Bonding via bottlefeeding

I'm always really annoyed when people act like the only way for fathers, siblings and grandparents to bond with a baby is to feed him with a bottle. If you want to bond with a baby, give her a bath, change a diaper, sing the baby a song, rock him to sleep. There are so many ways to bond with a baby that don't have anything to do with feeding. Nature intends for women to feed babies, the same way nature intends for women to carry babies for 9 months. You don't see too many men fighting for the opportunity to carry the fetus and then deliver it, do you? I'm thinking if there were a serious interest in it, science would've figured out a way to make it happen by now. I guess we'll wait for that while we wait for the male birth control pill.

Anyway, my partner is always saying he wants to invent a bottle that allows dads to feed a baby that would look like a giant pair of boobs. I always laugh because isn't that seriously a punchline from that movie Meet the Fockers? But now someone has gone and done it! OK, it doesn't look like a pair of boobs, but this new "Natural Bonder Bottle" (which is being marketed as a breastfeeding system for "today's modern parent") provides hands-free feeding in a way that mimics the positioning of breastfeeding.
Would anyone actually use this? It looks sort of ridiculous, no?

I guess I could see the appeal if you're an adoptive mom and missed out on the opportunity to breastfeed, but if you're working and pumping (which is the type of mom this company seems to be targeting) why not use a regular bottle system? Are breastfed babies fooled by this contraption? Do dads and grands really feel closer to the baby? Perhaps it's more comfortable, as the site purports, to feed a baby with the system because you are hands-free and can snuggle the baby better, but I wonder if that is worth the cost. The pricing page is currently down, but I don't imagine it's cheap.
What do you guys think?

More celebrities breastfeeding

Jessica Alba is still breastfeeding baby daughter Honor, and credits the nursing with helping her bounce back to her pre-pregnancy size so quickly.

Nursing in the friendly skies

Are you planning a trip out of town for the holidays? Will you need to travel by air? Do the recent incidents where women's breastfeeding rights were violated in the air make you nervous? Annie over at the PhD in Parenting blog has created a few wonderful posts that cover the various airlines' breastfeeding policies, tips for nursing on a plane and what to do if you're harrassed by a flight attendant.

If you'll be pumping on your trip, you always want to make sure you know the TSA information on traveling with breast milk.

How have your experiences been traveling with a baby and breastfeeding on airplanes? I have not had to do this yet, but anticipate that we'll be doing some traveling in March to visit family. We'll still be nursing then and I'd like to know what I'm in for. I think most women probably have positive experiences, but the negative ones get so much attention that is makes moms nervous. Annie says she has nursed her kids for years on planes without a hitch, so I'm confident you'll be fine, too. Better to be prepared, though, just in case!

Mark your calendars: Breastfeeding Olympics

2008 Breastfeeding Challenge
Or, as it is known in the Philippines, The Breastfeeding Olympics!

What: A fun event to challenge geographic areas to see who can get the most babies breastfeeding at one time. The winners are determined by a percentage of birthrate.

When: October 11, 2008

Time: 11:00 am your time

Why: To celebrate breastfeeding, to educate the general public, to develop peer support, and to just have fun!

Location/Site: Anywhere you can get 2 or more moms together. Some sites are in someone's home. Other sites are in hospitals. Sites can be in a park, at a clinic, at City Hall, on the Capitol grounds, in a football stadium, at a theater, at a community pool, at a local restaurant, at a mall, at a health fair, at a baby store, at a maternity store, at the library - anywhere you want to gather to have a nurse-in. If your site is in a public location, be sure to get permission to use it as a site.

How the Challenge Got Started: In 2001, the Quintessence Foundation in British Columbia sponsored the first event. That year, there were 856 babies in 26 sites in B.C. Last year, there were 5,383 babies in 230 sites across Canada and the U.S. This year, the event will be an
international effort.

Join this Worldwide Event. Sign up for a site today. Invite all the breastfeeding moms you know and have them invite all their friends. Tell them to get to the event about 15 minutes early to get registered and find a spot. Only those latched on at 11:00 am can be counted in the results!

For more information and to sign up for a site:
Go to http://www.babyfriendly.ca/challenge/ This site includes a place to sign up, handouts for moms, and press releases, etc. for organizers.

Does giving birth vaginally make you a better mom?

Add another log to fan the flames of the Mommy Wars. A new study by Yale University suggests that women who give birth vaginally bond more with their babies. The research points to the release of oxytocin during contractions as the reason for more intense bonding between these moms and their newborns. The study used brain scans of a whopping 12 women, so the methods definitely leave something to be desired. However, according to a professor from the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, doctors have long recognized that women who have C-sections do sometimes have trouble bonding with their babies. Skin-to-skin contact after birth should be encouraged for women who have C-sections, as well as breastfeeding.

There is no doubt that women who have C-sections go on to be loving and bonded mothers to their children, but it does appear to make mothering and breastfeeding in the early weeks more difficult.

If it's a breastfeeding support bag, why does it contain formula?

If you gave birth at a hospital in the US, you probably received a free diaper bag from one of the formula companies that included a pamphlet on breastfeeding and a sample of formula. This is what they call a "breastfeeding support bag." Yeah, I am just as confused as you are on how a formula sample is supposed to support breastfeeding. I read a newspaper article this morning that quoted a mother-child coordinator at a Chicago-area hospital who said they give the formula because "if breast milk is going to be lacking, they will have a back-up supply with them." Breast milk is never lacking. Formula is lacking. Formula isn't a living organism like breast milk. Formula doesn't contain antibodies. Formula isn't specially created for your baby. Formula doesn't change from day to day, hour to hour, feed to feed. There is nothing lacking in breast milk.

Yes, there is a very tiny percentage of women who don't make enough milk for their babies. Depending on who you ask, that number ranges from less than 1% to about 5%. So 95% of women will make enough milk to feed their babies. And even if the number were greater than that, why should hospitals of all places be handing out formula? Most women leave the hospital within 3 days of giving birth. The only thing a baby needs the first 3 days of life is colostrum. A mother's milk usually comes in like clockwork at 72 hours post-partum for a reason. A newborn doesn't need a full milk supply for the first few days, even up to a week.

Supplementing with formula in the early days is dangerous. Your body makes milk on a supply/demand cycle. If you do not demand the milk, your breasts won't make it. Giving your baby a bottle is a surefire way to ruin your breastfeeding relationship. Lactation consultants know this. Why don't nurses and pediatricians?

The formula companies don't care about the health of your baby, as they are in this to make money (and they do...to the tune of about $2,000 per year for every child who is formula fed). Only in America are they allowed to market their product so aggressively (although they still do it in foreign countries where it's illegal, killing hundreds of thousands of babies each year whose mother's can no longer afford to buy formula and whose milk has long since dried up).

It's bad enough that the pharma companies who produce formula use underhanded direct marketing tactics (the aforementioned diaper bags, pamphlets with outdated breastfeeding information, formula checks in the mail, etc) but they also have nurses and doctors working for them, too. At some hospitals, formula reps are known to cater lunches for maternity staff and offer prizes to the nurse who uses the most formula with her patients. Ross Laboratories (makers of Similac) even state in a training manual to "never underestimate the importance of nurses. If they are sold and serviced properly, they can be strong allies. A nurse who supports Ross is like an extra salesperson.” (Abbott Labs v. Segura, 1995)

If you're tired of this aggressive and unethical marketing of formula, take a stand by having your baby in a WHO-certified Baby Friendly Hospital. You can also check out Ban the Bags for hospitals and birth centers in the US who do not give out the bags.

Help a breastfeeding support group

Micky over at Mocha Milk is a lactation consultant in middle Tennessee in "real life." She recently started her own business, 9 Months & Beyond, LLC, which provides breastfeeding and childbirth support. The business is growing like crazy and she'd like to receive some funding in order to offer more classes, including prenatal exercise, yoga, art, dance, etc. You can help without even cracking open your wallet. Just take a few moments to vote for 9 Months & Beyond on Ideablob.com and she could win $10,000, which would help her move into a bigger location, buy furniture, library items and have leverage with an investor.