Myths and the Changing Paradigm of Mommy’s Powdered Milk in Bangkok

Abstract

This research, Myths and the Changing Paradigm of Mommy’s Powdered Milk in Bangkok, aimed to explore the mystery of mother’s powdered milk and to study the potential changes in mother’s powdered milk in Bangkok. It used qualitative research methods in the form of focus group discussion. The in-depth interviews were conducted with a group of 40 females with the age of 15-40 years. The purposive samples were divided into 5 groups of 8-12 persons, which included 1) low income group 2) medium income group 3) high income group 4) housewife group and 5) working group. The results found that the first image the mother saw, the first symbol the mother saw, and the word or phrase the mother would say the most when referring to the word “powdered milk’ came from the activities of the whole milk company. Moreover, it was found that the sample opinions on the comparison between powdered milk and breast milk were “powdered milk contains no nutrients equal to breast milk”, “powdered milk is not good as breast milk”, and “powdered milk is not equivalent to breast milk”. However, more than half of the sample commented that “powdered milk can replace breast milk” and “powdered milk can be used with breast milk” as well. Furthermore, the results showed that the change in the myths of powdered milk led to the definition of “powdered milk = risk”, which keep in mother’s mind to score more than 8 is quite difficult or did not know how many years to change this idea. The reason is because there is no proof to confirm why the mother still needs powdered milk to raise the baby, why baby still drinks powdered milk without problems, and the reason that if the consumption of powdered milk is at risk, there is no production to sell.