Nikki reported on:
<< At a breastfeeding training session in Panama City, Florida, one of the
 participants said that she used the Haberman instead of bottles or cups in
 her hospital if babies needed supplementing. She reported that those babies
 never had a problem making the transition to the breast. We all encouraged
 her to publish this finding. >>

Nikki, I hope she does publish the findings.  I've had occasion to hear the
same report from another IBCLC regarding another infant feeding bottle --
that is, "never had a problem transitioning to the breast if they used that
particular bottle."  I'm very suspicious of the "never had a problem"
reports, because in my experience -- which is not the same as everyone else's
-- and is not as long as many others -- only 15 years as an LC, though nearly
30 in MCH -- I have found that there are MANY babies who have difficulty
transferring from the bottle to the breast, regardless of the type of bottle.
 Barbara Wilson Clay refers to bottle nipples and nipple shields as providing
a "super stimulus" to the palate, and I agree with her.  Babies don't have to
draw the bottle nipple into their mouths -- it is simply put in.  It doesn't
shorten up and disappear if they break suction.  Even if they have to "suck
harder" to get the fluid out, they will recieve immediate gratification --
the first suck (good, bad, right, wrong) will yield fluid.  They do not have
to suckle as they do on the breast.  They do not have to have their mouths &
JAWS wide open to encompass a large portion of silicone as they do breast
tissue.  And some babies, being the smart little creatures that they are,
will simply not return to the admittedly more difficult to learn mechanics of
breastfeeding.

The danger with comments in hospitals such as "if we use this type of
alternative feeding method -- whatever it is -- Haberman/Avent/Nuk -- it
leads to indiscriminate (I'm afraid) supplementation -- because babies "never
have any difficulty then transferring to the breast if we use this..."  It
has been my experience that infants are supplemented more often than they
need to be -- or people (notice I didn't specify what sort of people) will
want to top the baby off because mom doesn't have "enough" colostrum and baby
isn't satisfied -- and because "we are using the XYZ bottle, we don't have to
worry about nipple confusion..."

Jan B., in sunny Wheaton

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