Hello everyone,

When I have seen sleepy, fatigued babies who needed urgent supplementation,
I wondered if a small sterile dropper could be effective? The quantities are
tiny-just a few mls and so easy to dribble gently onto a baby’s lips and
into their mouth. It seemed to me a lot less invasive than bottle feeding
when the supp was essential. Also mums who are favouring the bottle may be
more receptive to it.  

I noted in the recent discussion on supp techniques that the dropper was not
mentioned, so I searched the archives and found many references in 1995 and
1996 but nothing since. Is a dropper no longer a recommended strategy in
these (rare) situations? Has there been a shift in thinking since then,
based on something I have missed?  

My 3rd child was born with a palsy that affected her facial tone, making it
impossible for her to maintain a seal around the breast longer than 3 sucks
before she would fall off and need to re-attach. This pattern of feeding
continued over many months until slowly the number of sucks increased-4 then
off, 5 then off etc, but the pattern of shallow suckling was too entrenched
to change by 12 months of age when she could finally sustain normal feeding.
We tried every alternative to feed her during the occasional times when my
nipple pain was unbearable, and the most successful method was by far the
dropper.   

I am not going to suggest something to mums simply on the strength that it
worked well for me, but wondered what other’s opinions are here. I've been
out of the loop lately...

Best wishes,
Meg Kingsley IBCLC  
Australia


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