Date:    Fri, 25 Oct 2002 20:59:29 -0400
From:    "R. Bacon" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: bottles

I have enjoyed the bottle discussion but it has also made me feel glad
that I live in Canada where moms are mostly taking=20 a year off
nowadays to enjoy breastfeeding and mothering.

I work in several clinics (28 years experience with moms and=20 babes
including breastfeeding my own four now grown children). We have always
asked moms how long they planned to breastfeed and they used to say
about six months. Now that=20 legislation has come into effect to say
that women can have=20 paid maternity leave for one year the answer to
the question "How long do you plan to breastfeed ?"  has changed from
six months to one year, with many who will say "as long as the baby
wishes".

I agree with Barbara that a moms wishes and goals should be=20 respected
but I think we should point out that introducing bottles may introduce
problems and shorten the breastfeeding experience.   I think I wrote on
Lactnet about five years  ago about triplets who breastfed exclusively
for three months
and then had bottles introduced because mom was going to a wedding. One
baby loved the breast and refused the bottle (waited for mom to come
home), one baby had two bottles and refused to go back to the breast and
the other baby happily switched between breast and bottle.


Date:    Fri, 25 Oct 2002 19:08:29 -0400
From:    Michelle DePesa <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: bottles-long

Just as with formula use, I believe moms should be informed that
sometimes bottles can disrupt breastfeeding.

Bottles are not a normal part of raising a baby, but an
accessory. Pacifiers are the same. They are cultural (and capitalist)
artifacts more than anything else, and both cause enough trouble that we
should all at least be very wary.



Dear Ruth and Michelle,

Hooray for Canada...that is certainly legislation we should push for in
the US!

I agree that the key is education and informed consent.  Of course most
babies around the world never get bottles.  My only point is that I have
seen many parents terribly distraught because their 2 month old (and
older) baby absolutely refused the bottle (when mom had to return to
work, was hospitalized, was placed on a medicine that required her to
temporarily stop nursing, etc) and I have never had a baby refuse the
breast when they were taking nursing well and only being offered 1
bottle every day or every other day.

But, of course we all have different experiences.

I also understand the hesitation about pacifiers, but I think that to
see them as a capitalist plot misses the point that babies need to suck
A LOT.  As I mentioned in an earlier note, in some cultures young
infants are nursed 50-100 times a day.  In our culture that frequency of
nursing would certainly be way outside the norm...but some babies really
need to suck and if their moms don't want to put them to the breast as
often and long as they seem to need, the pacifier is a convenience for
them.  Accessory?  Yes, but sometimes a useful one...even Bill and
Martha Sears condone this in The Baby Book.

Best wishes,

Harvey

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