Articles labeled: golden bow awards

Two North Carolina birthing centers are being applauded by breastfeeding advocates for refusing to accept free infant formula to pass on to their patients.

UNC Health Care stopped distributing the bags in late June. The Women’s Birth and Wellness Center in Chapel Hill never gave away the bags.

The Golden Bow Awards are from the nonprofit N.C. Breast-feeding Coalition, a group of lactation consultants, nurses and other women’s health professionals.

Coalition members started the campaign, a version of a national effort to ban the bags, in February. Four other hospitals in North Carolina received the award earlier this year.

Studies show that the free bags make it easier for new moms to stop breast-feeding.

Emily Taylor of the the Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said mothers perceive the free bags and formula as an endorsement of a particular brand from the hospital.