Bottle or Breast?

As the due date nears, every expectant mother faces the question of how to feed their child.  There is that age old question of bottle or breast?  It’s a huge issue, which I’ve personally dealt with twice now. The interesting thing about breast-feeding is that while you assume the decision should be personal to the mother, you quickly realize that isn’t true.  For me, it was shocking to realize that when it comes to feeding your newborn child, everyone from your parents to your neighbors seem to have an opinion on what you should do with your breasts.

 When my oldest daughter was born, I had every intention of doing things the “right” way, so when it came time to do the registry for our baby shower I went to the nursing aisle of Babies R Us and I registered for everything that anyone could possibly need to breastfeed a baby.  For those who have never walked down the lactation aisle of a baby store, you couldn’t imagine the overwhelming number of products out there.  There are breast pumps, bottles meant to look like breasts, breast pads, bags for breast milk, and much more.  Ironically, they say all of these products are to help feed your baby the natural way, but for me, after taking one trip down that boob aisle all I could think was am I ever going to look at my breasts the same?  Is my husband ever going to look at them the same?  And while I could never know for sure, I can only assume any man who has ever walked with his wife down one of those aisles has had to have asked himself if he would ever look at his wife’s breasts the same.  While it can be overwhelming at first, there are a lot of helpful products out there, but it does take some time, patience and sometimes money to find the right things for you.  However, despite all of the things available which cater to helping a woman to breast-feed, only 40% of women reported exclusively breast-feeding their baby’s under three-months this past year.

While breast-feeding rates remain low among mothers in the U.S., some lactation scholars attribute this to hospital practices. They argue that “hospitals should not be responsible for marketing a product—especially a product that is not the preferred method of infant feeding (formula).”  It is recommended that all infants be exclusively breast-fed until age six months, and in spite of this information 70% of the surveyed hospitals reported sending patients home with formula sample packs (Blazek, 2008). Researchers argue that birthing centers should consider discontinuing these practices to promote a more positive approach toward breast-feeding.  While healthcare professionals recognize that the hospitals do receive free products such as bottles, nipples, and storage containers for their ICU units in exchange for accepting sample packs from the manufacturers, there is still more that can be done.  Another offered reason for the disparity between breast-feeding recommendations and the high rate of formula distribution is the simple lack of awareness of providers.  It has been given out for decades without question, and therefore people continue to so without questioning its implications. 

I definitely agree with the convenience the sample packs provide.   When I began supplementing my younger daughter with formula, part of the reason probably was the easy accessibility of it.  It is very interesting to consider the implications that these free samples make. 

Blazek, N. (2008, October).  Breast-feeding rate remains low among U.S. mothers.      

IDInChildren.com.  Retrieved November 20, 2010, from EbscoHost Database.