bottle vs breast feeding

[evansj2]

Is there a weaker bond between mother and infant, if the mother had an episiotomy or if the infant was premature and what role do nurses have in the maternal-infant bond?

[RNnL&D]

With how rampant Type 1 has become (something has changed, either in our environment, the drugs/chemical that surround us, or the structure of that virus)

How about the massive amounts of toxins we inject our infants with? That could be the change you seek.

Sorry. I know, even more off topic.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Very off topic, yes. Immunizations are already being debated on numerous threads on this site....

The old issue of breast versus bottle will not go away soon. I just think health care providers are obligated to educate and then SUPPORT parental decisions at that point. I am not there to guilt anyone into or out of, anything. That is my simple take on the issue.

[Littlewonder]

I think one thing that has not been mentioned here that should is the cost to the infant of early formula feeding. I never make mom's feel guilty for using formula if that is their choice (and have times recommended it for large weight losses, etc.) but I do think they need to be made aware of all the things that happen when their breastfed infant has a "dose" of formula. With the introduction of even one bottle of formula, the larger cows milk proteins can cause allergic type reactions to the infant's small intestine. The small intestine is very "leaky" in the first few days and before the colostrum has had time to seal off the bowel is not a good time to expose the infant to the allergens in cows milk. Also, the newborn stomach is barely the size of a marble. A half ounce feeding is enough to stretch the stomach enough to cause at the very least a good bellyache, and at most a insatiable appetite that colostrum is not going to fill - leading for a need for repeated supplemental feedings until the mother's mature milk comes in. Also, in families like mine where there is a very high allergy risk, one early bottle would expose my child to a much greater risk for following dad's celiac disease and my own multiple food allergies. One bottle also can increase the risk of asthma and other heredical problems - I am not saying every baby will have such severe consequences - in fact very few will... but why increase a child's risk if not medically needed on a baby that may be excusively breastfed if encouraged by nursing staff?

Anyway, just my pet peeve here - nursery staff saying, "just one bottle to let mom sleep won't hurt anything!"

[nursesarah]

i did a clincal placement on a maternal-child unit in a baby friendly hospital. breastfeeding was supposedly encouraged as the "gold standard", but honestly i was shocked and appalled at the attitudes of some of the nurses on the floor. one situation that stuck out to me was with one of my mothers. she desperately wanted to breastfeed. it was so important for her, for whatever reason. when i went in and talked to her it didnt seem like she was getting much support and was in fact being told she should just bottlefeed because its easier. the nurse supervising me told me privately that she thought the mother should just give up and bottle feed. i went in and (in my limited knowledge) showed the mother some tricks a lactation consultant had shown me. she was so thrilled to get a good latch. i made an appointment for the LC to come see her and afterwards the mother thanked me profusely because she had been able to get her son to BF. so she was able to do it. she didnt have to "give up". and you could see her confidence skyrocket. she ended up successfully breastfeeding her son.

i suppose the point im getting at is that you can't make judgements over what mothers "should" or "shouldnt" do. you just have to make sure you support them and provide them with the right resources to be successful.

[luvmy3kids]

I have 3 kids. My first was by c/s and I was out. I didn't see her until she was about 4-5 hours old. I tried nursing her at that point. It ended up working well, but I had wished it would have been sooner.

Baby #2, they stuck me in recovery with a bunch of other patients who DID NOT JUST HAVE BABIES!!! It sucked. Anyway, I didn't see my baby until he was about 3 hours old.

With #3, I was back up in my room right after my surgery and I got to hold my baby and she began nursing right away. She was probably 1 hr old. It was wonderful.

Of course, I love all 3 of my kids (equally but differently), but #3 (and this could be because she's my baby and she is my last), I just feel like I've bonded with her differently than the other 3. I chalk it up to being with her so much sooner than my other 2. I don't know, maybe I'm a loon.....

[OB_or_NICU_hopeful]

Slightly off topic, but I am of the opinion that once a baby is started on the bottle, it takes a very resilient mother to get it to take breast. Anyone seen a successful breastfeeding AFTER the introduction of bottles, I would love to know. I always encourage mothers to breastfeed in the hospital even if they want to supplement later.

I know I'm coming in late on this, but wanted to share my experience. My first was born at 35 weeks. I pumped my milk immediately and he received it in a bottle. I could not seem to get the hang of breastfeeding (his head was so tiny ~ my boob so giant!!!!). I pumped for SIX LOOOONG WEEKS and he used a bottle that whole time. I was exhausted and desparately wanted to breastfeed. At six weeks I just did it. Cold turkey. Much to my surprise (it still amazes me) we never looked back :D We had LOTS of rough patches the next couple months, but I never needed to go back to the bottle!