I agree with Denise that if a baby is "old" enough to bottle feed, it is
old enough to breastfeed. I recently attended the conference in
Albuquerque where Kitti Frantz, Paula Meier and Ruth Lawrence all
addressed preemie breastfeeding issues. Paula is completing research that
shows that coordination of suck and swallow is easier when breastfeeding
than bottlefeeding; bottled preemies had a higher incidence of apnea and
bradycardia. The frustrating thing for us is the fact that it takes "at
least 10 years" for disseminated research to hit the application
level....  I have not had direction interactions with medical staff on
this question, have always worked only from the side of coaching the mom,
but if I were to address this, I think I would hit the "can the baby suck
or not" issue and leave breastfeeding out until I got a satisfactory
answer on that crucial question.
-Lisa

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Lisa A. Marasco, IBCLC                                /  [log in to unmask]
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant    /  [log in to unmask]

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