Does anyone here have experience with breastfeeding a baby with a deviated
septum?  I have permission to post the following information from a
colleague who is working with this situation.  This baby is several weeks
old and is having problems nursing because she can't breath through her
nose.  I have searched the archives but could only find one or two
references having to do with noisy baby's and not with breastfeeding
specifically.

Mary Romskog

The mom with the baby with a deviated septum finally followed
up with me today.  The baby is gaining weight better now that they are mixing
polycose (sp?) with breast milk in a bottle. She still doesn't
breastfeed well, and fusses until the mom gives her a bottle
(mom tries at each feeding, calms her once, then will go on to
the bottle).

She is using a Haberman feeder with success. The baby chokes if
syringe-fed, and she has used what she describes as a "cup feeder
nipple" and the baby also chokes on that and possible aspirates
some of the fluid.

The are waiting for the results of a CAT scan from earlier this
week, but she said the doctors believe that her septum completely
blocks her left nostril. (There is some chance that there is a
small hole, but I don't know how that affects her treatment or
prognosis). The parents do not plan to have her septum surgically
repaired since they have been told it would require surgery 1x or
2x a year until the child is a teenager (to keep up with her
development).

The mom is mostly overworked with trying to feed at the breast,
then bottle-feeding, then pumping for 40 minutes (which she does
each time the baby eats).

Did you want to see what LactNet has to say or go anywhere else
with this?

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