Don't Send Baby Formula to Darfur

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-04-12 12:57:00 UTC
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(Darfuri woman breastfeeding. Photo credit: hdptcar.)

Something about complex emergencies makes everyone want to send baby formula. DON'T DO THAT. Donating formula in humanitarian emergencies is a horrible, horrible mistake. It does not help babies. It puts them at risk for malnutrition.  Don't donate formula yourself or send money to organizations that do so. If you don't know if they'll use your money for formula donations, ask them.

Contrary to popular belief, women do not "lose their milk" under stress. The female body was designed to produce nutritious milk no matter what the situation. This includes times of extreme stress or inadequate nutrition. Displaced women can continue breastfeeding.

Women who are displaced or otherwise affected by conflict or natural disasters are often already worried about their ability to provide adequate nutrition for their babies. If you start providing formula for free, they will switch to bottle feeding, because it seems safer and more nutritious. (As previously discussed, it is not.) And, of course, women affected by humanitarian emergencies don't have great access to clean water to mix formula powder, and may not be able to clean baby bottles properly.

It gets even worse than that. Once you starting supplementing with formula, the baby nurses less often and takes less milk. Therefore, the breasts start to produce less milk. Eventually, the milk stops and the baby is wholly dependent on baby formula. But emergency relief supplies don't last forever. The emergency ends, and the supply of donated formula stops. The mother's breastmilk is gone, too. That puts the baby at great risk of malnutrition; his parents have to buy baby formula or use nutritionally inadequate substitute foods.

Everyone gets this wrong, everyone. As far as I can tell, every major international NGO has distributed baby formula indiscriminately in emergencies.  (I want to be wrong here. Please tell me if I am.) Google "baby formula emergency donation" and see what you get if you don't believe me. This mention of Sri Lanka is especially damning, as is this report on emergency response to the conflict in Lebanon and this article about infant feeding among displaced Kosovars.

More Information

 The emergency nutrition network has a ton of resources about infant feeding in emergencies.

Alanna Shaikh
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