Healthcare professionals’ perspectives on commercial milk formula marketing in the UK: a qualitative study
Objectives To understand (1) healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) perceptions and experiences of commercial milk formula (CMF) marketing to consumers and HCPs and (2) HCPs’ perspectives on regulation of CMF marketing. Setting UK. Design In-person and online interviews with 41 HCPs with regular contact with pregnant women and mothers. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted from October 2019 to March 2021, focusing on experiences of CMF marketing and perceptions of legislation. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Three themes were developed: (1) ‘ Industry relationships have changed and not disappeared’— some HCPs reported contact with industry ceasing due to the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) but contact with HCPs in other roles was believed to have increased; (2) ‘ Direct-to-consumer marketing presents challenges for HCPs’ —to support women to make informed choices about infant feeding, HCPs felt they had to challenge misinformation families receive f