I have enjoyed the bottle discussion but it has also made me
feel glad that I live in Canada where moms are mostly taking 
a year off nowadays to enjoy breastfeeding and mothering.

I work in several clinics (28 years experience with moms and 
babes including breastfeeding my own four now grown children).
We have always asked moms how long they planned to
breastfeed and they used to say about six months. Now that 
legislation has come into effect to say that women can have 
paid maternity leave for one year the answer to the question
"How long do you plan to breastfeed ?"  has changed from
six months to one year, with many who will say "as long as
the baby wishes".

I agree with Barbara that a moms wishes and goals should be 
respected but I think we should point out that introducing bottles
may introduce problems and shorten the breastfeeding  
experience.   I think I wrote on Lactnet about five years  ago
about triplets who breastfed exclusively for three months
and then had bottles introduced because mom was going to a wedding.
One baby loved the breast and refused the bottle (waited for mom to
come home), one baby had two bottles and refused to go back to the
breast and the other baby happily switched between breast and bottle.

I believe these three things can happen but have no idea what will
happen until the baby tries the bottle.  I have had several moms in my
groups who planned to do both after they returned to work but found
that their babies  weaned off the breast within a matter of days after
bottles were introduced. I think mothers should be told that introducing 
bottles may introduce problems and make the weaning process faster
than they had planned. In Canada it is certainly possible now to not
have to introduce bottles at all if mom is able to be home for one year.

And yes I am sure there is research out there to say that babies who 
receive bottles will wean sooner than babies who do not receive bottles.
(don't have it handy sorry).

What are you doing in the US to help mothers to gain longer maternity
leaves ?  I am concerned since two of my children married Americans
and live in the US.  Six weeks maternity leave is ridiculous and inhumane.
Separating moms and babes is cruel.

Ruth Bacon  IBCLC   Ontario

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