WARNING: You could get sampled!!!

I thought it was a prank at first. A box big enough to fill my mailbox arrived today during International Breastfeeding Week.  (So, happy International Breastfeeding Week to everyone!) It was from Meade Johnson & Company, i.e., the makers of the infant formula Enfamil.  Somehow I got on their mailing list and they sent me a most unwanted sample of their product. This is what I've read about for the past several years and here it was right inside my home!  I got sampled by a major formula company!

I'm in the process of filing a written complaint in addition to calling and making sure I was taken off their mailing list. I have no idea how I got on their list in the first place.  It could have been from numerous maternity and baby shops I've signed up for. So, let this be a warning to mothers that you could easily be targeted by these large corporations.  If so, file a complaint and let your consumer voice be heard. 

It's a big deal because the practice of "sampling" is not in the consumer's best interest. These cheap samples of formula hook moms onto specific name brands right when the baby's born and yeild huge profits.  In my case, this sample was specifically labeled as a "hospital kit"!!!  And I haven't even had my baby yet!  Perfect timing on their part in order to get their foot in the door and to disuade newbie moms from breastfeeding.  Again, why would most mothers need formula in the hospital?  Babies aren't even consuming "milk", they're eating that valuable colostrum, the perfect food for their nutritional needs for those first several hours.  A woman's milk comes in when the baby's body needs it.

This unsolicitated mailing has be irrated beyond belief.  I'm taking it very personally.  Now, I'm even more determined than ever to breastfeed for a solid two years (per the World Health Organization's recommendation).  I don't appreciated being pulled in the direction dictated by marketers. I don't need your pretend-breastmilk, Enfamil.  I need a lactation consultant.  I need support.  I need a little encouragement in my own body's God-given ability to produce the best food on the planet.

A woman makes better milk than any factory.  That's for sure.