Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Sat, 11 Aug 2001 19:31:36 EDT |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Marie says,
<< Is it really that important to daddy to bottle feed the baby? Do men have
bonding issues? And why do the other kids need to get involved? I don't know
if I could trust a 2 year old to bottle feed my baby. >>
I suspect it is because in many cultures, but ours especially, food=love. If
you eat the food I make, then you love me, and it is a way I can demonstrate
how much I love you -- by cooking for you and feeding you.
We all do lots of bonding w/ one another around the table. Eating together
is a social institution. And I think that there is a pervasive, though
incorrect, assumption that the only positive thing that is done for a
"non-responsive" infant is to feed her. The baby responds to the bottle by
taking the food -- and the parent is rewarded by seeing the baby respond to
this love. For many people this is the only reward they can see w/ a
newborn. So, we have a job to do -- to help society realize that there are
many ways they can interact positively with a newborn other than by giving
him/her a bottle.
How many fathers are absolutely thrilled by giving Jr. the strained peas, I
ask you? No, it's because there are so many other ways the father can
interact w/ that baby by the time it's ready to take solid foods. Besides,
giving a 6 month old solids can be quite messy.
Jan Barger -- somewhere in WV on the way home from a wonderful week in the
(very hot) Outer Banks.
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
|
|