Anne suggests, "MOMfeeding could mean mothers own milk feeding when moms
pump and feed their
own milk in another container.:

Anne, this is a very cute phrase!  When a mom feeds her baby her own
expressed milk, but from a a container other than the original (the
breast), I call this "breastmilk-feeding".   I like to distinguish this
method of feeding from "breastfeeding", which would be feeding breastmilk
in the most usual way - directly at/from the breast.  I'm sorry if mothers,
and others, would like breastmilk-feeding to be classified as a kind of
breastfeeding, but IMHO this is misleading, even though I really do think
it's the next best thing, and support my clients who want to do this
(myriad reasons) and cheer them all the way.

There are so many different definitions of "breastfeeding" and sometimes I
wonder if some of the classification are not determined by whoever decides
these things in order to deliberately blur the distinctions in health
outcomes for babies according to different feeding methods.   For instance,
there can be token breastfeeding, predominant breastfeeding, partial breast
and bottle-feeding, partial formula and breastmilk-feeding, (all of which
could be classified as "mixed feeding" but have in the past been classified
as "breastfeeding" in research studies).  And there can be exclusive
formula-feeding (commercially manufactured, or home-prepared from
other-mammal milks + water + sugar) and exclusive breastfeeding and
exclusive breastmilk-feeding.

My particular concern at the moment is the way breastfeeding is described
in policy documents.  A small example - there are  the two definitions of
"modified breastfeeding" contained in the WHO HIV and Infant Feeding
Counselling Course.   One is defined as "stopping breastfeeding early with
change to replacement feeding" - which, if you think about it, actually
means *not* breastfeeding at all once it happens.  The other is "express
and heat treat breastmilk" which I think should be more properly be listed
as a kind of replacement-feeding (undoubtedly the best kind compared to the
other two options, ie both kinds of formula as listed above) but it's not
strictly breastfeeding-at-the-breast.

The other example is the words "infant feeding".   These words could
constitute a generic term for 'all-the-ways-babies-are-fed'.  But the
current recommendation is that (with very rare, medically indicated
exceptions) all babies should receive exclusive breastfeeding for the first
six months of life, so why not say so?   It's interesting that in these
documents, when 'breastfeeding' is intended, then the word "breastfeeding"
is used.  And when 'breastfeeding is *not* intended (the alternative is
formula feeding) then the words "infant feeding" are used.  We need to
guard against these generic terms which obscure the intent of the policy,
and seek clarification.  If it means that longer explanations are required,
then so be it.  The way babies are fed affects their health, and I don't
believe that we should allow ourselves to be lulled into believing that
these kind of euphemisms and hazy definitions are not deliberately used to
obscure that intent.

Well, that's my pet peeve for the moment!

Anne, thanks for bringing up the question of what we should call feeding
mom's own milk from another container.   I think we need to be really clear
about all the definitions of breastfeeding, and infant feeding, so that we
can understand each other.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Harare, Zimbabwe
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