~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jane Kershaw wrote, on Wednesday, 23 December 09:
"Medela wants to see more people breastfeeding and using their products,
definitely.  It is to their best interests to design the best products
possible to keep mothers breastfeeding and babies getting breast milk EVEN
IF the mother has to be away."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sadly, Jane, this company's marketing blurs the issue and confuses
perceptions of what "breastfeeding" means.  It isn't * breastfeeding*, per
se, that the manufacture and marketing people want, though if mothers do
*some* breastfeeding it will keep up their milk supplies so that they can do
what the company really wants to encourage - *breastmilk feeding*, that is,
bottle-feeding of mother's milk. 

There is a difference between "breastfeeding" and bottling mother's milk to
give the baby ("breastmilk feeding"), as breastfeeding is not all about the
milk, but much else besides.  Besides the physical aspects (breastmilk
feeding, by bottle, lacks the optimal position for the eustacean tubes and
middle ear, as just one example), mothers become dependent on measurement of
quantities, and fret if they don't know "how much the baby is getting".  The
research from the Hartmann lab shows that the amount the baby gets from feed
to feed through the 24 hours varies if the child is left to work to her/his
own supply-demand pattern.  A set amount may not be what the baby wants at
this feed.

Over the years I have seen too many young babies who have had bottles very
early, and who haven't caught on to how to draw some of the mother's breast
tissue into their mouths.  They are used to a pre-formed, hollow suck
object.  Some of them require a lot of patience.  Some would say, "who
cares, as long as they get the right milk", but it isn't that simple.
Breastfeeding is about more than the milk.

I acknowledge that some babies need to be fed when there is a solid reason
why they can't go directly to the breast, and that it is better than they
receive human milk than milk derived from other animals or a bean.  In these
cases, using a bottle is *one* way of providing breastmilk.  Focusing on
breastmilk feeding by pumping and using bottles has taken the eye of many in
the breastfeeding support community off the ball in industrial relation.
Mothers will be better served by changing work-place provisions -
breastfeeding breaks, crèches in the workplace or in a cluster of buildings
- than by facilitating pumping as the *only* assistance.  Pumping facilities
don't give mothers a wider choice, but actually limit choice.

Okay, some of you will think, "there's Virginia again, talking about the
impossible".  Why should this be "impossible".  Sure, it isn't something
that can happen overnight, but sitting back and doing nothing will make sure
it doesn’t happen, whereas consistently working towards a goal is how ideas
are changed and resistance eroded.

I have seen enough of the "impossible" becoming possible, both in the
breastfeeding area and in other areas of life, to consider the word
"impossible" a challenge.  Many of us will remember when every baby was
expected to take a bottle - of artificial milk - before being discharged
home, and when the mother's mention of family allergies fell of deaf ears.
Many of us remember when smokers were accorded the right to smoke in public,
including indoors, and non-smokers were expected to accept the smoky
atmosphere - or go outside. Many of us remember when cigarette companies
funded sport and cigarette advertisements took up pages in magazines. This
has changed.

I have spent a lot of my life making the "impossible" possible.  Step 1 is
to ask, is [something] really "impossible"?  If not, there must be
alternatives.  What are these alternatives to acceptance of the status quo?
What next steps do they require?

Virginia
In Brisbane, Queensland

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