Pregnant women and new mothers are being pressured to bottle feed their babies by advertising which was thought to have been outlawed ten years ago.

A MORI survey of 1,000 new mothers and pregnant women published today by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF UK) and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) suggests that manufacturers are exploiting loopholes in a law banning the promotion of infant formula for babies.

Two thirds (60%) of those surveyed said they had seen or heard advertising for infant formula in the past year. Advertising of infant formula has been banned in the UK since 1995 in recognition of the importance of breastfeeding.

The letter of the law banning adverts for infant formula - milk powder for babies which can be used from birth - has been broadly observed by manufacturers, say UNICEF and the NCT, but adverts for other products such as follow-on formula for older babies appear to be causing confusion.

"When the advertising ban was introduced, it didn't cover follow-on formula," said Andrew Radford, Director of UNICEF UK's Baby Friendly Initiative. "The manufacturers have since changed the way they package and promote their follow-on formulas so that they're almost identical to the regular infant formula. This means that a supposedly legal TV or magazine advert for a follow-on formula will also promote a company's infant formula."

More than a third of women who had seen formula advertising said that the message conveyed was that infant formula is 'as good as' or 'better than' breastmilk. This is despite the overwhelming evidence that bottle-feeding carries significant health risks. The UK's Health Departments recommend that babies have nothing other than breastmilk for their first six months of life.

In England, the Government has committed to seeking stricter controls on advertising in its delivery plans for the 'Choosing Health' white paper [see report].

UNICEF UK and the NCT are now calling for the European Commission to allow the UK to protect mothers and babies from all promotion of formula milks. Along with other members of the Baby Feeding Law Group, they are urging the EC to give all EU governments the flexibility to extend the advertising ban so the law does what it was originally intended to do.

The survey also reveals that many mothers are unclear about the distinction between the different types of formula milk. Of the mothers who had used follow-on milk, nearly one in five said they started before their baby was three months old, despite the product's higher mineral content, which is unsuitable before six months.

Although some mothers may be referring to the move from one infant formula to another (rather than from infant formula to follow-on formula), UNICEF UK and the NCT believe that the results of the survey demonstrate how confusing and potentially dangerous the advertising is.

Belinda Phipps, Chief Executive of the NCT said: "The advertising ban was introduced to protect mothers to ensure they could make decisions about feeding their baby based on reliable information. Current promotion is being seen by mothers as infant formula advertising and is affecting how they feed their babies. It's clear that the law needs to be tightened to protect babies' health and stop this confusion.

"Our survey has revealed the real impact of cleverly designed, high volume promotion of follow-on formula. Rates of breastfeeding in the UK are low compared with the rest of Europe and our survey suggests that follow-on formula advertising is contributing to these low rates. We need
stricter controls to ensure the marketing of breastmilk substitutes is replaced with independent information for parents and health professionals."

An NOP poll commissioned by the Department of Health in August 2005 supports the findings that the majority of women who have seen formula advertising consider it to be infant formula advertising.