>> We don't live in a perfect world and breast pumps enable these
>> mothers to provide their baby with breastmilk.

>Hear here - they also allow other mothers to provide donor milk for  
>those few babies whose mothers are unable to do so.

Before there were pumps, there were hands.  And in most of the world
they still work quite effectively.  We North Americans are FAR too
squeamish to do something so icky as actually manipulate our breasts...

Tongue in cheek, but essentially true.  I have moms convinced that in
order to breastfeed, they MUST have a pump.  And not just a simple
manual for leaving babe occasiaonlly.  Oh, no, we must have the fancy
$300 one.  And many have been convinced that a pump and bottle is EASIER
than direct feeding.  A month later they use formula.  (On home visits
I'll see 3 or 4 different pumps in some homes, none of them quite as
efficient as mom perceived they would be).

The use of pumps for the situations of specific need, like prematurity
and donation, are the exception.  Here, over 80% of women initiate BF
and most of them own a manual pump.  That's close to market saturation.
To increase sales, you have to change or add to the market niche.  The
pump companies have created a demand for pumps where no NEED exists.
That is, to my mind where they have crossed the line from informational
advertising to belief-changing advertising.

Judith

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