what do you tell your kids about what bottles are??

[loving-my-babies]

My daughter was ff since 3 months (now 4 years old), but my son has been breastfed since birth (he's 18 months now) and I have a hard time with the bottles topic in my house. Because there are pictures of me nursing dd, but also pictures of me giving bottles to dd after she started being ff, so she remembers that and thinks it's normal. When we talk about when she grows up, she wants to have "lots of babies and give them bottles and boobie milk" because this is what she knows as what her reality was. How can I make breastmilk the gold standard, how can I teach her that bottles are NOT usually necessary, without saying that bottles are evil? I don't want her to think that the way I fed her was a mistake. kwim??

[velcromom]

Personally I wouldn't mind telling my kids something like "I did what I thought was best, but I've learned so much since then and now I know that..." I've had conversations like this with my oldest before. It's a good opportunity to model the concept "when you know better, you do better" and that it's ok not to be perfect every minute, because you can learn and improve.

[mama24-7]

Originally Posted by velcromom

Personally I wouldn't mind telling my kids something like "I did what I thought was best, but I've learned so much since then and now I know that..." I've had conversations like this with my oldest before. It's a good opportunity to model the concept "when you know better, you do better" and that it's ok not to be perfect every minute, because you can learn and improve.

:

[Plummeting]

Originally Posted by loving-my-babies

I don't want her to think that the way I fed her was a mistake. kwim??

Well, *was* it a mistake? I mean, did you have problems BF, or did you just decide to FF? If you decided to FF based on lack of information, there is nothing wrong with her knowing it was a mistake! Kids do not have to think parents are perfect and infallible. If it was just lack of support or information, I would explain it like velcromom suggested. I really don't think she's going to be distraught over knowing that you FF her because you didn't know any better (if that's the reason). She's a kid - it won't be any big deal like that to her. And if you're worried about what she'll thinks when she grows up, well if she knows the truth, it doesn't really matter how you present it to her, she'll form her own opinions about whether or not it was a mistake as soon as she's old enough.

[NoraB]

I'm not sure what to tell my DD either. She's been exclusively bf'd but has seen bottles in the media and IRL and has incorperated it into her play. In fact, when she's pretending to be a "tiny baby" she often asks for a bottle *grr*. Not sure how to discuss the situation w/ her w/o putting down the moms who do bottlefeed.

[Teensy]

My boys have seen me pump, so they just think bottles hold milk that mom pumped out with that funny machine so the baby can be feed when mom's not around.

[Morgraine]

It goes to show how prevasive the "bottle" truly is. My son, as far a I know, has never seen a baby get a bottle and yet his play with babies is often about bottles. I just tell him that in our house babies and dollies get "mama" code word for human milk. The best thing to do is role model. There is plenty of time to discuss the pros of human milk vs formula as they get older.

[mackenziesmama]

I just tell my 3.5yr old son that while giving babies mama's milk is the best thing for babies, some mamas decide not to/can't breastfeed so their babies get bottles. It's cute though, sometimes he'll see a bottle fed baby and say, "Mama, too bad that baby has to suck on a pretend boobie!".

[NoraB]

It's cute though, sometimes he'll see a bottle fed baby and say, "Mama, too bad that baby has to suck on a pretend boobie!".

LOL!