-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Wilson-Clay [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 7:04 AM
Subject: bottles-long
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 13:18:21 -0700
From: Kate Hallberg <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: barbara on bottles
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 13:36:06 -0700
From: "Johnson, Martha (Lactation-SHMC)" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: bottles-long
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 11:56:42 +0000
From: "Susan C. Jacoby" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Introducing bottles
Dear Susan, Kate, Martha and Barbara,
I greatly appreciate this interchange of ideas. I would like to send a
special thanks to the founders of Lacnet for making this all possible!
Together we all have hundreds of years of practical, hands-on experience!
During my 25+ years caring for children and young families, I have developed
a few "bumper sticker" principles to guide me:
1) Those who practice medicine are given the priviledge to educate and serve
2) Be flexible or die
3) As you get older it is important to avoid hardening of the...attitudes
I would never refuse to care for a family because the baby is formula fed or
because the parents refused all immunizations. My job is to provide the
best information I can to inform their choices and to respect their right to
decide what is best for THEIR child. It is a partnership based on mutual
respect.
I too was taught that bottles would cause nipple confusion...and of course
they do when overused or given to a mother-baby dyad with feeding problems.
However, I have come to understand that I would serve my parients the best
if I could force myself to be flexible and to search to find a way to help
them accomplish what they needed and wanted to do...as long as it never
clearly jeopardized their child's health (in this case, the goal was always
to promote the bbay's health by helping mothers to find a way to continue
nursing).
Susan said, "I suggest to mothers that they NOT try to introduce bottles in
advance of their return to work. Why? Because I believe the possibility of
creating tension between the mother and her baby during that precious and
terribly short maternity leave and even possibly bottle preference in the
early days is more problematic than the idea that the baby may need a few
days of support to learn to take the bottle after mom is gone.
One thing that I always say is - "what difference will it really make in the
long run if the baby learns to take the bottle on week 4 or on week 7?
One other thing that greatly concerns me about the suggestion to start
bottles at two weeks of age has to do with GROWTH SPURTS. Since so many
babies are needing to nurse a lot on around that third week, what is the
impact of introducing a bottle at that time?"
Of course, we all have had different experiences with our patients, however,
I have never seen giving a bottle create tension (in a situation where the
nursing is going along great for at least 2 weeks). Actually, it can lesson
tension by giving moms a break and giving dads a chance to experience the
pleasure of feeding their child (I recommend avoiding formula and use or
breast milk, breast milk mixed with water or herbal tea.) (Of course, dads
have lots of other ways to be big helpers too) However, I HAVE seen a great
deal of tension be cause by a 6 week old baby absolutely refusing a bottle
from any member of the family...in the days right before the mother is about
to return to work.
Susan, I understand your concern about inadvertantly teaching a hungry baby
during a growth spurt to prefer the easy sucking of bottle feeding, but I
believe it would be extremely rare for a bottle of 1-3 ounces of camomile
tea to compete with sweet, warm, flowing breast milk...especially when a
baby is feeding voraciously during a growth spurt.
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