I'm working as a post-partum doula with a family whose baby was born at
about 5 pounds, when as low as 4.5, and is about 5.5 now.  He's 3 weeks
old, mom is using nipple shields she come home from hospital with.

He's being supplemented with 1 oz of expressed milk after most feeds to
get the weight on him, and he's responded to that.  They started out
using a syringe with a feeding tube to supplement, which he did very
well with, but when I last saw them they had switched to a bottle for
the supplement.

When I had the opportunity to do the supplementing I noticed that he
didn't maintain suction on the bottle nipple at all, and am wondering if
he's having the same problem at the breast (hence the slurping sound
we're hearing sometimes).  I ended up cup-feeding him instead.

He really doesn't have any meat or fat in his cheeks and I'm wondering
if that's his main difficulty.  I've seen the Dancer Hand mentioned for
cases like this, but I don't have any experience with the technique.

Any pointers?

regards,
Beth Johnson
Perinatal Educator, PP Doula
--
 (o)<  Beth Johnson
 / \   Springfield MA USA
_\ w   "Seiryoku zenryo; jitta kyoe."

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