Dear Folks:
  I clicked on the website for the latest product to be used for bottle
propping. What a sad picture: a disinterested mother holding a limp,
disinterested baby.
What about the risks to the baby of loneliness, increased ear infections,
choking, and lack of humanity? As I teach in classes, family values begin with
the baby in arms.
  That said, I also must confess that my whole philosophy of bottle feeding
devices changed after I went to see a mother of triplets. This mother had
found a tube feeding device, which was a bottle with a long, flexible straw
that inserted into the base of the rubber teat so that the infant could suck,
yet would reduce risk as the bottle was left upright. It was the force of the
infant's suck that brought the liquid to the baby's mouth.
  Imagine having one, or two, or three more babies than you could breastfeed
at one time. Imagine being a working mother, or a mother with other children,
with three or more hungry infants at once, and not always having extra help at
hand to deal with the situation. We can not judge unless we walk in someone's
moccasins. If you ever have the opportunity to visit a mother of triplets,
quads or more, take it. It will show you more than you ever imagined. Twins is
so far different from triplets or more as to blow any preconceptions about how
to manage. Twins is practically normal, compared with 3 or more. Warmly, Nikki