Evonne Davison <EVONNE5KDAOL.COM>
LA>Subject: Re: nipple confusion

I personally hate bottles.  Even though I realize it is just a vessel I
feel moms relate them
to formula.  I feel using them is one step away from the use of formula
in a
fragile mom .

Evonne:  Not just fragile moms.  When the Honduras Breastfeeding League
carried out a baseline study in a health area in the country, we found
that  32% of mothers were exclusively breastfeeding their <1 month-old
infants and an additional 34% had added water and other liquids,
generally in bottles, therefore 66% were "fully" breastfeeding.

Between one and two months, this proportion declined to 43%, with 21%
EBF and 22% with other liquids.  By 3 months of life, there were only
12% EBF and 25% predominantly breastfed.

The use of other milks doubled from 29% in the first month of life to
46% in the second month.

The vehicle for all of these additional liquids is, of course, the
bottle.  What we think happens is that once the mother introduced the
bottle, the other things go along right behind because it is "easier",
i.e. someone else can do it or she can "prop" it, leaving baby to do it
alone.

What to do, however, becomes the question.  Spoon feeding is not
practical and we don't know too much about cup feeding on a mass basis,
beyond some experimental work with preemies...

Is it practical for moms?  Will they accept it? Will normal full-term
babies accept it?  I'm not sure whether it even really solves the
problem of "nipple confusion" because I along with most of you have seen
babies get hooked on the cup, just as we see kids get hooked on the
bottle.

Clearly the rush to bottles is due to more than just propaganda from
formula companies.  We have found it in the former Soviet Union, in
China (same complaints, not enough milk, baby cries too much, etc.) and
other places where, at least in the past, there was no one marketing
formula.  We have a colleague who, 10 years ago, found a woman in a
really rural area in Bolivia with bottles in her house and when she
asked her how she got the idea, she responded that she had "seen it" in
town... No access to TV, no "marketing" as such --



Definitely, if bottles were "controlled" there would be much less
artificial feeding...

For Debbie and all the others who think Katherine Dettwyler's letter was
great -- I agree and I wish that everyone would write a comment, even if
it is just to say "Shame on you for not looking at breastfeeding among
the factors contributing to development of the mind" it would be great.
The more letters, the more chance there is that at least some will be
published, because TIME will realize that it goofed and that there is a
large group out there that is unhappy.  There are at least two letters
that went from Honduras, a tiny little country that doesn't even have
English as a national language and that should signify several thousand
from the US, UK, Australia, NZ, etc. the countries that are English
speaking.  I never wrote a letter to the editor before, but I did on
this one, folks...

We need to applaud when people do well and throw brickbats when they
don't...

Speaking of which, Edie Armstrong <[log in to unmask] wrote about the new
legislation in the MD House of Reps.  Edie, could you get us email
addresses for the sponsoring reps so we can support them.  I'm a MD
resident, although not there now.

I think that it would be good for them to hear from other states as well
giving "flowers" and supporting good legislation.

Judy Canahuati
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