Media audit for digital contents on the topic of breastfeeding and Breast milk Substitutes - A feasibility study conducted with pregnant women and mothers in Oslo, Norway

Abstract

Background Infant feeding choices in the first six months and until 2 years of the life of a child can have a crucial impact on the child's development. Existing recommendations generally support continued breastfeeding up to 12 months of age, with introducing complimentary foods after 4 months and not later than 6 months of age. Despite the well-known health benefits of breastfeeding, global breastfeeding rates remain lower than recommended. At the same time, sales for Breast milk Substitutes (BMS) are steadily growing. Therefore, a relevant research area of recent years is the impact of digital contents on the topic of breastfeeding and BMS, on the women’s infant feeding choices. Governmental authorities are therefore called out to take responsibility, to monitor digital platforms and strengthen the enforcement of breastfeeding protection measures, also under the scope of WHO’s International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes.

Methods This study intended to investigate digital contents gathered through a media audit on the topic of breastfeeding, in order to test the feasibility of the study design. Pregnant women and mothers of children <36 months collected qualitative data in Oslo, Norway. The collected digital contents were analysed towards the occurrence of general pre-defined characteristics and characteristics under the scope of the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes. Responses to a feedback survey were collected from the participants after the audit.

Results In total, out of n=70 women who were approached in person, n=12, 8,4% women participated in the project and uploaded screenshots (n=12) within the two- week data collection period. Half of the observations were related to the topic of breastfeeding (n=6, 50%) and the other half showed contents on the subject of breast milk substitutes, including posts that could potentially undermine breastfeeding (n=6, 50%). Four of twelve participants (n=4, 34%) decided to answer the voluntary feedback survey. The survey showed that intentions and instructions were clear to the women and all four women thought that no extra effort was required to participate.

Conclusion The results of the study present that the design was partly feasible. Insights could be gathered, however, follow up studies would be necessary to increase the validity and depth of the results. Those could be the target group’s experience with digital contents on the topic of infant feeding in general, and an in-depth media audit of the digital marketing contents for Breast milk Substitutes, focusing on detecting violations against The International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes.