I do have a skewed view, as I see the "worst" babies...anyone referred in 
who is over 2 weeks of age and anyone the LCs I work with "give up" on. 
Many come already mostly bottle feeding.

I find bottles useful in certain situations...and as has been pointed out 
many times over the years, the treatment plan must be customized to the 
parent(s) abilities to cope.  There are occassions...like a 6-week-old just 
at birthweight....mom has very low milk supply, and baby starving.  You know 
baby likely will need supplement for quite a while, mom is usually 
completely surprised and guilt-ridden over the lack of gain, and will need 
to pump until baby stronger and original problem is solved.  So I would 
choose a bottle that helps the baby gain quickly, and perhaps encourages 
baby to change position of mouth if necessary.

If baby comes in refusing the breast and only bottle-feeding, I will use the 
ventaire series...you can try it yourself to see if the baby is sucking at 
all.  Often they get NOTHING from the ventaire, cuz they are only chewing on 
their regular bottle.  SO the ventaire can teach them to actually suck. (as 
an aside...the wide-mouthed stage 1 nipple flows more easily than the narrow 
stage 1 ventaire) And it gives me information about how they THINK they best 
get milk.

Anyway, like nipple shields, bottles are a feeding tool that can be useful 
in certain situations.

Kathy Leeper, MD, IBCLC
MilkWorks- Lincoln, NE

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