Bottle Nursing

Nursing a child is so much more than food or nutrition. It is comfort, bonding, showing love, and even the earliest form of communication. Nursing a child doesn't even have to involve the breast. While breast is best, some are unable to breast feed, or need to bottle feed breast milk. Other situations including day care, foster parenting, or leaving baby with daddy or grandma requires bottle feeding. Bottle feeding is not all bad, or even not bad at all, when done in a nurturing way. Unfortunately, I have seen people bottle feeding their children in ways that are neither loving nor nurturing. Bottle feeding in a car seat always breaks my heart. I've seen a lot of variations -propping a bottle up while the parents have dinner, having an older sibling hold a bottle while the infant is in the car seat perched on a grocery cart, they even make an apparatus that holds the bottle tipped upside down and dangles from the car seat handle. I've known people to prop a bottle up while the infant is in the crib (not only is this sad, but it is very dangerous!). And when the baby is old enough to hold their own bottle I've seen parents just lie them on the floor and give them a bottle, or of course, give it to them in the car seat.

To be fair, breast feeding is not always nurturing either. A nursing mom can find ways to busy herself while feeding too, but it is impossible to breast feed and not touch in some way.

You don't have to breast feed in order to nurse. Bottle feeding done in a loving and respectful way is called Bottle Nursing, or bottle feeding using the breast feeding model. Bottle nursing is:

- Holding the baby close while the caregiver focuses on the child. This enables the baby to gaze at your face, smell your scent, feel security in your arms and in essence, bond.
- Holding the baby close and giving comfort while a baby sucks on a pacifier (mimicking the natural comfort sucking done on the breast.)
- Switching sides while feeding to promote eye-hand coordination (and lets face it, to keep your own arm from going to sleep)
- Feeding on demand.
- Carefully observing when the child is finished, being sure not to over-feed. It is easy to over-feed with a bottle because it often pours out with a little manipulation. Over-feeding at the breast is virtually impossible.
- Allowing your child to seek comfort from you, rather than a bottle, pacifier, or thumb. Not that these "transitional objects" are all bad, but they often replace the needed comfort of a parent. These objects can be useful if a child is in day care, or away from the parent for any period of time, but they shouldn't be relied on when the parent, or primary caregiver is near.

Bottle feeding can absolute be a bonding time if you want it to be. If it is not used as simply a convenience tool, and you focus on your child as you bottle feed, bottle feeding can be just as loving and bonding.