Last week, INFACT Canada sent out a notice on this listserv about an upcoming breastfeeding conference on the East Coast. Unwittingly, the notice contained an image of a breastfeeding mother that, when clicked on, connected to a Nestle website about infant nutrition. INFACT Canada would like to assure our members that the conference in question has absolutely no connection with Nestlé. The image was cut from another site (also not associated with Nestle) by the conference organizers, and only thanks to the vigilance of our members was it discovered that the picture contained a link to a Nestlé site. INFACT Canada would like to apologize for any confusion that this may have caused and to affirm that the Western Health Breastfeeding Workshop in Corner Brook, NL is entirely compliant with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes’ stipulations on industry sponsorship.

Naturally, INFACT Canada regrets promoting a Nestlé website, albeit unknowingly. However, this incident should serve as an alarming example of the prevalance and insidious nature of Nestlé’s advertising. In response to accusations about the company’s aggressive promotion of infant formula, Nestlé often quotes the fact that it is the largest private disseminator of breastfeeding information, as if this were something breastfeeding advocates should be happy about. As the particular Nestlé website in question (verybestbaby.com) illustrates, the breastfeeding information propagated by the company is most often nothing more than formula promotion in disguise.

The information on verybestbaby.com does not mention that breastfeeding is unequivocally the healthiest way to feed infants, and as such the website is a violation of the International Code. The website also depicts breastfeeding as problematic and difficult, saying “Successful breastfeeding is a result of patience, practice, and…[a]lthough breastfeeding is a natural way to nourish your baby, it’s a way of feeding that you and your baby will learn together.” The confusing message that breastfeeding is natural but also something that requires substantial effort and patience would hardly give new mothers confidence in their ability to breastfeed. And instead of providing parents with a directory of lactation consultants or breastfeeding-friendly doctors, the website has a list of where to buy Nestlé formula products, right next to its supposedly pro-breastfeeding information!

Who would have thought that a rosy image of a breastfeeding mother could be ‘spiked’ with a link to a Nestlé promotion? Perhaps the most important fact about breastfeeding, and one that Nestlé certainly will not tell parents, is this: biased information about breastfeeding is everywhere.