>This would not be for teaching formula preparation; this would be 
>for EBM, mostly for working mothers.  The mothers would not be the 
>ones doing the bottle feeding; it would be various types of other 
>care givers.  Hm.  Well, then it does make absolutely no sense to 
>teach bottle feeding.  However, it also makes perfect sense to hand 
>out information that can be given to the care givers on how to 
>bottle feed correctly, since most of these babies will be in some 
>kind of day care situation.

That would not be unethical - but it would be better to *also* 
educate the care givers. It's good that mothers would also be 
informed enough to expect good standards.

>  The parents want the info, and they'll get it from formula 
>companies if it's not from us.  It's like getting information on sex 
>from the other kids your age.  Oy.  And I have to say that watching 
>people doing something, even a few weeks in advance is helpful in 
>doing it yourself.  Remember the story of the gorilla who was raised 
>in captivity? 
>http://theverybreastthing.blogspot.com/2011/01/we-are-like-mamma-gorilla.html 
>


As I said, watching is good. Watching, in advance,  as the *only* way 
of learning is not good. The gorilla mother only really learnt at the 
moment when she needed to watch, too.

>I disagree about your stated reasons for teaching bottle feeding 
>antenatally (wanting to normalize bottle feeding, and guilt).  Those 
>are not my reasons, nor the organization's reasons.


Other people and organisations do say this, though.
>So, now what about teaching pumping techniques?  Is that okay?


Is it not possible for these techniques to be taught postnatally, to 
those that need it?

My own organisation offers group sessions to postnatal mothers about 
expressing, storing and the use of pumps.

In the UK, we have far fewer women expressing for tiny babies in day 
care - happily our maternity leave options are better and most women 
are not back at work in the early weeks and months. Babies of working 
mothers are almost always of an age where they are also having 
solids. Mothers who want to know about options for maintaining 
breastmilk feeding can almost always attend a session before they 
have gone back to work.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
-- 

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