JEDDAH, 25 May 2008 — Hospitals and clinics will no longer be allowed to offer new mothers promotional samples of baby milk powder starting Tuesday, following a new law issued by Minister of Health Dr. Hamad Al-Manie.
“The initiative aims to promote breastfeeding,” said Dr. Manal Khorshid, coordinator of the breastfeeding program at the Jeddah Directorate of Health.
The law includes 28 articles regarding the marketing of baby milk, food substitutes, baby bottles and pacifiers. It also bans the advertising and the promotion of baby milk and food substitutes, including the offering of free samples at hospitals and clinics.
“Even TV advertisements must be stopped,” said Khorshid.
“Mothers should breastfeed their newborns the moment they deliver them. It is not true that the colostrum milk that the mother produces when she delivers is not enough for the baby. Newborns cannot have more than five to seven milliliters. Their stomach then grows to hold from 27 to 30 milliliters,” she added.
Mothers begin to produce prolactin hormones when they enter their seventh month of pregnancy. “All mothers have these changes but some of them lose their milk because of the wrong methods they use to nurse their babies,” she said.
Hospitals, manufacturers, importers and distributors who break the law would face fines of between SR5,000 and SR150,000, and closure for 180 days.
Some hospitals that are baby-friendly do not allow the distribution of such promotional products. But others, including government hospitals, hand out free samples and feed babies ready-to-drink milk as soon as they are born, rather than giving mothers the chance to breastfeed.
Some mothers lack knowledge of the importance of breastfeeding and the immunity this provides their babies.
The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Commerce and other related bodies will oversee the implementation of the new law. Baby products will also be checked to see if they meet standards set by the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization.
The ministry issued an executive bylaw last February for implementing the new law by the end of this month.
