I had another interesting call yesterday from a young mother with a
young baby. She was planning an evening out and wanted information
about alcohol and breastfeeding. During our conversation she told me
about working and bringing her baby with her.  She works as a realtor
and keeps the baby with her unless she is showing a property.  She
said she was totally stressed out by being the only food source for
her baby and having a frequently feeding baby, so she has switched to
formula feeding during the day and is breastfeeding at night. She is
using 1-3 bottles a day.   For the most part this is working very
well for her and she is with her baby most of the timen and enjoys
that a lot.  I asked if the baby ever wanted to nurse during the day,
she said yes and then went on to tell me about how guilty she feels
when the baby roots during the day.  She then told me about how
sometimes she and the baby both cry because she can't breastfeed her.
I asked her why she didn't just nurse her and she replied that she
didn't know she could do that.  It was if this were a black and white
situation. She was formula feeding during the day, so she couldn't
nurse. I gave her "permission" to do both and mix her feeds and use a
bottle for a break when she needed it and she was so relieved. I'm
frustrated by the number of women who don't feel they can combine
breastfeeding and bottle feeding, so they just give up breastfeeding
completely.  I know that breast is best and that introduction of
bottles and formula decreases the duration of breastfeeding, but
somehow we need to develop messages related to the fact that some
breastfeeding is far better than none and that you can combine the
two and many babies do fine  with a combination, it doesn't have to
be all or none and there are measureable benefits from even small
amounts of breastfeeding and a lifetime of warm memories from meeting
your baby's needs through breastfeeding. I am open to any ideas on
this topic. Thanks, Cathy Liles