fullman*

Posts Tagged ‘infant formula’

Is it ok to include infant milk formula in your relief packs?

The issue sparked a debate in Twitterworld a few days ago after the Department of Health refused to accept infant formula donations from pharmaceutical companies. The law actually prohibits any government agency from promoting milk substitutes for infants, thus it cannot accept the donation.

In light of the Ondoy disaster, some relief aid groups feel that this is inappropriate. Even though that I see myself as a breastfeeding advocate (yeah, raise your eyebrows, but I am a breastfeeding advocate), I can understand where this frustration is coming from.

So what I did was ask for clarifications. Iona Jalijali, one of our legislative staffers and a breastfeeding supermom, explained that in disaster-stricken areas where clean water is inaccessible, infant formula increases the risk of exposure to diseases. Only when there are very young babies (6 months and less) and there are no sources of breastmilk or breastfeeding mothers should infant formula be used as the last resort PROVIDED that the distributed infant formula is accompanied by clean water and other supplies for safe preparation (clean bottles, etc.)

The ideal scenario is to make it easy for mothers in evacuation centers to breastfeed their children. A room may be designated for nursing mothers, and their own babies should be prioritized. If possible, after feeding their babies, they can wetnurse for other babies or express their breastmilk for other infants.

Infant formula is perhaps the most convenient way to feed infants in evacuation sites or disaster-stricken communities. But I agree with breastfeeding advocates: it is certainly not the safest.