Kathleen writes:

<< I suspect that there are caregivers who use bottles and feeding to
 calm babies in lieu of other techniques....and a baby who is upset and who
 is offered a bottle and then takes it cannot help but take milk in...hence
 large feedings.  This often begins a downward spiral in both supply and
 confidence. >>

I am sure this is true, and it does have these negative effects.  But not
always negative causes.  I know our regular caregiver does indeed sometimes
offer a bottle as comfort -- because she knows that our baby is used to the
breast as one, very key, form of comfort, and if I'm not around, offering a
bottle of my milk while snuggling is about as close to nursing my baby as
she's going to get.

My experience with all three kids has been that for a long while they took
less by bottle than  by breast (even judging by the imperfect measure of how
much I pumped while away from them).  They were like, OK, I'll just take an
ounce -- maybe she'll be home before I really need to drink more.  But as
they grew older, and Paulette's "bottlefeeding like breastfeeding" became
more and more a part of their life and an accepted form of comfort, they took
it less grudgingly, and accordingly I needed to pump more to keep up with
them.

But once I've made the choice to leave them for X hours a week, it doesn't
seem very fair to grudge them feeling comforted by what I've left them in my
place.

I am not suggesting that anyone who posted would disagree with this put this
way.   But it's important as always to help mothers remember that they, the
mothers, make some choices, and its not fair to blame their babies for the
outcomes.

ESU

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