I only see babies after they are long gone from the NICU.  My perception is 
that having a baby at the breast with a nipple shield with appropriate 
follow-up is way better than having them exclusively bottle-fed...which is 
what I see most frequently.  In my experience, if a baby leaves the NICU 
removing some milk on his own at the breast, it seems they have a much 
better chance at long-term breastfeeding.  If they are exclusively 
bottle-fed until they come see me at 2-3 months of age, it is sometimes 
impossible to convince them to take the breast.  (I should say I can usually 
coax them into staying on if I squirt milk quickly behind the shield the 
entire time, but many parents will not do this at home.)

The keys to success as I see it would be:

-being sure the baby is on the breast itself, not just the tip of the nipple 
shield

-pumping as long as needed to optimize supply if it helps baby mostly get 
food at the breast

-making sure the baby always opens WIDE before getting on the shield (this 
really helps when time to wean off shield, AND helps wqith getting baby on 
farther)

-follow-up frequently with naked weight checks and pre/post weights until 
SURE the baby is flying solo.

Kathy Leeper, MD, IBCLC
Lincoln, NE 

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html