The AP has a story that asks if hospitals are complicit in encouraging new mothers to use formula rather than breastfeed.

Quoted in the story: “I don’t think hospitals are the right place to market anything and I don’t think hospitals should be marketing a product that is nutritionally inferior to breast milk,” said study author Anne Merewood, an associate pediatrics professor at Boston University medical school and editor of the Journal of Human Lactation.

Consumer Reports Health weighs in on a new study that shows things may be changing, albeit slowly:

According to CR Health, “With breast-feeding the preferred option for babies, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, among others, researchers have found that the distribution of these formula samples is associated with a reduction in the exclusivity and duration of breast-feeding.

A new study, “Trends in US Hospital Distribution of Industry-Sponsored Infant Formula Sample Packs,” in the October issue of Pediatrics, looked at whether American hospitals have reduced the distribution of these packs. These researchers had originally done a study in 2007, surveying hospitals in all 50 states on this issue. The current study, based on work done in 2010, focused on the 10 states with the highest rate of sample-pack giveaways (termed worst-record states) and the 10 states with the lowest rate of distribution (termed best record state). It included 1239 hospitals in all.”