In a message dated 97-05-25 21:56:20 EDT, Janet Simpson <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

<< ER is one of my most favorite shows (next to Star Trek Voyager...remember
 Seska BF her Baby?) >>

My apologies to those who had to endure my rant on this subject in TLC.

Seska was EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!!!  She was also the only character who breastfed
on Voyager or any other Star Trek show.

On Deep Space Nine, Keiko O'Brien (one of the good guys) recently left her
new baby son with her husband Miles while she went to Bayjor (sorry, I have
no idea how most of this stuff is spelled, and am obviously guessing) for a
couple of weeks.  Bottles are clearly visible in the O'Brien's living
quarters.  The baby spends the whole episode crying his head off except when
he is in his father's arms.  No one thinks of calling his mother.

When Molly O'Brien (Keiko and Miles' first child) was a baby, Keiko never fed
her on screen.  In the episode where Miles' body is taken over by a wicked
alien and he holds his wife and infant daughter hostage, Keiko does not
comfort her crying daughter at her breast.  I cannot imagine that if Keiko
had nursed Molly, she would have elected to bottlefeed her second child.

And in the Voyager episode where the first baby is born on board, the doctor
helpfully comments that since the baby is of mixed ancestry (mother is human,
and father is ?---can't remember the name), and that mothers of the ? race
typically have scaly breasts to protect them from their offspring's early
erupting and very sharp teeth, this human mother may wish to consider
alternatives to breastfeeding once the baby's teeth erupt.  Never mind that a
child doesn't chew on its mother's breasts when nursing!

On Star Trek: The Next Generation Worf packed his son off to live with his
parents.

I love Star Trek too, but I find it immensely disturbing that the good guys
practice detachment parenting and rely on artificial feeding, while the evil
folks breastfeed and keep their babies close.

Rita