Dr. Zibners.com

How to know if your child's illness or injury is really an emergency

articles

Can I offer you coffee? Cappuccino? Formula?

Sometimes I’m almost at a loss for words. Notice I said almost. You all know I think breast milk is awesome. And you might know that both my kids were formula fed, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I gave birth to neither of them. So while “breast is best,” formula isn’t poison. So what horrifies me about the following is not that it’s about formula. It’s because it’s about luxury formula. Yes, you read that right.

Sometimes I’m almost at a loss for words. Notice I said almost. You all know I think breast milk is awesome. And you might know that both my kids were formula fed, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I gave birth to neither of them. So while “breast is best,” formula isn’t poison. So what horrifies me about the following is not that it’s about formula. It’s because it’s about luxury formula. Yes, you read that right.

Turns out that Nestle is introducing BabyNes, a formula dispensing system nearly identical to their Nespresso coffee drinks. You know, the little cartridges you pop into a machine and a few seconds later you’re sipping away at a foamy latte? Yes, soon the mothers and infants of Switzerland will be enjoying the convenience of 30 second cappuccinos and bottles of formula.
Expensive? You bet. The formula capsules cost four times more than the coffee variety and those aren’t cheap. But that’s not the part that upsets me the most. If someone wants to pour money down the drain, that’s their business. And no, I’ve nothing against Nestle. In fact, my kids were on a formula originally created by that boundary pushing—and at times controversial—corporation. Nope, it’s not even the thought that mom could confuse her macchiato with her kid’s breakfast.

It’s the fact that the machine heats the water. I’m sorry, but my kids drank room temperature milk. There is zero reason to heat a baby’s bottle. No, I wouldn’t serve it cold, but you certainly don’t have to heat it up. And what happens to a baby who gets warm milk? Yes, that’s right, he insists on continuing to drink warm milk. Which means tearing around the shopping mall in desperate search of a cup of hot water in which to warm your baby’s bottle.

So call me cruel, but I’m sticking to my guns on this one. Any future child I may have will get the same room temperature milk as Eva and Zoe got. This Mama isn’t searching for a microwave while her little one screams the desperate cries of a starving infant. No matter how cool it might be to have a little baby cappuccino machine. 

What say you?

Dr. Lara Zibners, Jun 02, 2011

Find more articles like this one:

• Topic:

• Keywords:

Comments

Discuss this article.

No Comments yet.

Commenting is not available in this section entry.