Some time ago I was called to the home of a one-week old who had stopped
breathing and had to be resuscitated within hours of arriving home from
the hospital.  The parents called me within an hour of his discharge
from the NICU.  He had apparently been breastfeeding well before his
respiratory (and I think cardiac) arrest.  He had been bottlefed in the
hospital because he wouldn't breastfeed.  He appeared to have been
chronically overstimulated.  I was alarmed at the vigorous stimulation
the parents used to arouse him for feedings and, of course, tried to
help them move toward gentle stimulation.  I had the feeling that after
all the interventions to save his life, these had been the only kind of
stimuli to which he had responded.

I believe we tried just about every trick I knew to get him to
breastfeed--all without success.  I left them with everything we had
tried and left them cup feeding and mom pumping.  We had tried a nipple
shield without success.  When the baby was 4 months old, I got a call
from the mom asking how to wean from the shield.  Baby was successfully
and exclusively breastfeeding and mom had already begun weaning, mainly
needed confirmation of what she was using.  She apparently was having no
difficulty with supply and baby had been breastfeeding with the shield
for months.  She called again when he was a year old, just after they
celebrated the one-year anniversary of his ALTE (apparently
life-threatening event).  He was still breastfeeding.

I agree with Joy and Pat.  If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Just had a thought.  Has anyone ever had a mom use a shield instead of
pumping and bottle feeding if she couldn't bear the thought of
breastfeeding but wanted to have the baby get breast milk?  Was just
wondering if that would put enough distance between mom and baby to be
comfortable for some of these moms?
--
Bonnie Jones, RN, ICCE, IBCLC
from the sunny S.W. USA
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