[BlueIrises]

Curiosity is getting the best of me and I am wondering about the history of bottlefeeding. There seems to be so much controversy about BF, esp public BF, so I just wondering why it is like this in our country. It seems every other country in the world has no problem with BF, as it should be, but here we are so pro-bottlefeeding and BF is often seen as obscene.

So does anyone know when in history, bottle feeding was introduced and why BF was discouraged? How many generations are we from when BF was the norm in the US?

I'm just wondering if my grandmother's generation had such issues with BF or did it all start before then? My mother bottlefed all four of us. I plan on BF but I'm really put off by all this negativity that surrounds something that is so natural and important to my child's health...

Thanks for any info...

 

[SabbathD]

The LLL group that I attended last night is going to be showing "Busting Out" , this is a description from the website -



Quote:

BUSTING OUT is a disarmingly honest and intimate exploration of our society's fascination with women's breasts. Directors Strickwerda and Spellman Smith unflinchingly examine the good, the bad and the ugly sides of this American icon, delving into the history and politics of breast obsession in the US. From breast-crazy men shouting "Flash those racks!" to the fears of breast cancer and the disparate attitudes of cultures worldwide, the directors leave no stone unturned in their quest to demystify the American breast. BUSTING OUT combines personal story-telling with devastating analysis, sad case histories with humor, and frank talk of sexual subjects with the sweet innocence of a young girl shopping for her first bra. Told from the point of view of Strickwerda who lost her mother to breast cancer as a child, BUSTING OUT will challenge both women and men to question our obsession with breasts, and to gain a healthier perspective.

I am really excited to see it! I don't believe it speaks soley about breastfeeding, but I have often wondered the same thing you are asking.

But check this website out! Wow!

http://www.babybottle-museum.co.uk/

 

[kisagotami]

Here's a little exerpt from a paper I wrote for school last month on which was better the bottle or breast (I concluded breast of course!)

Before one can begin to analyze the differences between breastfeeding and bottle feeding it is important to understand the origins of each. Breastfeeding has been in existence since man. Adam and Eve did not have access to food processors and formula so Eve suckled her infants, probably until they had enough teeth to be able to eat whole foods on their own. Mary suckled Jesus, Cro-Magnon mom suckled Cro-Magnon baby and many woman today choose to nurse their babies.
The bottle feeding of formula, however, is quite a new development. Mothers who couldn't nurse bottle fed their babies a mixture of formula that was created by mixing 13 oz of evaporated milk with 19 oz of water and two tablespoons of either corn syrup or table sugar. Bottles themselves did not come into popular use until the industrial revolution and the rubber nipple didn't make its debut until 1845. The development of the formula used today came as an answer to the problem of infants who were lactose intolerant. In the 1870's, Nestlé's Infant Food, made with malt, cow's milk, sugar, and wheat flour, became available in the US, selling for $.50 a bottle. However infant formula did not become widely used until the 1960s and 1970s when companies began to provide inexpensive or free formula to hospitals in ready-to-feed bottles. Mothers who witnessed how well their newborns accepted these easily prepared formulas were often convinced to continue this practice at home (Schuman). This is a practice that continues today. However, when mothers chose the ease of bottle feeding they didn't realize that they were depriving their infants of the truly superior quality of breast milk.

 

[BlueIrises]

Well that museum link was quite disturbing...interesting, but rather disturbing to think of the horrific ways people have fed their babies in the past...

Thanks for the info ladies...I appreciate it!

 

[kisagotami]

Your welcome!

 

[Synchro246]

Milk, money, and Madness is a book about this subject. A good one at that.
I wonder if there are some women somewhere who have never seen a bottle and wouldn't know what it is if they did see one. I guess there probably are women. I would like to be living where ever they are.