I was delighted to see the article in the new Breastfeeding Review entitled
"Therapeutic teat use in babies who breastfeed poorly" 5(2): 37-42, 1997.
It confirms what some of us have been seeing - that a bottle with the right
teat, well-used, can actually help lead a baby to breastfeeding.

The authors use an old-fashioned rounded (not orthodontic or flattened or
short) teat, long enough to hit Chele Marmet's "S-spot" and slow enough
that the baby can manage the flow, and gently positioned (after eliciting a
gape) far enough back that the baby's lips flange on the wide part rather
than pursing.  They say "We do not expect the baby to necessarily adjust to
the long teat immediately, but... most babies adjust thier sucking action
within 5 minutes to one that closely matches what is required for
breastfeeding."

They've had over a 90% success rate with its use in 126 babies, the
exceptions including a baby with such tongue retraction that considerable
finger pressure was needed to overcome it and one who would nurse after
finger-feeding but not after bottle-feeding.  But most babies did well with
the teat and moved on to full breastfeeding within a few days to a few
weeks, sometimes latching for the first time after just a few minutes of
bottle-feeding.  About half the babies had already had experience w/
bottles, but not with this design or technique.

The authors (Robyn Noble and Anne Bovey) said that many of the mothers who
came to them did so at the end of their emotional rope, and many of the
more unusual feeding methods would simply have been too much for them to
use.  And besides, the bottle-feeding worked, and worked well.

We've debated bottles here many times before, always concluding that we
need to use whatever tool works best for a given situation.  But I'm
pleased to see someone else's evaluation of a tool that I've been using
more and more:  the plain, old-fashioned, long-shanked bottle teat.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY, eager for others' comments
on the article