Maxwell Clare, Self Becky, Bould Kathryn
School of Public and Allied Health, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
Matern Child Nutr. 2025 Jul;21(3):e70008. doi: 10.1111/mcn.70008. Epub 2025 Mar 2.
Scant attention has been given to the marketing of infant feeding bottles and teats with claimed equivalence to breastfeeding. Such bottles are purported as having 'breast-like' qualities and to be interchangeable with breastfeeding, encouraging breastfeeding mothers to combine breast and bottle feeding. However, the introduction of bottle feeding alongside breastfeeding can have a negative impact on breastfeeding duration and lead to cessation. We investigated features of infant feeding bottles marketed in the United Kingdom to replicate breastfeeding and appraised the underpinning evidence. We searched online to identify the most popular bottles marketed for breastfeeding in the United Kingdom and captured marketing materials from the bottle brand websites, importing them into NVivo11 for data analysis. We coded data in relation to features of bottles associated with breastfeeding and used Johanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tools to appraise the evidence used to underpin the bottle features. We identified 10 bottle brands and 8 main advertised features of bottles aligned to breastfeeding. Features included bottles that simulated the breast, imitated breastfeeding physiology and aided combined breast and bottle feeding. Scientific evidence to support the bottle features was scarce, misleading, and inadequate, with only one study deemed to be high quality. Our findings show that infant feeding bottles are being marketed as equivalent to breastfeeding; however, the scientific evidence used to support features of these bottles is almost non-existent. Research on the impact of the marketing of bottles on breastfeeding and more effective controls of bottle company advertising are needed.
对于那些声称等同于母乳喂养的婴儿奶瓶和奶嘴的营销，人们关注甚少。这类奶瓶据称具有“类似乳房”的特质，可与母乳喂养互换使用，这促使母乳喂养的母亲同时采用母乳喂养和奶瓶喂养。然而，在母乳喂养的同时引入奶瓶喂养可能会对母乳喂养的持续时间产生负面影响，并导致母乳喂养停止。我们调查了在英国市场上销售的旨在模仿母乳喂养的婴儿奶瓶的特点，并评估了相关的支撑证据。我们通过网络搜索，确定了英国市场上最受欢迎的用于母乳喂养的奶瓶，并从奶瓶品牌网站获取了营销材料，将其导入NVivo11进行数据分析。我们对与奶瓶母乳喂养相关的特点进行了数据编码，并使用乔安娜·布里格斯研究所（JBI）的批判性评估工具来评估支撑奶瓶特点的证据。我们确定了10个奶瓶品牌以及8个与母乳喂养相关的主要广告宣传特点。这些特点包括模拟乳房的奶瓶、模仿母乳喂养生理过程以及辅助母乳喂养和奶瓶喂养结合的奶瓶。支持这些奶瓶特点的科学证据稀少、具有误导性且不充分，仅有一项研究被认为质量较高。我们的研究结果表明，婴儿奶瓶被营销为等同于母乳喂养；然而，用于支持这些奶瓶特点的科学证据几乎不存在。需要开展关于奶瓶营销对母乳喂养影响的研究，并对奶瓶公司的广告进行更有效的管控。
