Infant Formula: Good or bad?
Parents know that the best way to give a baby a great start in life is with a good nutrition. Thus, breast milk is a natural, healthy, and inexpensive way to feed a baby; there are many reasons mothers choose to not breastfeed at birth. Infant formula is considered a necessity for many parents around the world, especially in developed countries. When mothers feed their infants with infant formula, they do not think about the effects that pre-made milk can cause in babies and how this consumption benefits the baby food industries. Therefore, the consumption of this food has increased because many parents have taken the option or preference to buy baby formula or because many of these foods are included in some of the help programs for mothers. Infant formula is basically sold through supermarkets, grocery stores, mass merchandisers, and some of direct marketing. Because its consumption has increased over the years, this has caused great controversy in health, politics, and marketing areas. Mothers should practice breastfeeding because it is the safe and nutritional choice for babies. Everything about infant formula is about marketing, and infant formula is more expensive than breast-feeding. 
First of all, infant formula is not a nutritious choice for feeding babies. The health of a human being depends heavily on their feeding. When an infant is born the best nutrition he can receive is mothers’ milk through breast-feeding. This means, that this milk is natural, full of vitamins and comes from mothers. Breast-feeding is also really helpful in several ways according to Jacqueline and Kerry Donelli; in the article “To breast-feed or not to breast-feed?”, “For one, breast milk boost immunity and therefore, helps your baby resist certain aliments such as stomach problems, allergies, asthma and ear infections.” Most of the times infants who do not receive breast-feeding tend to get sick very often; thus, breast-feeding is very important for the health of a child.
Nowadays, for many reasons some mothers do not practice breast-feeding; they opt to use infant formula which also has supplements, but it is never going to be the same as breast milk. There are many reasons why a mother may stop breastfeeding. Breast pain, insufficient milk and lack of time may be grounds for stopping breastfeeding. Even some mothers think that if they breastfeed their babies they are going to ruin their bodies. For example, my mother told me that she breast-fed me for only three months because she felt too much pain in her breasts. “75 percent of babies start life breast-feeding, only 13 percent are “exclusively” fed that way by the age of 6 months” states Lisa Belkin in her article in New York Times. But, breastfeeding can be beneficial for mothers as well, besides the enjoyable and emotional experiences that can be found with its practice, “Studies have found that women who breast-fed are less likely to develop osteoporosis and ovarian cancer, as well as high blood pressure and heart disease decades later” states Roni Caryn Rabin, who wrote “Breast-Feeding Linked to Lower Cancer Risk.” So, breastfeeding can be used as a weapon to fight some sicknesses that are usually seeing in women.
Infant formula is milk like product replacement that passes through several industrial processes; thus, its nutrients are not the same. “Breast milk is nutritionally superior to formula” (Nestle 452). Breast milk does not come with Nutrition Facts labels like Infant Formula. Infant Formula can support the infant growth, but it can contain too much of the nutrients that a baby regularly needs. In the article, “The Value of Breast Milk”, the author points out, “bottle-fed babies tend to gain weight faster, pediatric nutritionists, nothing that obese adults are more likely to have been bottle-fed.” Because obesity has become a serious problem in our society, the practice of breastfeeding should be better considered by mothers. A baby’s health is the most important aspect for a parent, so infant formulas are unnecessary if mothers can breast-feed their babies.
In addition, behind the “infant formula” word, marketing is present. The use of infant formula has become a common and normal practice around the world, and this is because of the marketing that industries of baby food have created. Baby food companies promote their product in a large number the use of formulas. For example, on TV we do not see commercials that encourage mothers to breastfeed; unlike we see a lot of commercials about which is the best formula to use for a child. As an example, when I was in Ecuador I saw a TV commercial about Nestle formula that talked about if a child drank this product he or she could “grow up with everything “ that means that children should grow with the necessary nutrients. Later, in the commercial the mother of the child is happy and glad to see their children grow. Infant formula companies as other industries only care about how much money they can make; they do not care about the importance of natural things. “Formula makers do not dispute the advantages of mothers' milk, but they say that their product is nutritious and that they should be free to advertise it to parents who want or need it,” said Barry Meier who wrote an article for New York Times. Advertisements can really influence peoples’ minds, so the formula industries take advantage of certain factors to encourage mothers to use infant formula. Factors such as time because many of them have to work or fulfill other responsibilities that prevent them from breastfeed, and facility because for prepare infant formula mothers only need water and formula, shake and milk is ready.
If we take a look years ago, we can notice that before mothers used to breastfeed their children because advertisements did not have a lot of influence than now. Also, currently many hospitals, schools, magazines, etc., encourage the use of infant formula instead of breastfeeding. “They formed alliances with doctors to promote the use of formulas to all mothers, not only to those who were unable to breast-feed'” (Nestle 453). Nowadays, we can see in hospitals that when a woman gives birth, nurses give them a book where they teach how to prepare infant formula correctly. As an example, one year ago I went to the hospital to visit my cousin and the nurse gave her the book that I mentioned before; later she took her child to give him the infant formula that they already have in the hospital. Most of the formulas they have are from baby food industries that they bring them as samples; so they can have more customers for their intake. “For formulas, the size of the market depends entirely on the number of babies born each year and the proportion that are not breast-fed. But formula companies have no control over how many babies are born, so the only way they can increase sales is to discourage breast-feeding” ( Nestle 452). Infant food industries encourage mothers by putting in some commercials that infant formula helps their children to develop their minds and many others lies; as a consequence, mothers stop breast-feeding.
There are many infant formula brands and each of them offers many discount or promotions to attract their consumption. Greg Retsinas gives an example in his article about a mother who stopped breast-feeding, “She based her choice on the fact that coupons in a magazine offered a $10 discount for Enfamil Lipil, complete with a claim that it was the next-best thing to breast milk”, this clear example shows that industries use advertisements to convince mothers to use infant formula; however, this is a conflict of sales and not a care about health.
Finally, infant formula is more expensive that breast milk. One of the disadvantages for the marketing of infant formula is that breast milk is free. In order to use infant formula mothers need enough money to buy the product, so that is why infant formulas are more seen in developing countries. “Hispanic women and women born in other countries were more likely to breast-feed,” states Tara Parker-Pope who wrote an article for New York Times. Due to the bad economy that Hispanic countries have, mothers breast-feed their children. Also, to mixture an infant formula, mothers need clean water that sometimes some countries do not have it; thus, the best choice in that case is breast-feeding. Infant formula industries as other industries has been raised their product over the years, “Infant formula companies have pushed prices higher and higher for the last decade in an alarming pattern of lock-step pricing," Robert Pear states in his article. Based in the increased of the cost of baby food we can see that industries are the only ones which take advantage of that.
On the other hand, in the United States if a mother has a low income she can qualify for food stamps or WIC program (Women, Infants and Children program) that are some of the programs that supply food for their children. “Notably, low-income women whom participated in the subsidized Women, Infants and Children program, which provides food, milk and formula to mothers and young children, were also more likely to stop breast-feeding sooner,” Parker-Pope also states. But, this program spends a lot of money buying infant formula; thus, if women practice breast-feeding, these programs can save this money and could be used in other benefits for children. “For one thing, the U.S. government buys half of all formulas sold in this country in order to provide them at no cost to low-income mothers enrolled in the WIC” (Nestle 456). The WIC program “trying to help mothers” but the question is: are these programs really helping mothers or are these programs helping infant formula industries? Well, once again we return to the point of marketing, where infant food industries raise the cost of the premade milk because they manage to sell their products on the market.
Also, there are different brands of formulas and one is better than other; however, one cost much than other. The FDA agrees with the ARA (the omega-6 arachidonic acid) and DHA(the omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid - the same one that is in fish oil), which are components present in infant formula. According to Marion Nestle in his book “What to eat?”, this components are present in the breast milk. So here is where industries take the advantage of do the better milk and obviously raise the cost. “The prices mostly varied with convenience. The cheapest formulas were powdered and required mixing – 15 cents per once. The most expensive – 50 cents per once- were ready-to-feed formulas with added ARA and DHA” (Nestle 459). Underlying that ARA and DHA are components that have similarity with breast milk; parents opt to buy the more expensive. Therefore, mothers should breast feed their children because their milk is free and also is benefiting a large industry, which is the industry of affection between mother and child.
In conclusion, breast milk is an ideal and nutritional choice for babies during their first years of life; however, for many reasons mothers do not choose the breast feeding for their children and they choose infant formula. But, mothers should practice the breastfeed because is a safe and nutritional choice for babies. Everything about infant formula is about marketing, and infant formula is more expensive than breast-feeding. Therefore, infant formula has continued selling in stores, supermarkets and this has presented in help programs, but mothers should practice breastfeeding because the child’s beneficial part which is the nutrition of infant formula is never going to be the same as the nutrition that breast milk has.
Works Cited
Belkin, Lisa. “Tax Codes and Baby Food.” New York Times. New York Times, 24 January 2011. Web. 05 May 2011. <http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/tax-codes-and-baby-food/?scp=1&sq=tax%20codes%20and%20baby%20food&st=cse>
Brody, Jane E. “The Value of Breast Milk.” New York Times. New York Times, 06 April 1994. Web. 14 May 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/06/us/the-value-of-breast-milk.html?scp=1&sq=the%20value%20of%20breast%20milk&st=cse>
Caryn Rabin, Roni. “Breast-Feeding Linked to Lower Cancer Risk.”New York Times. New York Times, 10 August 2009. Web. 10 May 2011.
Donelli, Jacqueline, and Kerry Donelli. “To breast-feed or not to breast-feed?” Queens Family May 2011: 34. Print.
Meier, Barry. “Are Ads for Infant Formula Fit for the Eyes of Parents?” New York Times. New York Times, 29 December 1990. Web. 18 May 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/29/news/are-ads-for-infant-formula-fit-for-the-eyes-of-parents.html?scp=1&sq=formula%20makers%20do%20not%20dispute%20the%20advantages&st=cse>
Nestle, Marion. ” Infant Formula and Baby Food.” What to Eat? New York: North Point Press, 2006. 451-465. Print.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “Most Moms Give Up on Breast-Feeding.” New York Times. New York Times, 11 August 2008. Web. 07 May 2011. < http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/most-moms-give-up-on-breast-feeding/?scp=1&sq=hispanic%20women%20and%20women%20born%20in%20other%20countries%20were%20more%20likely%20to%20breast-feed&st=cse>
Retsinas, Greg. “The Marketing of a Superbaby Formula.” New York Times. New York Times,01 June 2003. Web. 18 May 2011. < http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/01/business/the-marketing-of-a-superbaby-formula.html?scp=1&sq=She%20based%20her%20choice%20on%20the%20fact%20that%20coupons%20in%20a%20magazine%20%20offered%20a%20%2410%20discount%20for%20Enfamil%20Lipil&st=cse>
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