The hours after having a baby are an important time for mums and their partners to get to know their new baby, learn the skill of feeding and baby care and for the mum to recover from the physical effects of birth. This is a time for rest and recuperation and for the new family and their relatives and friends. 

Interruption from sales representatives there to pass on advertising material and extract data from mothers to sell on, is not something a new family needs. Yet in maternity units across the country this is what is happening, often within the first few hours of a baby being born.

Profit motivated parenting clubs such as Bounty are paying maternity units for the right to access their wards and approach mothers just hours after they have given birth. They are also allowed to take photographs of new parents with their babies that they then sell to parents. They generate a large profit both from the photographs and by selling the data they obtain from parents on to companies, who then shower parents with advertising and sales calls.

A survey by Mumsnet shows over half of new mothers felt the Bounty rep invaded their privacy on maternity wards.

Maternity Units are not the place for strangers selling their products. The government must stop allowing sales reps onto maternity wards.