This is sad, and it is typical of our bottle feeding mentality that a
mother can imagine that breastfeeding the second child somehow takes
away from the first child. Why would she not imagine that
breastfeeding gives something wonderful to the first child? I can
still visualize our older ones watching fascinated as my wife nursed
the new baby. This is part of the wonder of life. This is something
magic, and kids see it. Sure they're jealous, sure they want their
time. But what magic is there in a Playtex nurser? What celebration
of life is there in a smelly bottle of formula?
Too bad for the baby. Too bad for the older one. Too bad for the
mother.
A have a suspicion that only a psychologist or a psychiatrist could
think this way.
Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC