Rita Panahi: Baby formula ‘crisis’ ignores free option
MUMS of newborns are right to be concerned about a shortage of baby formula but let’s not pretend most mothers — both here and in China — don’t have another readily available option, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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THE word “crisis” is too readily thrown around nowadays — every second story is presented as an unsolvable calamity no matter how insignificant and benign.
Among the daftest stories to regularly make headlines and gain extended coverage on the news is the so-called “baby formula crisis”.
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One can’t help but detect a whiff of xenophobia when concerned citizens rail against the injustice of mainly Asian folk purchasing tins of the powdered gold to send to China.
For several years we’ve heard about “daigous” or “Chinese personal shoppers” profiteering from that country’s insatiable demand for baby formula.
Australians should be thrilled that there are people willing to pay good money for our locally made products. At a time when the exorbitant cost of Australian manufacturing has seen many of our products become uncompetitive on intentional markets, we should celebrate the fact that the Chinese are willing to pay well over the odds for Australian-made baby formula.
Just how inept are local producers? For years demand has exceeded supply and yet they are still failing to produce sufficient units to meet demand.
It’s enough to have you contemplate purchasing a small factory and pumping out tins of overpriced formula emblazoned with pictures of koalas and kangaroos and with the words “natural, certified organic, GMO-free and rich in omega-3” liberally used to describe the contents.
Of course, mums of newborns are right to be concerned about a shortage of their baby’s favourite formula but let’s not pretend that most mothers, both here and in China, don’t have another readily available option at their, err, fingertips; breastfeeding.
Indeed that alternative is not only free but provides superior nutrition for the child as well as aiding maternal-infant bonding.
Before you rush to pen an angry email about shaming mums who do not breastfeed, I along with the World Health Organisation (WHO), acknowledge some women simply cannot breastfeed and others find it difficult. I was among them. Breastfeeding was initially a frustrating challenge, but I’m thankful I persevered.
It doesn’t come naturally to all mums despite what some advocates claim and those who struggle with it can feel inadequate and overwhelmed. But it is worth keeping at it for several reasons.
Breastfeeding is the optimal method for feeding an infant and improves cognitive development and increases the baby’s resistance to infections and disease including ear, gastrointestinal, urine and chest infections as well as diabetes, asthma and eczema.
Babies who are breastfed have better health and developmental outcomes with the benefits of breast milk lasting for years after the child is weaned.
And, yet Australia’s breastfeeding rate is terribly low.
WHO recommends that mothers “exclusively breastfeed infants for the child’s first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health”.
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Despite Australian mums being well educated about the many benefits of breastfeeding only 15 per cent of Australian babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months, well below the worldwide average of 43 per cent.
On a practical level, breastfeeding can also make life so much easier for a mum who doesn’t have to worry about sterilising bottles and carrying adequate supplies whenever they leave the house.
The latest formula folly came after the Herald Sun reported a city chemist doing a roaring early morning trade. Multiple times a week, dozens of shoppers queue outside a My Chemist outlet in the CBD waiting to purchase boxes of formula before it is unpacked and put on the shelves.
Pauline Hanson has jumped on the crisis bandwagon and called for restrictions on the number of tins each shopper can purchase. The One Nation senator’s daughter, Lee, and grandchild Nate Lee, have been affected by the shortage.
“It is a big problem and I feel sorry for the mothers here who have trouble getting the formula as my daughter did,” Senator Hanson said. But no matter what restrictions retailers put on the in-demand formula brands the demand from China will ensure that supplies will run low unless producers meet demand.
There are stiff penalties for those found to be exporting a product without a valid licence, but that will do little to stop “personal shoppers” who can make decent money from buying products in Australia for Chinese consumers.
Apart from the “informal” export market, China accounts for 67 per cent of Australia’s infant formula export market, according to IBISWorld figures. That’s up from 26 per cent five years ago.
Perhaps instead of incessantly decrying the demand for Australian-made formula we should use the regular shortages as an opportunity to boost our deplorably low breastfeeding rates.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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