This Campaign Wants to Make the Dialogue Around Feeding Baby More Inclusive

While breastfeeding can be a beautiful journey between mom and baby, it isn’t always for everyone. There can be several reasons parents opt not to breastfeed, and they shouldn’t need to justify their decision to anyone else. To help evolve the conversation around feeding baby to be more inclusive, Bobbie, a European-style organic infant formula company, has launched a new campaign around baby feeding.

The goal behind the brand’s How is feeding going? campaign is to be inclusive of modern parents who may have journeyed to parenthood through surrogacy, as well as same sex parents, adoptive parents, mastectomy moms, working moms and pretty much anyone else who has made the personal decision not to breastfeed. The campaign aims to normalize all feeding journeys, from pumping to supplementing to exclusively formula feeding. That’s why the company is pushing for the question to simply become “how is feeding going?” rather than “how is breastfeeding going?”

As part of the campaign, Bobbie reached out to celebrities to share their own feeding journeys and stories. New dad Tan France said, “I need the conversation to evolve so that my own child doesn’t grow up thinking he is second best because he is formula fed,” adding that same sex parents feel a lot of pressure to source breastmilk. “Ever since we announced we are having a baby, people have asked where will you get your donor milk? Will the surrogate be donating her milk? It’s such a strange thing that at any point no one has talked about formula.”

New mom Lesley Anne Murphy tested positive for the BRCA breast cancer gene and had both breasts removed prior to having a baby. She has exclusively formula fed her six-month-old, but received backlash for the decision on social media. “One parent messaged me to say, ‘you are selfish for getting your breasts removed before you had your baby- you didn’t even have cancer.’ We need to learn how to be kind to new parents and less judgemental about each other’s personal choices,” she explained.

“We don’t disagree that breast milk is nutritionally the gold standard for infants; it’s dynamic and personal in a way that formula will never be. But the real formula is a parent’s entire feeding journey where so many factors play into whether breast milk will even be an option at all,” Laura Modi, co-founder and CEO of Bobbie, said in a release. “The same government that is telling us to breastfeed for six months is the same government that has no guaranteed paid leave policy. It’s no wonder parents have to turn to formula and they should never feel guilty for however they choose to feed their babies. Period.”

As part of the campaign, Bobbie has also created a virtual safe space in which parents can share their own feeding journeys. Plus, throughout August, the brand will be donating 96,000 bottles of Bobbie to milk insecure babies in America through four non-profits.

To learn more about the campaign, visit HowIsFeedingGoing.com.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.