Parents around the world want what’s best for their babies. Many have heard that breastfeeding is good for their babies’ health, and most expectant mothers want to breastfeed, but many can’t attain that goal. A new series of papers published in The Lancet — of which I am a co-author — makes clear that a key reason for this is the marketing tactics of companies selling formula.
These companies portray their products as scientifically “closer” to human milk and suggest that formula milks make babies settle, digest with ease, sleep better, and even become more intelligent. Marketing messages portray developmentally typical human infant behavior like fussiness or crying as problematic — and suggest that these problems can be solved with specifically formulated products.