I have read everything Kathy has said, and she lays out her arguments faultlessly.  I have read what Maureen has written, and find  her response superb.

My general feeling is this: I would like to see as little gadgetry as possible in what is supposed to be a natural experience of nurturing and nourishing our young.

  I would rather see moms breastfeed.  If they must give bottles, or use other containers to provide EBM, their own, or from other mothers, that is still preferable to formula.  And if for some reason they must give bottles of formula, well, thank goodness and technology that formula is now better than it once was. 

I would rather see moms using their hands to express their milk, but if they want to or need to use a pump, I hope they are using the one that will allow them to breastfeed or harvest their milk for a good long time.  The same with nipple shields, or SNS  -- if that is what it takes to get the babies to get breastmilk, for all or part of their meals, thank heavens these tools are there.

     I am glad to say I breastfed, however accidently or purposely  that happened, 25 years ago --

BUT -- I sometimes wonder about the nurturing aspects that we tout regarding breastfeeding. 

 How nurturing is it when mom is breastfeeding, even right at the beginning, with her eyes and her attention on the cartoons or on her visitors, when she should be watching and learning to read her baby?  Is the mom who keeps her baby totally wrapped up in clothes and blankets at breast, nurturing her infant?  Or is she just feeding him.  Is the mom who is hiding her baby under her shirt or uder a blanket, where she can't even watch him, nurturing her baby?  Or is she just feeding him. 

  Are any of these moms bonding with their babies any more than the mom who props her baby's bottle while she goes and does something else?  Isn't the mom who is bottlefeeding her baby, holding him close, with minimal coverings between them, crooning and smiling and talking to him while he eats, doing more nurturing than any of those breastfeeding moms I mentioned above? 

Nurturing is not synonomous with the breastfeeding (though I do agree it is much easier to provide this way).  Whether moms are breastfeeding or bottlefeeding, part of the nurturing comes from the eye-to-eye and skin-to-skin behavior.  Whenever mom is feeding her baby, however she is feeding her baby, she needs to be paying attention  The dialog between mom and baby is verbal, emotional and physical.  If it isn't there, then it really doesn't matter, it seems to me, at the PSYCHOLOGICAL level, whether baby is at the breast, or what's in the bottle, or even who's holding it.   

    Chanita, San Francisco

 Two side thoughts, which both apply, but I can't figure out how to tie them in.

 Studies have shown that animal babies fed by bottle will choose a cuddly cloth bottle holder in preference to one supported by mesh or non-fabric holders.  

One major difference between humans and most other mammals, is that the adult offspring of humans know/remember who their parents are.