Hi, Melissa,

No, it is not standard procedure to flavor nipples, of the natural or
artificial variety.  Perhaps this one nurse is doing it on her own?  Makes me
shudder to contemplate!  Pacifiers, though, are a necessary evil in the NICU.
 We encourage mother's presence and kangaroo care, even with infants on
ventilators if they are stable.  However, some interventions, i.e., arterial
lines and chest tubes, for example, preclude removal from the radiant warmer
or incubator.  The pacifier may be the only thing to settle a stressed out
infant.  We don't dip them in anything, however!

An infant for whom the only intervention is an abdominal tube, clamped or to
suction, should reside in his/her mother's arms, when she is there.  However,
if the "tube in the gut" is actually an arterial line in the umbilicus, which
one might expect in an infant that was coded, few NICUs in that instance
would allow the baby to be held and breastfed. The risk of it dislodging and
the infant hemorrhaging is too great.  Of course, the hospital should have
provided a pump, and of course, the baby should have been receiving mother's
milk.  Good luck helping her at home.  You'll make it happen!

Warm regards,
Kim

Kim Block RN, MSN, IBCLC (10 year recertified!)
Overlook Hospital Breastfeeding Support Program
99 Beauvoir Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901
(908) 522-BABY
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