Huge News from A Major Company in the Lactation Field

How We Can Approach This Opportunity

Jul 02, 2025

You can read the announcement from the company right here.

You read that correctly. A major figure in the lactation field is no longer selling artificial nipples or pacifiers. (They are still going to sell storage bottles.)

I won’t speculate as to their motives; my goal here is to foster a collective sense that this is a HUGE opportunity for experts in the lactation field to educate parents and healthcare providers.

If you are a perinatal care provider, this news will give you opportunities in the coming weeks and months to answer questions from people who want to know how babies are supposed to be fed without bottles.

Here are some talking points:
- The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (the WHO Code) and its subsequent resolutions via the World Health Assembly are clear in instructing that when babies need to be fed away from the breast, bottles are not the first choice - cups are
- The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine reminds us in its protocol #3 "Supplementary Feedings in the Healthy Term Breastfed Neonate" of the order in which devices for feeding away from the breast should be chosen: "a supplemental nursing device at the breast, cup feeding, spoon or dropper feeding, finger-feeding, syringe feeding, or bottle feeding." (https://www.bfmed.org/assets/DOCUMENTS/PROTOCOLS/3-supplementation-protocol-english.pdf)
- Though bottle feeding is common in developed nations, feeding with bottles and artificial teats is not considered "safer" or "better" than using other feeding devices; in fact, cups are preferred in any situation where hygiene is challenging, including in emergency response and relief situations
- Particularly during the earliest hours, days, and weeks of breastfeeding, the introduction of artificial nipples like feeding teats and pacifiers can complicate how babies latch and extract milk. For babies who are struggling with latch and breastfeeding, using a bottle does not help them breastfeed better, risking full weaning from the breast. Appropriate, skilled lactation care should be integrated promptly.
- For parents who need or choose to feed their babies with bottles, they will still be able to obtain them because other manufacturers will continue to produce and market them. Same for using pacifiers.
- Healthcare providers who care for newborns and infants should familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of cup feeding at this link from La Leche League International https://lnkd.in/gSKaEMSJ

As the creator of The First 100 Hours Approach, I am looking at this opportunity as a wide open door.

There will be conversations about how to navigate infant feeding without bottles, the utility of pacifiers, and so much more.

To me, this opportunity is optimal for us to talk about The First 100 Hours and how to facilitate exclusive breastfeeding in the earliest hours and days of a baby’s life.

The First 100 Hours approach already integrates the concepts of avoiding artificial nipples (teats and pacifiers) in the earliest hours of breastfeeding. (If you haven’t read the book, go get the Kindle e-book version right now for just $2.99 USD right here!)

And when we get the chance to talk about The First 100 Hours approach, we are able to help people actually get started with breastfeeding with less interference and fewer obstacles.