Monday, September 5, 2011

There are a few things that I liked that are not specifically about the pump, but that I think are important and commendable:



Last year, Evenflo became the first baby bottle manufacturer to become compliant with the World Health Organization’s International Code for the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes





There was a Breastfeeding information and support card included with the pump that had the URLs and phone numbers of some excellent resources for breastfeeding and breastfeeding at work. This is a departure from many bottle/formula manufacturers that tend to provide their own 1-800 number for not so great support.





A couple of years ago, I was asked to review the new Evenflo breast pump. I received the pump by mail, gave it a try, and wrote an honest review . Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of good things to say about the pump. I did, however, have some good things to say about the company at the time. In the review, I noted that:That, unfortunately, has all changed. It seems that several months ago, Evenflo decided that it cared more about selling bottles and pumps than it did about truly supporting breastfeeding. It decided to stop complying with the WHO's International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes . In other words, it is now just like every other bottle and formula manufacturer out there -- working hard to convince moms that breastfeeding is inconvenient, embarrassing and difficult.I first noticed their new tactics when I saw a few people questioning @EvenfloBaby on twitter about tweets that made breastfeeding in public and in front of the in-laws seem...weird. Tweets like this one:Forced to feed on-the-go? I don't know about you, but I was never forced to feed on-the-go. I loved the fact that I could breastfeed anytime, anywhere. In fact, I loved it so much and feel so strongly about it that I wrote 50 reasons for breastfeeding anytime, anywhere and Would You, Could You, Nurse in Public? and made my Covering Up is a Feminist Issue video. A tweet like the one from Evenflo isn't directly telling moms that breastfeeding in public is inappropriate, but it does insinuate that perhaps they should feel a bit uncomfortable about it.But that wasn't it. Once I started looking at some more of Evenflo's tweets and clicking on some of the links, I found their videos. This company, which used to support breastfeeding moms and provide them with links to excellent breastfeeding support, now makes videos intended to make breastfeeding look difficult and to humourously position their products (be it a breast pump or a bottle) as the way to save the day.Take a look at this one, with the critical mother-in-law and uncomfortable father-in-law. Instead of telling them to "F%&K Off" (or getting her spouse to do so -- after all, they are his parents!), she rushes to the back room to pump a bottle so that the in-laws can feed the baby.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90lwKiqG7s&feature=relmfuThat is just one of several new videos intended to promote their breast pump and their bottles and make them seem more convenient and less embarrassing than just breastfeeding.Do we really need companies like Evenflo to reinforce the myths about breastfeeding and make moms feel like it is uncomfortable or inconvenient? What if we lived in a world where we weren't taught to expect society (and our in-laws) to criticize us for feeding our babies?