--- title: Mexico Public Health Breastfeeding: Country Bans Free Baby Formula description: Mexico has banned free the giveaway of free baby formula at hospitals to encourage breastfeeding, the BBC reported Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-12T14:19:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:11.416Z article:section: Health og:title: Mexico Bans Free Baby Formula for Newborns at Hospitals og:description: Only one in seven mothers in Mexico breastfeeds exclusively for her baby's first six months og:url: https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0978365abbb420f/69885ed0cf40a8017ac3f2c9/rtx1moly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4215 og:image:height: 2371 og:image:alt: Women breastfeed babies during an event, at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mexico Bans Free Baby Formula for Newborns at Hospitals twitter:description: Only one in seven mothers in Mexico breastfeeds exclusively for her baby's first six months twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0978365abbb420f/69885ed0cf40a8017ac3f2c9/rtx1moly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mexico Bans Free Baby Formula for Newborns at Hospitals > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Critics Say Mexico City’s Breast-Feeding Ad Campaign Is Too Sexualized [Watch (HLS stream): Critics Say Mexico City’s Breast-Feeding Ad Campaign Is Too Sexualized](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2UYqgInO.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2014-05-27. There have been plenty ads pushing the practice of breastfeeding, but many critics say an ad campaign from Mexico City is sending the message the wrong way._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 12, 2015 2:19 PM UTC  Women breastfeed babies during the annual World Breastfeeding Week to promote feeding children with natural milk in Mexico City on Aug. 1, 2015. Women breastfeed babies during the annual World Breastfeeding Week to promote feeding children with natural milk in Mexico City on Aug. 1, 2015. Henry Romero—Reuters  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 12, 2015 2:19 PM UTC Mexico has[ banned the giveaway of free baby formula](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33873979) at hospitals, so that new mothers will be encouraged to breastfeed instead. Baby formula will still be available at stores and if requested by a doctor, the BBC reported. The move was framed as an attempt to improve the health of infants in the country. Mexico has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the region, with some public health experts going so far as to call it a public health crisis. Only one in seven mothers breastfeeds exclusively for her baby’s first six months. Health organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) [recommend](https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/breastfeeding/conditioninfo/Pages/recommendations.aspx) that women rely on breast milk exclusively until a child is six months old. Breastfeeding helps protect against childhood illnesses and increases a baby’s likelihood of surviving his or her first year, according to the AAP. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33873979)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/"},"headline":"Mexico Bans Free Baby Formula for Newborns at Hospitals","datePublished":"2015-08-12T14:19:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:11.416Z","description":"Only one in seven mothers in Mexico breastfeeds exclusively for her baby's first six months","url":"https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0978365abbb420f/69885ed0cf40a8017ac3f2c9/rtx1moly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0978365abbb420f/69885ed0cf40a8017ac3f2c9/rtx1moly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Women breastfeed babies during an event, at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City","caption":"Women breastfeed babies during an event, at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City","creditText":"Henry Romero—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/","name":"Mexico Bans Free Baby Formula for Newborns at Hospitals"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Critics Say Mexico City’s Breast-Feeding Ad Campaign Is Too Sexualized","description":"There have been plenty ads pushing the practice of breastfeeding, but many critics say an ad campaign from Mexico City is sending the message the wrong way.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2UYqgInO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-27T17:51:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2UYqgInO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/","duration":"PT1M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3993859/mexico-baby-formula/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```