FROM: Sturgess, Frances Coulter
TO:[log in to unmask]
SUBJECT: bottlefdg/brfdg/classes
DATE: 12-10-96   16:22 EST
PRIORITY:


"food for thought"--one of our local very experienced LCs pointed out that she
has had women report to her that they decided to botfd because the prenatal
class spent 45 min on brfdg and if it was that complicated they didnt want to
do it.   I take this to mean More info is needed on probs of bots, not less

Of course it depends oon your audience--already committed to brf vs undecided
vs already committed to botf.  Not enough (IMHO) is said about the parenting
aspects of infant fdg vs the mechanics---if a mom is/ababy is unfortunate
enough to have to rely on ABM (as are most adopteds--like mine) a lot could be
said about physical closeness/skin contact/always holding infant to feed
BECAUSE s/he needs to be held, not because of ear inf or develpmental
milestone (Gee, can hold own bot, now I am Free to do other
things--eek!)--seems like there is a lot of stuff out there that does not get
said.  EG. howto cope with a sick baby, how to compensate and stimulate
tdevelopment of intelligence as much as possible, what someone really means
when they say ABM "lets you be FREE"--I always wonder a little re degree of
commitment to baby,--"how much FUN others have feeding baby" sounds like guilt
on mom in a way to deny these others...

I think we need to be a bit wary re: overemphasizing sterilizing instr, no
microwave etc, or trying to make it seem even more difficult or inconvenient
than it is.  It may backfire just because the perception is that ABM babies
are OK even when its not done "perfectly" .  Credibility and sensitivity
remain issues (I always tell women not to use microwave--the new moms--but
everyone i know uses them anyway).   Sanitation etc, is important, no denying
that--also consider if Someone Else does a Separate Class or Workshop--what
are women being told?  Do you care?  I think we should care, so it can be
dealt with if erroneous or unsupportive of Brfdg.

Off my soapbox/high horse :')
someone on this net was writing up "adv. of botfeedg " for her website, if i
understood correctly--maybe you have more thoughts on this.  Unfortunaly, i
have email but no web access, so cant go there to read it...if too long to
post perhaps it could be privately emailed to me?  Appreceiate alternatives to
the ABM marketing stuff as teaching tools for this, to share with my colleages
(I am the unofficial Lactnet screener here)