The apparently "NEW" way to feed babies!

[happymommy]

The other day, i saw a mama of a 5-6 month old(i would guess) pushing her babe in a stroller. All was normal until i peered into the blanketed bundle to see the baby sucking on a pacifier-looking thing. Low and behold, it was a bottle with a tube hooked to it, leading to the nipple in his mouth!!!!!! My first thought, baby had a feeding problem of some kind! Nope, cause i started talking to his mama and she "demonstrated" in a way, this new, handsfree way of feeding baby!! Now, you can just put the bottle down next to the baby and the baby sucks on the pacifier/nipple and gets fed without mama even having to hold the baby, the bottle, or anything!!! So i got curious and asked Babies R Us what this was, etc,etc and they said they can't keep these things in stock, they are really popular!!! Need i say more? How much more insensetive can people get? Even bottle feedings need to be so disconnected?!?!?!?!

[ChildoftheMoon]

[jessikate]

Ugh... how appalling! Honestly, if a person chooses to (or is forced to) bottle-feed, would it kill them to hold their baby to do it? Just what we need - more disconnection from our children.

I can't wait to hold mine close and nurse, personally. I don't see why someone would choose not to connect with their child while feeding it, breast or bottle.

Just my 2 cents.
JK

[leafylady]

It will be used and abused at bad daycare centers. I don't understand it either- why some people will think of anything to avoid holding their babies.
I can see how it might be useful on car trips, but that's about it.

[mamaduck]

This is weird. I think it is an old idea that was tried long ago, and then ditched because it was impossible to keep the tube clean enough and babies were getting infections from it. (Okay, I saw that on "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman." But they did have to get the idea from somewhere!)

So anyway -- how do you suppose one is to get the tube clean enough to reuse? Or maybe it is disposable?

[kaismom]

I saw this contraption and was shocked. they advertise it as hanging from a crib and the only thing I could think of was little hampster cages with the water bottle hanging on the side. When I told my mom about it she said it was a big thing for mothers in the 40's to be "prop fed" meaning you prop the bottle so as not to trouble yourself with the whole messy thing. I feel so sad for those babies.

[somemama]

Originally posted by Liz14
I also prop feed. I prop my breast in DS’s mouth and I go back to sleep

ME TOO!!!!!



I actually saw a Grandma's "newborn pics" the other day, and the baby had this contraption in his mouth. I thought there was some sort of problem with the baby, but it was probably just this d*mn feeding thing!

I can see how this could lead to overweight babes--if baby comfort sucks at the breast, no problem. But if baby is comfort sucking on a pacifier and getting fed at the same time--now THAT could be a problem, weight-wise.

[JessicaS]

That is horrid!!!

Good grief! And people blame AP for creating monster children!?!?!?!? That is unblelievable!!

I can see using it in extreme cases of disabled parents but that it..

[MysticHealerMom]

I love you ladies! You get all insensed about the right things

There might be a valid use for that bottle contraption, like in the car someone suggested. Or perhaps some sort of infermery? I suppose you could see your baby's face better if you were holding your child while nursing. And of course the bottle is less likely to fall out of the baby's mouth. But, if the bottle is lower than the pacifier part, wouldn't the baby be more likely to get air in their stomach? Those are just some thoughts off the top of my head... But, I gotta agree with you, it is bizarre and does seem like another "time saving device" the labor from which we don't need to be saved from.

I enjoyed the hamster anaology

Not making light, here!! Just right with you about what you feel passionatly about!

Lori

[merpk]

... by Liz14
I also prop feed. I prop my breast in DS’s mouth and I go back to sleep ...

I was wondering about that cleaning-the-tube thing, too. My bigger ones are into these curly circular straws now, and we have two or three, but it's impossible to clean them, they get gross so fast. Just running soap&water through doesn't do it.

Maybe they have to boil it. Aaaaahh, another tool to make mothering easier. :



- Amy

[CrunchyGranolaMom]

My understanding is that these things were created for parents of triplets and other high-order multiples, and now, like some baby-product Frankinstein, have gone where they were never intended to go....

[Marlena]

Ya know, I remember reading horror stories several years back about orphaned babies in Romania who weren't fed individually, but just had bottles propped up for them in their mouths with a stick or something. I thought it was horrifying at the time, as did the commentators on the story (in the mainstream media). So what makes this different? The babies aren't orphans (not all of them, certainly)? It's happening in the U.S., rather than in a former East Bloc nation? Why aren't there outraged stories about this in the media?

[Faith]

What will they think of next~ seriously, after this it can only get worse!

But to answer the cleaning question, I had to use a SNS for a while with my second baby, and the way I cleaned that was by forcing water thru it. It was not that difficult. Just fill the container with hot soapy water and squeeze thru the tube...(But of course I hated it.)

I think the saddest part is, the moms are *happy*!! The have become so set in our culture they do not even realize what they are missing and probably never will! They do not even know what they have lost, and they are raising these children to be like them!

[Curly Locks]

I'm so glad that moms like us exist. Do ya think we can change the world pronto??? I'm ready for it to be an AP/Mothering world!!!! I'm having a very hard time this holiday b/c of all the turmoil in my extended family and I know my life would be so different if my grandparents knew about AP and bottles were non-existant. I read about the history of bottles and this tube invention that was the fad way back when as well (I'm sorry to hear it is back) in "Milk, Money, and Madness: The Politics and Culture of Breastfeeding." It is so disturbing that a mother's responsibilities and biological make-up is so misunderstood and so skewed in our culture. Like looking a certain way or being a wonderful friend, wife, daughter or having a clean house or fabulous career is seen as just as important or valid as caring for a child. And the true gift and miracle of our breasts and our milk is so unknown to billions.

I know this is off topic a little but this Christmas season I've been thinking about my role as a mother and I view myself as holy as the virgin Mary in a way. My job (as is every mother) is to raise a child that is here to "save" the world. I know baby Jesus was sent here to "save" the world but I think every child in his or her own way has the ability to save the world. And we are changing the world one baby at a time.

[Dot.mom]

In addition all of the attachment issues, which you have all stated so eloquently, why isn't that tube thing a strangulation hazard????

[acystay]

You know it doesn't really surprise that this sort of thing exists. Too many "mainstream" moms don't fully understand the close contact required for feeding so see it as a hassle.

Prime example...

The other day I was speaking to another mom. She was very shocked at my dd mobility. Her ds is the same age. I made some comment like I can't believe she's getting so independent. (dd is 11mos) Her only comment was that she couldn't wait until her son could hold his own bottle! She also made this comment after a group of just discussed what we do for teething. She just leaves her son to cry in his crib like that particular morning b/c he woke up too early.

I just hope this mom doesn't find out about this!

Oh, and about the Romania babies...

Last year a student at the school where I taught was an orphan from Romania. He's now 14. There's is clearly something not quite right about him. He's the sweetest kid though, but so in need of constant attention. I have no doubts that it was his first few years in Romania as an orphan

stacy

[Jude's Mama]

LAZY!

[*~*SewHappyNow*~*]

Goes against all common sense...as usual.

T

You know what I don't get? I never heard of AP or anything like that before I was pregnant, but it was essentially the way I wanted to raise my children, it was basically the way my mother raised me. So, how is it this mainstream stuff is so, well...mainstream? If you're not interested in snuggling your baby and raising your kids in the most loving way possible, why on earth do these people have kids to begin with??!!

Is it boredom? Something to do? Someone please explain it to me, cuz I don't get it at all How did people get to this point of wanting to be so detached from a living, breathing being that they created? How could you resist holding your little one?

We always talk about these nitwits and how they just don't get it, but I can't figure out how anyone just wouldn't "get it"

[kater07]

I actually pushed DS in his stroller at the mall a while back (he's sick and used to take EBM in a bottle for medical reasons)...we were shopping, and I was paranoid (not anymore) about someone snatching him from my arms, so I was letting my grandma push him while I fed him (yeah, stupid and horribly detached in hindsight). She was astounded that I didn't have a bottle prop, which I guess was used way back when, so I wouldn't have to hold the bottle for him.

My parents also told me about these. Said that when I was a baby ppl used them all the time (I was bfed), but they were spendy, so lots of ppl just propped with pillows.

I NEVER in a thousands years thought about leaving him alone to suck on a bottle whenever he wanted it...I was shocked that ppl actually did that!

UGH UGH UGH...now I see the error of my ways, and since we no longer have to monitor DS's intake, he's BFed anywhere and everywhere and I have less fear of someone snatching him.

Today, I am astounded by ppl not wanting to hold babies to feed them. It saddens me that someday DS won't need me to hold him so he can eat.

[mamaduck]

Kater -- please don't feel guilty! Doing something like that now and then -- when you have valid concerns and special circumstances is NO BIG DEAL. It is the people who actively seek out ways to ignore their babies as much as possible who should be feeling guilty. Not you -- we ALL take shortcuts now and then in certains situations. Truly.