Last year I presented a class on alternative feedings to nurses at our
hospital.  One of the ways was finger feeding with tubing.  Other ways were
cup feeding, SNS, eyedroppers (which we do not carry), and syringe feeding.
Nurses were scared to do cup feedings because of fear of aspiration and since
we did not have eyedroppers or SNS, finger feeding with tubing became  popular
on the night shift.  Then one of the nurses comes back from a conference on
breastfeeding and says speaker said "Whoever invented finger feeding should be
shot".  Local lactation consultant calls me at the hospital and complains that
babies she is seeing for latch-on failure are so used to finger feeding and
pressure on palate, that they are similar to nipple confused babies that have
had  a bottle in hospital.  So, I asked that the nurses stop finger feeding
and now they are in an uproar because they are not comfortable with cup
feeding.  I do have some SNS in lactation store for sale, but have noticed
that they leak all over the mom's chest.  So........my question is, have any
LC's out there had this experience with "finger confusion" for babies that
have been alternatively fed this way to avoid "nipple confusion".  Thanks.
Loni Denman, RN, IBCLC