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Media & Outreach Alliance

The Best for Babes® Foundation welcomes inquiries from potential media & outreach partners that support our mission of removing the cultural and institutional barriers — the Booby Traps®- that prevent parents from making informed feeding decisions and prevent moms from achieving their personal goals, whether that’s to breastfeed for 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years, or to pump, use donor milk or formula!

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Best for Babes is proud to work with the leading companies that are interacting with pregnant and new mothers. We select media companies, parenting websites, retail stores, parenting resources and outreach partners very carefully.

Due to their vast reach, these companies are influencing and shaping future generations of parents and children! We are grateful for our media and outreach friends for helping us to bring excellent infant feeding information, news, tools and resources to millions of moms. Together, we engage in meaningful dialogue about breastfeeding and Booby Traps and work to address issues.

Specifically, the Best for Babes Foundation seeks to build and engage an outreach alliance that supports our mission of giving breastfeeding a makeover (changing the public perception) and beating the Booby Traps that prevent moms from succeeding.

These companies share our vision of communicating with parents according to Best for Babes criteria CARE-WHO:

C - Cheering on moms, positive & encouraging about breastfeeding: Information should be presented in a positive, inspiring and empowering manner that accurately educates and prepares women on what to expect and how to succeed, and on suitable alternatives to breastfeeding or pumped breastmilk including the preferred use of donated and screened human milk. Breastfeeding is neither portrayed as “easy and natural,” which minimizes real challenges; nor is it portrayed as “nearly impossible” (horror stories), which discourages women from trying. Instead, it should be portrayed as instinctive, mostly wonderful and sometimes challenging, just like riding a bike, running a race or learning many other aspects of parenting; it gets easier and it is worth it!

A- Accepting and Non-judgmental towards Parents: Parents are empowered to make healthy decisions in a respectful and supportive environment; parenting is hard enough!  ALL parents deserve to make a truly informed feeding decision and to be cheered on, coached and celebrated without pressure, judgment or guilt. ALL breastfeeding moms deserve to achieve their personal breastfeeding goals without being undermined. Ideally, comments on blogs and articles are moderated and/or monitored.

R- Refer to experts: We refer moms to independent trusted experts and resources like IBCLCs (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants),  La Leche League, Kelly Mom, Breastfeeding Inc., the Human Milk Bank Association, or InfantRISK Center. Most of us cannot be expected to have an MD, PhD or IBCLC in lactation science! When in doubt, refer, and be upfront about what you don’t know.  The wrong info can be damaging.

E - Evidence-based information: All editorial content should be evidence-based, and should not perpetuate the myths, misconceptions and hearsay which are so damaging to making informed decisions and to breastfeeding success. Editorial content is reviewed as-necessary by independent, non-industry professionals trained in the highly specialized field of human lactation. (We are happy to provide qualified experts -MDs, IBCLCs, CLCs, RNs, etc.- for any media requests.) Moms who choose not to or can’t breastfeed deserve evidence-based information and resources to help them safely and effectively feed their babies, including information ondonated, screened, pasteurized human milk and on the safe preparation of artificial baby milk. Moms who choose to breastfeed deserve evidence-based information and resources to help them succeed at breastfeeding without being undermined by the BoobyTraps–cultural, social and institutional barriers.

WHO-Code Educated: Parents deserve the best parenting information, free of conflicting agendas and undermining influences, so they can make and carry out the best decisions for themselves, their babies, and their families. Best for Babes asks media and outreach companies to familiarize themselves with the World Health Organization’s International Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. Best for Babes acts as a supportive partner for media companies who are interested in taking steps toward implementing the WHO Code in editorial and advertising policies.

If you are interested in learning more about our strategy to bring about a breastfeeding culture change, and how we are elevating breastfeeding to be a cause on par with the diseases that it helps to prevent, please contact:

Bettina Forbes, 917-612-8182, bettina@bestforbabes.org