Learning to bottle-feed Ester
05 September 2010
In Kisoro, there is always a need for children to be admitted to Potter’s Village, but we are bursting at its seams. Rather than admitting baby Ester, we had to put her onto community support, despite the fact that she is only one week old.
Although this goes against our policy of admitting all newborns in need of care, there are just no spare cots and no spare space! We definitely need to build the second babies’ home soon!
In a culture where bottles don’t exist outside of children’s homes, it is difficult for people to adapt to the differences in bottle feeding compared with breast feeding. For example, bottle fed babies eat on a schedule, whereas breast fed babies eat whenever they cry (or at least in Uganda!). Furthermore, the family has to learn how to mix the proper amounts of cow’s milk with water so that the concentration is correct. This is no easy task for many uneducated villagers, yet Ester’s carers are doing their best. Despite the fact that Ester is on community support, her care-takers are doing a good job of bottle feeding her.