I have been intrigued (and made not a little uncomfortable) by the idea of
"mothers who have a relationship with a breast pump."

On the one hand I think that mothers who take the time and trouble to make
sure that their babies receive HM when they are separated from each other
are to be commended.

On the other hand I think that we need to recognise that there is difference
between breastfeeding and bottle feeding EBM.

We all know that there are very good reasons why a baby might be fed EBM. We
also know about the many physical differences between bottle feeding and
breastfeeding, whatever the liquid in the bottle.

I am most concerned about the mothers who use bottles of EBM because they
feel uncomfortable about nursing in public. As a society, we have failed
these women. We have given them a clear message that nursing is something
that is done only in private. I wonder how much those beautiful posters of
elegant, svelte young mothers in exquisite lace negligees, nursing in
beautifully appointed bedrooms, contribute to this mind-set? How much of a
coincidence is it that these images are (largely) the brainchildren of
breastpump companies?

Infant feeding can be likened to conceiving babies.  The biological norm is
to have sexual intercourse, a pleasurable, deeply personal and intimate
experience. Some couples, fortunately few in number, need to take advantage
of the wonders of modern technology - in vitrio fertilization, for example,-
in order to conceive a child, and some will adopt a baby. All of these
couples are parents, all love their children, and we recognise that they
travelled different paths towards becoming a family.

Infants cannot tell us how it feels to have milk delivered straight from
their mothers' breasts as opposed to from a bottle: could it be analogous to
the feelings a woman has making love, with her mate either "bare" or wearing
a condom?

Finally, a true story.

A couple of years ago, one of the participants in a peer counselling
programme that I was teaching related how she had put into practice the
information she had learned about immunity factors in HM. As a farmer's
wife, one of her chores was to bottle feed the newborn calves with milk
replacer (calf formula - can you believe that!) Unfortunately, the herd was
stricken with an outbreak of rotovirus and they were losing a lot of cattle,
especially the youngest calves. Reluctantly, her husband agreed to let her
feed the calves their own mothers' milk. Fewer calves died, but they were
still losing a lot. Desperate measures called for desperate solutions: they
took the unpresedented measure of allowing some of the calves to nurse
directly from their mothers, and yes! all those calves survived!

I'm sure that there is a lesson for us in here somewhere.



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Norma Ritter, IBCLC,LLLL       "If not now, when? If not us, who?"

E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 10/20/95
Time: 07:48:17

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