Dear all:

I think Liz is on the right track about bonding in looking into the elements such as 
cosleeping and skin to skin that promote bonding. 

I think Nikki posted about Harlowe's monkeys not bonding with the bottle in wire mesh 
(and if anyone has any references to the original articles on this, I'd love to read them) 
got me thinking about this.

I really don't think that baby's bond to the "object" that feeds them.  They bond through 
the interaction that occurs while feeding.  It may very well be that the imposed 
interaction of skin to skin contact and closer enough proximity for eye contact sets up the 
conditions for appropriate bonding.  It is far to easy to not interact while feeding a bottle 
that is propped up or feed a baby sitting in some contraption while they are NOT close to 
you.  The time of interaction can be much shorter, especially if you stuff the baby with so 
much milk that they can't eat on a normal frequency of 8-12 feeds per day because their 
bellies are so distended.

So, whenever I get asked about "dad's bonding through the bottle" I actually say that 
baby's don't bond to the object and go on a riff about what does promote bonding. Then, 
"if you do choose to bottle feed, it is the interaction while feeding that creates the 
bonding so mimic the contact and interaction that NORMALLY occurs while 
breastfeeding.....


Best, Susan Burger

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