I've found an instructional video for sale, about paced bottle
feeding.  I ask about this because the BF organization here has put an
article about paced feeding up on their website, to provide
information about what we mean when we say 'if you use bottles, make
the situation as much like breastfeeding as possible' which is the
officlal Norwegian line.  They are considering linking to a film to
show what we mean by this.  It is drastically different from how
people learn to feed by bottle, which is usually based on the
manufacturer's information emphasizing the dread consequences of a
tiny air bubble getting into the nipple and thereby into the baby.
You'd think it was tantamount to injecting a large bubble of air
intravenously.   Also, many bottle feeders mention the 'advantage' of
the speed with which a bottle feed can be accomplished, and it would
be good to let people know that feeding too fast is a PROBLEM, not a
BENEFIT.  I still remember how baffled I was when a colleague on a
night shift on postpartum back in the bad old days warned me that I
would end up with tendonitis or frozen shoulder if I always held a
baby 'that way', that way being close to my body and en face, while I
gave a bottle.  The standard procedure for staff on nights was to have
the baby well away from one's body and lying flat, except for the
staff who got their physical contact needs met by working nights , who
cuddled the babies and were very slow to take them to the mothers for
feeds. That was more than 20 years ago, have hardly given a bottle
feed since then myself.

Text doesn't convey  a message the same way.   Pictures trump text for
most of us and moving images trump still ones again.  And the way we
treat feeding says a lot about how we view babies.  They are not
people, they are cuddly toys, or household pets, or just bothersome
demanding creatures.

I see bottle feeding happening in all kinds of distressing ways - baby
lying in pram, adult hand holding bottle in baby's mouth while said
adult is engaged in conversation with other adults and nobody can see
the baby, nor the baby anyone else.  Baby sitting on mother's lap
facing out, mother holding bottle in baby's mouth without eye contact
but with physical contact between them.  Small baby lying flat across
parent's lap, swaddled and facing out, while parent holds bottle.
Baby alone with bottle propped in pram, or older baby holding bottle
in stroller or car seat.  Given that manufacturers are specifically
prohibited from 'idealizing' bottle feeding, it's hard to make good
illustrations showing eye contact between the parent and the child,
child in a cradle hold, one or both of them smiling.   But it's
irresponsible to act as though all parents who use bottles will
understand from reading a text the finer distinctitons between
interactive, responsive feeding and these sad scenes I describe above.

At the very least it would be good to have a film to show to the
individual mothers who are going to be bottle feeding.  Maybe the best
thing really would be to show the differences for the baby but I can't
think of an ethically acceptable way to do it.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand Norway

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