>As I understand it, it is a Code violation to teach bottle feeding 
>in a group setting, though teaching bottle feeding to individuals is 
>fine.  Now, what if everyone in the group, say, a breastfeeding 
>class, is interested in learning proper bottle feeding techniques? 
>Could you then include bottle feeding in the class?


I can see it seems to be a dilemma, but it isn't, not really :)

You can't include bottle feeding in a class setting, so they would 
all need individual education.

It's poor practice to teach bottle feeding to a group for two very 
sensible reasons

i) it normalises bottle feeding and makes it appear that 'everyone' 
needs to know about it because they are unlikely to bf or to bf for 
long

ii) it is *ineffective* and actually *unsafe* to teach these skills 
(such as preparing powdered formula, and paced bottle feeding) in a 
group setting  before they're needed, as people cannot learn properly 
like this (imagine learning to swim solely by watching someone doing 
it many weeks before you actually planned to hit the water yourself - 
would you be able to swim safely or well? Or learning to drive that 
way? Do hairdressing students learn to apply chemicals to people's 
heads weeks before they actually do it for real, and just by watching 
someone else do it?  Does the beauty student learning to wax a bikini 
line develop her skills that way? Hey, I'm on a roll here.....you get 
the picture, that safety and effectiveness are compromised by group 
teaching!)

Ironically enough, the call for teaching bottle feeding antenatally 
comes from people who believe in i) - they *want* it to seem normal 
to bottle feed and they think that deliberately excluding bottle 
feeding from the antenatal classroom 'makes bottle feeding mothers 
feel guilty' : ( :( :(

Breastfeeding antenatal education does best (IMO) when it encourages 
discussion about social and emotional context, feelings, support, 
where to get help, what normal babies need and how you can expect to 
meet those needs. Technicalities about it should be mentioned and 
explained, but not at length cos no one will remember the details.

Antenatal parents want to know a lot of stuff and think they need to 
know it - it's not my job to answer all questions or provide all the 
information they want. They can find the info elsewhere if they 
really, really need to.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
-- 

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