The big issue with 'Big Formula:' Americans want paid parental leave, the formula industry says it's bad for business

Ground Picture // Shutterstock You’ve probably heard of Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and even Big Sugar. But how about Big Formula? Infant formula is a billion-dollar industry with an insular market. Only a handful of companies–led by Abbott, Mead Johnson (a subsidiary of Reckitt), Nestlé, and Perrigo–produce most baby formula sold in the United States. To protect their market share, they’ve spent millions of dollars in Washington D.C., lobbying for their interests, which include resisting a federally mandated family leave policy. Stacker explored the formula industry’s outsized influence on policy by comparing breastfeeding rates around the country, analyzing state-level mandatory family leave policies, and documenting the storied history of Big Formula’s lobbying efforts. Breast milk is considered an ideal food for infants because it is packed with nutrients and antibodies that protect against illness. Although health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, widely consider exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life optimal for infant health and the well-being of new mothers, just 1 in 4 babies in the U.S. breastfeed for this duration, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Formula serves an essential role in supplementing or replacing breast milk when breastfeeding is impossible. Myriad factors–including but not limited to lactation challenges –can render formula a necessary component of a baby’s health and well-being, when and if human milk is no longer available. Data also shows that breastfeeding journeys are too often truncated by a working parent’s limited or lack of family leave–and even, in many cases, by crafty formula marketing campaigns that convey formula as a simpler decision. Editor’s note: While this story centers on pregnancy, we acknowledge that not all people who can become pregnant identify as women or mothers. You may also like: 9 discoveries about the adolescent brain that transformed our understanding of teen substance use Breastfeeding rates across America reveal distinctions, disparities