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Old July 14th 05, 12:27 PM
 
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Kim wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Kim wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
wrote:


Good grief. Take a breath there. I really don't know if you're being

gruff
with a reason or if you are somehow insulted by Jim's attempt to caution

at
what "experts" may say at any given time.


Jim went and punched my buttons again, he's
really good at it, it's all HIS fault dammit . . . !


Heck, I wasn't even trying to do that...

heh heh. Can I actually begin to believe that I am having
a "fun" exchange with you, Mr. Kelly?


They're all fun, aren't they?
I think bottle feeding is the preferred mode today,
isn't it?


Definitely not from my vantage point in my particular world.


I have three daughters 41, 35 and 33. All are professionals
in various
fields. The eldest is single and in Louisville, no kids,
the middle one
is local, has four kids and is a stay-at-home mom. The
youngest is also
local, has a 3-year-old daughter and works part time
out of her home office.


Sounds like a cut across the average for even around here,
I'd say. I am 50
and I've resembled any one of them (well, except for
the single part--I
never got to be "single" for any real length of time. Married
pretty much
outta HS, divorced three years later, a year after that began a 14-year
relationship with my long-time, and still, friend; now married 16 years and this is it. No more.

The two locals are part of a mob of thirtysomethings,
maybe 12 all
told, family, classmates, etc. It's basically a sorority.


They're lucky to have all that support around.

I understand. This sounds kind of the way my younger sister,
now about 45
or so, lived her life. Always had a clutch of girlfriends
to "run around"
with and play the suburban mom/wife with. I was witness to
this for a
couple of days and ran screaming away from it. Moms who just
seemed to love
getting up, loading x-number of kids into their vehicle as the
drive-to-school mom for that week, run around and do errands--
some even for
the other moms--, etc., etc. I mean, I have an office job and have even
lived in a cubicle for an extended period of time, but PUHLEEZE put the
brakes on when it comes to that kind of happiness....LOL


Main point is whether it's a choice or not, I think.

Side note: How many men get those kinds of choices?

Almost all of
them are educated and they all live in better-than-average
circumstances here in the suburbs of the northeast corridor. I'm not
certain on this point but I don't know of any who are not
in their own
homes. This not Texas or Michigan which brings up the
possibility of
some differences in demographics


Also local culture. Plays a big role, believe it or not.

plus I'm not really plugged into what
"average" actually means around here. Very few of these
women work full
time. Some peck at part-time jobs. About 2/3 of them are
stay-at-home moms.


Here on Philly's Main Line, we have the whole spectrum, from
stay at home moms with babies to moms with highpower professional jobs
and nannies who are doing full-time-plus jobs. And pumping...
Also single moms, blended families, families where one or the other
parent travels a *lot* for work, etc., etc.

Believe it or not, you are describing pretty darned average for around here.
I'll never forget mid-chewing on a tuna sandwich a couple of
years ago as
the 22-year old on the other side of the cubicle wall was
having a melt-down
because her childrens' "nanny" and house maid were embroiled in a real
argument over whose responsibility it actually was to be sure
the baby was
ready for mum and pop in the afternoons when they get home from work!!!!!
WHAT???!!!


What's the problem? That's an important issue and mom was miles away.

One problem in many careers today is that you cannot simply drop
out of the workforce for several years and then hope to find a
job later, because things change too fast.

Several times a year they all clump together for some
birthday or
holiday gathering and I'm usually part of it and is where I
make my
"observations". Not to ignore the fact that I also have gobs
of
hands-on experience from the "bad old days" Jim cited when the
marketeers supposedly glorified bottle-feeding and sold it.
Which I dispute.


Your oldest is 41 and youngest is 33. That means you were in baby mode
from about 1964 to 1975 or so. The period of intense selling I was
talking about was somewhat earlier.

And all of yours were 100% bottlefed, right?

Well, Jim? Have you anything to say about whether you were
actually making
it the bad ol days, or whether you were drawing a picture of
how "we" like
to listen to and believe the, uh, experts, when they really may only be
spewing what gets them the buck that particular day?


My first point is that there *was* a time when bottle/formula feeding
was definitely pushed as *the best way* to feed a
baby. At least in the USA that I lived in. The old fashioned way was
definitely discouraged, or at least put way down on the
bottom shelf behind the counter.

But the main point is that the "professional experts" pushed that
idea, and people bought it hook, line and sinker. And there are
major analogies to "modern" technologies.

I think it's the
latter and that Mr. Kelly is misunderstanding your intention.


Oh yes.

But, even
with an intention such as he may believe, this has made for an interesting
topic in this here amateur radio newsgroup...heh heh


Then I have succeeded in my purpose!

I never counted heads but this mob has a virtual army of
under-12 type
kids. Breast feeding amongst this bunch is overwhelmingly
prevails.


Sure - because, for them, it's easier and better.

Once in awhile a bottle has shown up here and there but I
don't know if
it was "pumped" or if it was Enfimile . . (sp? Been a LONG
time!).


Enfamil. Isomil. All sorts of stuff. Price a case some time.

So
that's where I'm coming from for whatever it might be worth.


Well, imagine the lifestyle you describe, above, and trying to lug around bottles, etc.


As opposed to lugging around the....alternative apparatus...

I mean, I did it, but MAYBE (big maybe) if I had it to do
over, the ease of breastfeeding would bring a bigger appeal
next time around.


BINGO! You've done both and found "the old fashioned way" was actually
easier and better for *you*.

I bet if you ask your daughters or their friends, though, that
they
are breast pumping. It is so commonplace today that women walk through our
halls at work non-chalantly (sp?) carrying the apparatus with
which they do
the pumping, often in an unused office or in the restroom.


'zactly.

Dee wrote:

"Well when I was planning to have children, I sat down and evaluated
the alternatives based on my lifestyle and the technology available to
me. I ended up working full time and choosing breast feeding for both
children. I didn't care one bit for historical precedence or political
correctness".

Exactly the way I'd expect an engineer to deal with the matter.


And look which technology won out....

73 de Jim, N2EY