“Infant formula is not evil. It is a necessity for infant survival when mothers cannot provide their own milk or do not desire to do so.“
Parents rely on providers for medically sound, impartial advice. Even small gifts or sponsorships from formula companies can subconsciously bias provider recommendations.
This may lead to unnecessary or early formula use, especially when breastfeeding could be supported instead. Avoiding conflicts ensures families get balanced, respectful feeding guidance, whether they choose to breastfeed, formula-feed, or both.
In short, staying independent from formula companies helps providers uphold ethical care, informed choice, and public health integrity.
Healthcare providers can avoid conflicts of interest with formula companies by adopting transparent and ethical practices that prioritize infant and maternal health above commercial interests.
How did we get here?
For most of human history, survival for such babies was dependent on the quality and availability of breast milk alternatives or wet nurses—women who were used (through payment or forced labor) to feed babies that were not their own, often to the detriment of their own babies.
The problem was, alternative milk concoctions, often made of animal milk, nut mixtures or grains, without modern sterilization and refrigeration, were easily contaminated with pathogens.
The results for babies were devastating. In the U.S., even at the turn of the 20th century, about 15% of babies fed with breast milk alternatives perished.
The advent of refrigeration and pasteurization made for safer storage of milk. The innovations around fine-tuning and “humanizing” evaporated milk formulas to make its composition more like breastmilk by adjusting proteins and sugars and adding vitamins and minerals continued. In 1924, “Similac”, as in “similar to lactation” was sold by physicians in cans.
The problem is not the breast milk substitute, it is the intense marketing of the product.
Infant formula manufacturers have used predatory marketing tactics to prey on the fears of new parents for decades—to the tune of billions of dollars annually.
Baby formula is a $6 billion industry in the U.S., and the global infant formula market is projected to reach $109 by 2027.
In 2023 The Lancet released a series on breastfeeding that argues that formula milk companies exploit parents’ emotions and manipulate scientific information to generate sales at the expense of the health and children. Breastfeeding: crucially important, but increasingly challenged in a market-driven world. (Rafael Pérez-Escamilla Cecília Tomori Sonia Hernández-Cordero Phillip Baker Aluisio J D Barros France Béginet al. The Lancet Vol. 401 No. 10375P472-485)