Ethical responsibilities of the Australian media in the representations of infant feeding

Abstract

Despite the fact that human milk is the ideal food for human babies, many Australian babies are still weaned sooner than the World Health Organization guidelines recommend. Australian mothers want to breastfeed--and initially do so. However, there is a rapid decline in the percentage of babies being offered breastmilk as newborns compared to six months old. Data collected in 2004 indicated that although 90% of newborn infants in NSW were put to the breast, or offered expressed milk, at least once, only 77% of infants were receiving at least some breastmilk regularly at the end of their first month. By six months of age only 4.6% of babies in NSW were being exclusively breastfed. This paper aims to analyse some of the reasons women in Australia prematurely wean their infants. Particular emphasis will be given to the representation of infant feeding in the media, how consumers use this information to make decisions about infant feeding, and the ethical responsibilities of said media in their portrayal of infant feeding.