Last night I was volunteering at the Maternity/Paternity exhibition in
Québec city.  I noted to one of the volunteers beside me that we are
ALWAYS right in front of Nestlé's area, it seems like a loosing battle,
and she said it was on purpose, hoping some moms would turn around and
see BF and think about "giving it a try".  Interesting way of doing it,
I guess.  We had about 6 mixtures for moms (and dads, and anyone else
interested) to smell while they were talking with us.  One year, they
had them taste the hypoallergenic formulae, but since they can't really
offer taste tests of human milk, I think they decided that wasn't *that*
great a comparaison.  They were having smell tests instead.  There was 3
day old human milk, and 2 week old human milk (both of which smelled ok,
nothing strong).  They had cow based formula, which smells strongly
chemical, but is not the worst of them by far.  ;-)  They had soy based
formula, which is a bit worse, and they had 2 of the hypoallergenic
formulae which literally smell like vomit.  People would turn their
heads away waving at their noses with their hands.  ;-)  I said to the
other volunteer that they should get all new moms to taste one of the
hypoallergenic formulae plus their own colostrum before deciding to wean
the baby to a formula.  ;-)

On to the subject line, Carole in Mtl. said:

> I was surprised by the
> comment "she doesn't have the means to rent an electric breastpump"  If this
> baby goes home on artificial baby milk where is she going to get the means
> to pay for that, its double the price of breastpump rental (in montreal
> anyway).

I agree.  Someone came by our area last night asking about which breast
pumps are recommended, and I gave the usual spiel about how it really
depends on what the needs are...renting a heavy duty double electric
pump is often the best course of action for preemies or relactation...a
mom who wants an occasional outting on a weekend can usually get by
perfectly fine with a hand pump, and a mom going back to work who wants
to exclusively give her milk still to the baby will often fare best with
a good quality double pump or some have luck with some of the better
quality hand pumps...and I said that while it may seem like a hefty
price to pay, say, 300$ (can.) for a double electric pump like Medela's
Pump in Style, it is less than formula will cost over the course of the
baby's life, AND it is an investment that usually can be used for
subsequent babies.  For some reason, I totally forgot to mention hand
expressing.  :-(  But I think they get the idea that no pump fits all
moms and babies, and that they can choose after the birth what is
necessary...hopefully they'll go to a meeting before buying anything and
we generally mention hand expression as something to try before
purcasing a pump at the meetings.

Fio
ressource person with Allaitement Québec
Mama to Sandrine, 26 mos, and #2, 11/2002

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