge for granted. The responsibility shoudl also be on people like this to not barge their way in to vulnerable places and put babies lives at risk for a quick buck.

if you think that those areas of hte world dont have access even to clean drinking water, or may have to walk miles for it every day, this is the key to safe formula is it not? If you want to make formula in this country, you have easy access to very effective sterilising, you can be sure that it will be safe. In those places, they don't. I think the reasons why its necessary to have clean sterilised water and bottles for formula are well known here arent they?

I spent a bit of time in India a few years back and it was heartbreaking to have women coming up to you asking for you to buy formula milk for their obviously starving babies in their arms. It was not about the mum's malnutriution so they couldnt BF but at least in some cases it was about them being told that formula was better, so they gave their babies the free stuff they got given, then they realised they couldnt afford it and their own milk had dried up. Can you imagine being in that situation, where you needed formula to feed your baby but had no means of getting it. I tried to buy some for a couple of the women that came up to me but it is very expensive there and I obviously couldnt buy it for everybody

That's why it's important and is not about "preaching BF" ( )

 

[elephant29]

This is certainly up for debate! I think some mothers do get "hoaxed" into thinking they are malnourishing their babies and that formula is the safe option. My antenatal midwife herself goes with other midwives into under-developed countries to promote BF (mostly in Africa, I live in South Africa). I commend them greatly. It's sad that these women don't have the resources to obtain invaluable knowledge and make concerted decisions. We are still very far behind in times when it comes to knowing our own bodies and what the body is capable of and these women feel they cannot provide what nature intended them to. I personally have some Nestle products because it suits us. I know I would have given up BF if it wasn't for the support of my midwife and a wonderful cousin who told me "it does get easier". Some women don't have this support. Sadly

TBH for me this isnt about bf v ff - its about the deliberate targeting that went on of women who werent in a position to know that they were being conned - and it was a con, those women werent told the free stuff would be withdrawn as soon as their babies were dependant on the formula. And I dont care how many years ago it was, it wasnt a mistake it was a marketing strategy.

Mizze xx

Mizzie I 100% agree with you.

Nestle are not stupid, they didnt make any mistakes and knew exactly what they were doing. They offered mothers who were uneducated the chance of trying a new 'better' way of feeding their babies. Can you imagine in your early days of BF when you were sore from birth, tired, sore nipples etc etc someone coming up to you and saying 'I have this miracle food that will take all your pain away and even be good for your baby'. If you werent educated in knowing what they spoke of how many of us would have taken the formula? No place yourself in the shoes of a woman who is malnurished, tired, sore, hungry. She knows she will feel worse feeding her baby so of course she will try the new way that doesnt hurt her anymore. Then they whipped the carpet from her feet, told her she had to pay for it, she couldnt, her milk was gone, her baby dies.

It's appailing and so heartbreaking. Nestle is avoided in this house.

xxx

 

[LoraLoo]

Wow had never even heard this before

 

[anna matronic]

Can't beleiev I didn't know this

 

[mrs_park]

I didn't know about this but I am completely and absolutely appalled!

From my understanding, this happened in the 70's? Are they still doing it now?

 

[sapphire1]

Oh yeah, nestle are still totally hated for it. My ex works for them, and in York (where most of the chocolate factories are) people hate them for other reasons too (redundancies etc). Trouble is nestle make so many products that people don't realise about. They have buitoni, maggi, herta, purina pet foods, winalot to name a few. Perrier, vittel, buxton and san pellegrino waters are also nestle brands. Nestle own 30% of loreal, and also part own the body shop and lancome.

 

[LucBumpy10]

My friend volunteered to work in an orphange in africa for a few weeks and was shcoked to find newborns being fed porridge/rice just like all the older children. Their bodies couldnt consume it so suffered very bad runs! And to top it off they were alll in size 4 nappies!!!

 

[baajee]

I didn't know about this but I am completely and absolutely appalled!

From my understanding, this happened in the 70's? Are they still doing it now?

After a bit more googling, I found this

Nestlé holds about 50% of the world's breast milk substitute market and is being boycotted for continued breaches of the 1981 WHO Code regulating the marketing of breast milk substitutes.

After a brief hiatus the Nestle boycott was relaunched in 1988 and continues to this day. A recent report called "Cracking the Code" outlines the many present-day violations of the W.H.O. code.

Here are a list of Infant Foods:
Nestlé (this includes Good Start, SMA, Follow-Up, Follow-Up Soy, Alsoy, Nursoy, Nestlé Baby Cereal), Nan, Lactogen, Beba, Nestogen, Cérélac, Neslac, Nestum, Guigoz.

A full list here https://www.infactcanada.ca/nestle_boycott_product.htm

OMG i'm not going to be able to go to the supermarket

 

[Natsku]

They sell the Nan formula here and I bought a ready carton once and then afterwards remembered the boycott and felt really guilty I tried and avoid their products as much as possible, thankfully they don't seem to be as prevalent here as elsewhere.

 

[freckleonear]

Yes Nestle are still up to their horrible tricks. In response to a report published this May, Nestle agreed to stop only 4 of the 130 highlighted violations of the UN requirements. https://info.babymilkaction.org/ has lots more information.

 

[Khloeee]

If anyone is interested in reading more about nestle and the formula issue, I found this page explains it well: https://www.jemjabella.co.uk/2010/jemjabella-is-a-nestle-free-zone/

There is an image which may disturb, thought I'd better warn.

 

[BabySeal]

It seems to be an awful thing to do, those poor mothers being faced with such a situation! I see how the lack of knowledge led them to choose the formula. I am confused though wouldn't it be a bad marketing strategy since the company knows the mothers couldn't afford the formula afterward anyway?

 

[freckleonear]

If anyone is interested in reading more about nestle and the formula issue, I found this page explains it well: https://www.jemjabella.co.uk/2010/jemjabella-is-a-nestle-free-zone/

There is an image which may disturb, thought I'd better warn.

I've seen that photo before but I didn't realise they were twins.

It seems to be an awful thing to do, those poor mothers being faced with such a situation! I see how the lack of knowledge led them to choose the formula. I am confused though wouldn't it be a bad marketing strategy since the company knows the mothers couldn't afford the formula afterward anyway?

Once they had started formula feeding, the mothers would try to scrape together enough money to buy at least some formula, because they had no other choice. So although they weren't buying a full supply of formula, they were still buying more than if they had breastfed.

 

[mrs_park]

I am SHOCKED!!!!!

Maybe I'm ignorant but I have never heard of this, it doesn't seem to be known about here and Nestle is huge over here! In fact Milo is practically our national drink and is made by Nestle!

I am heartbroken for those poor women and babies. This house is now a Nestle free zone!!!

 

[special_kala]

What nestle did was disgusting. Im glad they dont sell their formula in the UK

 

[meg79]

What nestle did was disgusting. Im glad they dont sell their formula in the UK

I thought SMA was one of their formulas?

 

[special_kala]

I cant find anything that says SMA is made by nestle

 

[JaniceT]

This was done long ago by nestle. It's been used as case studies in Universities. I remember this more than a decade ago, discussing in class.

 

[cissyhope]

I find it wicked,immoral and absolutely horrifying i never buy nestle stuff any how but didn't realise they were responsible for such wickedness.So many awful companies to avoid