Did I Miss Something?
Response by Tiffany Deering to article in June 2009
issue of American Baby1, a publication many mothers are given
for free at the pediatrician's office, typically along with formula coupons
and/or samples.
The June issue of American Baby magazine features this on the cover:
"The
Surprising Benefits of Bottlefeeding"
Considering there are only 4 cover stories labeled on the front, and this
one is on the top left (meaning, the one you see first usually), I found
this greatly disturbing. After reading it out loud, I scoffed. My seven year
old quizzically replied, "What's bottlefeeding?" I don't think I've
ever been prouder.
So I thumb through to the table of contents so I can zip to this article
that I can't wait to read (can you hear my sarcasm?). The only article title
about bottles is "10 Things to Know about Bottlefeeding - tips for achieving
mealtime success." So I turn to page 51, and glance through the tips. I
don't see anywhere about "surprising benefits" in the article, so I
double-check the table of contents, and see a photo of the cover with
easy-to-navigate arrows with page numbers pointing to their four featured
stories. Yup, page 51.
So I return to the ten tips page and put some more effort into reading what
Amy Gorin has to say about how incredible and beneficial bottlefeeding is.
Tip number one, "Bottlefeeding = Bonding". Amy tells bottlefeeding moms to
"Let go of any guilt you feel over not breastfeeding. All that skin-to-skin
contact... will bring the two of you closer." Not that it's impossible, but
when have you ever heard of a bottlefeeding baby being held skin-to-skin
(which to me means you're both naked). After all, if you were to hold your
baby with your breasts exposed, he might try to latch on and get the real
thing and get confused. Flopping your breasts in babies' face but not
letting him nurse is just teasing them... torture, even. And ok, so perhaps
skin-to-skin just means holding them and snuggling them in a similar
position as nursing. Unfortunately, that's often not the case with
bottlefeeding. Most babies are either fed from a propped bottle or
encouraged to hold their own bottles as soon as they are able to. Mothers
that bottle-prop should feel guilty IMO.
Tip number two confuses me. It's headlined, "If baby's crying, she needs to
calm down before eating." But then it says it's better to feed baby before
the waterworks start. Wouldn't a better headline be "Watch for cues before
baby gets upset from being hungry?" I mean, after all, can't we put a little
more thought into this story, it's 25% of what's most important in this
issue! Why is Amy telling mothers to calm baby down before they eat if
they're already so upset from being hungry? Why doesn't Amy cue us on in HOW
to calm the baby down before feeding them? Especially when your baby is
screaming their head off while your busy sterilizing a bottle, measuring
formula and water and testing the temperature to make sure it's not too hot?
My breastfed baby doesn't need to calm down before he eats... if he is
crying, I just expose my breast and pop the nipple in his eagerly rooting
mouth. Still not seeing a benefit, surprising or not.
Tip three as to the amazing wonders of bottlefeeding is to choose a quiet
space. That is one inspiring benefit. Number four is a true winner... "Burp
baby. A lot. If she's spitting up, it's usually not an allergic reaction but
because she's swallowed too much air." I'm sorry, Amy, but that one seems to
be a con to bottlefeeding...
Highlighted on top of the next page as we continue the article, Amy lets us
know that "At 3 months, 61% of babies are formula-fed, and 34% of breastfed
babies also receive formula." I'm not sure what the point of having this
statistic here is. While Amy seems to use this as a way to make
bottlefeeding appear more normal and acceptable, I would use this same exact
statistic in a pro-breastfeeding article to demonstrate the extreme problem
infants in America are facing by not receiving the best nutrition possible.
Number five tells us that "Baby will stop feeding when full... a lot of
childhood weight problems start early on because of overfeeding." Yes, the
expectation of having the baby finish his bottle combined with the longing
to not waste your money on formula being washed down the drain appears to be
one astounding benefit of bottlefeeding.
"Mixing the wrong ratio of formula and water can have very big nutrition and
weight consequences" Amy let's us know in tip six. Yup, tell that to the
babies
dying every thirty seconds2 from formula being measured wrong
or made with bad water around the world. Another little tidbit beside these
tips lets parents know to wash bottles with dish soap and water (how
genius!) and to sterilize them if they get grimy... ew. I'm sorry, perhaps I
was mistaken, but I thought they were supposed to be
sterilized before EVERY use?3
"No Bottles in the Crib" is tip number seven... I imagine breastfeeding
mothers have a difficult time maneuvering their breasts inside a crib, so
guess we don't need to worry about that one. Admonishment to not use the
microwave to heat bottles is next... sounds to me that this is another
amazing benefit of BREASTFEEDING, not BOTTLEFEEDING!
Second to last, the surprising benefit of how "You can be a combo mom" is
revealed. Admittedly, "know that your milk production will decrease." I'm
sorry, could you repeat that? How is that beneficial?
Amy lets parents know that they can let a baby play with a sippy cup at 7-9
months "and occasionally drink from it". How do you introduce a sippy cup
and only let the baby "occasionally" drink from it? Why not allow them to
drink as much as they can from the sippy cup until they don't need a bottle
anymore? Why and how would you manage to limit it to "occasionally"?
The final tip in this impressively educational article **insert sarcasm
here** is to let Dad help if Mom nurses. Why isn't Dad helping if you're
bottlefeeding? This is probably just an overslight in wording and should
just read "Let Dad help." But wait, "let"? Perhaps this is a slight at
nursing mothers who only have their selfish interests in mind and want to
hog the responsibility of feeding the baby and not share? Because, after
all, a father can't be of any use in the nursing relationship- he can't
bring the mom a drink, massage her shoulders, or snuggle with mom and baby
during meals.
Apparently this, tip number ten, is the big "SURPRISING
BENEFIT" of bottlefeeding (since I coudln't find any other "benefit" in
the article)... "dad can feed him, and when other friends and
relatives are over, they can feed him too." Oh, and don't forget, by
"allowing" dad to step in and bottlefeed, it allows us mothers to do things
like "[take] a break, even if it's for ten minutes to take a shower... so I
can have that time and keep my sanity." I guess poor breastfeeding Katie
Neitz of Emmaus, Pennsylvania never realized she could let her husband hold
the baby for ten minutes AFTER she was finished nursing him.
Thank goodness
for Amy Gorin and American Baby Magazine letting all of us crazy nursing
moms know that we, too, can bathe for ten minutes thanks to the incredible
bottle... of course, she fails to mention that we'll probably end up
spending that ten minutes making that bottle.
June 11, 2009
Sources:
1)
http://www.parents.com/baby/care/newborn/bottlefeeding/
2)
http://www.breastfeeding.com/advocacy/advocacy_30seconds.html
3) Most sources I researched (none of which were accredited
doctors, organizations or government departments, but rather journalists for
websites or magazines) claimed that you only had to sterilize bottles and
equipment prior to the first use.
But the following sources recommend sterilizing bottles and
equipment "until a health professional decides it is unnecessary":
http://www.infantformula.org/faqs.html#9
http://www.seattlecca.org/infant-formula-safety-guidelines.cfm
Dr. Sears recommends sterilizing bottles and equipment
regularly, as evidenced by this line proceeding sterilization instructions:
"After a feeding, thoroughly rinse the bottle and nipple under warm water
and leave them on a clean towel by the sink, ready for your next
sterilizing session." (my italics) I don't know about you, but I'm not
about to leave a whole bunch of bottles sitting on my sink piling up waiting
for a sterilizing session in the far, distant future.
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/0/T000100.asp#T031010
This publication by WHO indicates that sanitization is
important before use because formula is not sterile and residue from prior
feedings is a breeding ground for harmful bacteria. While the exact
wording does not say before every use, this reasoning would lead on
to assume so, since residue would exist AFTER every feeding.
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/PIF_Bottle_en.pdf
