Strangely enough, 50 years ago, it was a struggle. Feeding babies with bottles was the "new" thing. And it seemed a bit scary to me. There were complicated "formula"s that had to be very carefully put together. And strict procedures for sterilizing the bottles. I felt threatened by all this. Had vision of pots of boiling water, and spilled milk on the floor and counters. Baby crying off in the distance waiting for food. I can't remember what the rationale was. I can't remember what the procedure was for the breasts filling with unwanted milk. But you can take my word for it. This was the big deal. Your baby was going to be a lot healthier with this new system. Nurses would come in and ask if you needed help getting started. They were ready with pamphlets and typed info sheets from the public health office. When I think back on it - it's yet another example of how we swallow new ideas only to find later that they are flawed.
I didn't talk about it much. I felt old-fashioned. I felt I was letting my baby down, that he wasn't going to be fed nearly as well as he should be. I hesitantly asked girl friends about their experience making the formula. They sounded up-beat and efficient. "You're breast-feeding? How come?" My confidence crumbled further.
As I recall, the "formula" method of feeding the baby lasted for quite awhile. If there were strong supporters of breast feeding still around, they were being ignored. In fact, mothers in far off third world countries were also doing this! Can you imagine how difficult it would have been to sterilize bottles and make this formula in that heat! It's strange how we think that we know more than the human body knows. After all, it has been fine-tuning itself for 4 million years.
After some 20 years of the "formula in a bottle" way of feeding babies, breast feeding became popular again and baby bottles appeared less and less often.
I stopped asking about it and breast fed all my babies in complete comfort and love. It's one of the great things about being a Mom.
it was a complete surprise to me--the great part, i mean. i went into this thinking i would try, but not get too worked up about it if it didn't work. i mean, the babies i know from work generally don't breast feed due to their special needs. i had no mental picture of doing this with my child. but here we are--it's going great. for me it is not a political statement, it is just me doing what i can, giving what i have, for her.
ReplyDeletelike you. you are a good example for cora, and for me, too.