i, too, like chris, have asked to use a haberman for supplementing in a
hospital that had no policy for any other method of feeding, and the hospital
LC (an IBCLC, too, i might add) was absolutely astonished at this idea. she
thought the idea of the bottle was to make the feeding fast and easy for the
mom. she said "but habermans are only used for babies with cleft palates that
can't nurse!" i severely bit my tongue to avoid saying, well, if they can take
a haberman, why CAN'T they nurse, and persevered with getting the haberman
used. no deal. they didn't even have them in that hospital. the father went
out and bought one (unfortunately, even though the parents were beginning to
wise up, breastfeeding was already totally ruined in this case).

however, i do think that using the haberman imparts several important lessons
to mothers and babies alike, one of them being that "yes, feedings can take
this long" when comparing time at the breast with the time needed to feed
slowly with the haberman.

carol brussel IBCLC