Susan writes about the bottles she is seeing in use in families
seeking her help. Today I was looking for a certain kind of plaster to
put on a scrape - not on a breast! - and saw that the pharmacy I was
in had a Calma bottle on display, marked 'DEMO'.  I had my first look
at it outside the packaging and found it very strange.  The
consistency of the nipple, because of that yellow bumpy thing
underneath it, was like the worst case of bag-of-marbles cystic breast
tissue I've ever seen. The baby's mouth would be up against something
rock-hard and lumpy, and the opening through which the milk would exit
was as big around as a pencil but with some kind of inner locking
mechanism I could not test as there was no liquid in the bottle.  I
took the lid and nipple off and wondered how on earth someone who is
expressing her milk would have the energy to clean all the tiny, loose
bits involved, along with cleaning whatever equipment she was using to
express milk, and then of course she would have to reassemble it
correctly too. The very thought made me want to lie down and have a
nice nap.  I noticed that they called it a 'feeding system designed
for breastmilk' (funny, thought that's what breasts and babies were)
but there was nothing on the package stating it would not work with
formula milks. Someone else within the last few days posted that a
Medela rep had claimed the bottle was code-compliant since it can't be
used with formula because the 'particles' in formula would not pass
through the nipple or something.  Well, the pharmacy staff had not
heard it couldn't be used for anything but expressed breastmilk, and
it was on the shelf with all the other feeding bottles they sell
there.

The packaging still uses the Norwegian word 'amme' to describe what
babies do with the Calma bottle in their mouths. 'Amme' is what
mothers do when they have a baby at breast, babies suckle or nurse and
we have a different word for that. Neither word applies to anything
but the physical activity of having a baby at breast or having a
breast in your mouth, but Medela uses one of them about their bottle,
and just for good measure, they use the wrong one.

There is a free-standing sentence on the package about how the Calma
bottle 'enables you to enjoy the special breastfeeding relationship
longer', but the mechanism by which this happens was not elucidated
upon.  The pharmacy staff confirmed that the Medela reps are quite
persistent.

I've spent as much time as I can stomach on the Medela website,
searching, so far in vain, for any images of babies actually being
breastfed, amidst all the florid prose about how 'special' and
'intimate' and 'wonderful' breastfeeding is.  The worst picture
(debatably - there are so many awful ones to choose from!) is of two
women, presumably a mother and a visitor of some kind, perhaps even a
female relative, looking radiantly at the critter on the lap of one of
them, while the other one seems to stroke it in loving admiration.
There is no baby in sight, the critter is a Symphony pump, for crying
out loud!  And alongside a headline about the intimate nature of the
breastfeeding bond, is a photo of a baby with a not-happy expression,
sitting propped up, being bottle fed by a disembodied masculine hand.
The text that follows tells of the mother's rapturous feelings on
seeing her husband enjoying the wonderful intimacy of feeding their
baby.

That anyone who cares at all about breastfeeding could be sucked in by
this kind of marketing, is unfathomable to me. I wouldn't care if it
were code-compliant (it's not), it so does NOT pass my smell test.
There is no information presented about breastfeeding that would do
anything except undermine any confidence a woman might have, and the
testimonials claim to be by mothers, who all rave about their
wonderful *midwives* who saved their sanity by suggesting they get
hold of Medela equipment to put between their breasts and their
children. (Insert sounds of this midwife gagging here.)

I've tried to stay composed and talk to Medela reps here, but I can't
do it, I get too upset at the combination of pseudo-knowledge and
aggressive marketing tactics they use. Every time their website is
updated, it gets exponentially worse, and I don't think it is because
I have gotten more crotchety. I'm happy to say that when I show it to
colleagues at the hospital, they react in the same way - as do
mothers. Medela has some fine products, but the marketing is so far
from being breastfeeding-friendly they should be ashamed of
themselves.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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