What's in my bottle anyway?

If you know me or have read anthing I have posted since I went back to work, you will know all about the nightmare we faced when we tried to introduce Kira to the bottle. After all the lactation visits and traumas with breastfeeding, the last thing we ever expected was that Kira would refuse to drink from a bottle. We started early and slowly, and we noticed that it took a very looooonnnnnnnnggggg time for her to down even an ounce or two. And the problem only got worse when I went back to work. Being the lactivist that I am, I ever so carefully pumped and filled each bottle with lovingly saved mama's milk. She ever so lovingly threw a huge fit to anyone who tried to give it to her. She only wanted momma and would rather starve than take that milk from the icky bottle. We tried various nipples and even bought a bottle shaped...well, like a boob! Nothing worked. Poor baby was so confused, but learned how to go about her day and simply wait for me to come home a feed her.
This has gone on for the past 6 months. Six months of pumping, six months of freezing, and six months of making sure she got nothing buy breastmilk in her bottles, even though she seemed afraid to drink it.
And then it happened. I went to New York to visit my parents and wanted to go to the mall. Since Kira had been nursing every 2 hours around the clock, I knew I needed to leave a bottle "just in case." The only problem was that I hadn't pumped any milk for her. So, I did what any tired, overworked, ready to shop mom would do. I grabbed my emergency single feed packet of Similac, showed my mom how to mix it up and left. I knew she hated the bottle anyway, so it was just a way to distract Kira until I returned.
To my surprise, when I arrived at the house a few hours later, I couldn't find my mom OR Kira. The house was quiet and the bottle was no longer in the kitchen.
I wandered upstairs and found my mom sitting on the bed with Kira happily sucking down the formula like it was a new found treat! Of all the sites!
Since I had to come up with a reason for this new found fact, here it is (in my opinion only!):
Kira doesn't hate the bottle, she just associates the milk with me and does not understand why this great comforting part of mama comes out of something that is definately NOT mama. Formula (while not as tasty as mama's milk, I'm sure) is not associated with mama at all and can be indulged in without confusion.
So, there you have it. All those months of agonizing over my starving baby. All those nights of make-up feedings. All those bottles of wasted milk. And all I had to do was fill them up with formula.
Now, just so you know that I have not been lactivist turned forumla promoter, I fill the bottles with just enough formula to change the taste. The rest is my carefully pumped and saved milk. Tricky, yes, but she is actually taking in MORE breastmilk than before.
Success at last.