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From Bottle to Breast
Explaining Breastfeeding to Bottle-fed Kids By Shel Franco
So you bottle-fed your first born. Maybe you lacked information. Maybe you lacked support. Maybe it was simply a lifestyle choice. Regardless, you've decided to breastfeed this baby, and although you've already got lists of questions, you can go ahead and add one more: "How do I explain breastfeeding to my bottle-fed child?"
"My bottle-fed baby was 2 when his sister was born and just about to give up his bottle," says Mary Hoover of Rochester, N.Y. "When I nursed his sister and didn't give the bottle to her, he asked me if boys were for the bottle and girls used Mommy."
Reactions like this are sure to put a smile on your face. After all, they're oh-so-cute and easy to answer. But the questions can get more difficult, requiring explanations that some moms never anticipated.
Eventually, her son asked if he was breastfed, too.
When questions like this surface, it is best to be honest. "I would say to my older child that at that time, I did not get support on how to succeed in breastfeeding, and now that I have the support and my body is able to do it, I am again breastfeeding, since it is good for both Baby and my body," says childbirth educator and breastfeeding consultant Connie Dello Buono of San Jose, Calif.
That's exactly how Marie Geiger* of Pittsburgh, Pa., handled the situation with her 9-year-old son. "I basically told him that since I was a young, first-time mom with no one helping me, I really didn't know what to do," she says. "Whereas after going to this class that I went to with my second, I learned a lot that made a big difference ..."
By approaching the situation in this manner, you are eliminating any possibility of resentment or harboring the idea that, "If breast milk is best for babies and Mom never breastfed me, she must love this baby more."
As an added bonus, pointing out that decisions made with a lack of information are often different than those decisions made with information shows your child that people never stop learning, says Jana McCarthy, a certified lactation consultant in Lake Forest, Calif. After all, adults don't really know everything, and in the long run, mistakes are made. This just might be the perfect opportunity to teach your child about trying again.
"I think [breastfeeding a new baby after bottle-feeding the older sibling] is a great learning experience," says McCarthy.
