Absolutely... the baby needs to be fed adequately, somehow, while we are
working on improving the latch, etc. But, as Deborah wries, why does it
have to be by bottle?
I know Jack says SNS is first choice, but I find it hard to convince
mothers (and myself) that this is always true, if the mother is
suffering from sore nipples and also feeling that everything is
complicated and fidgety. This might make her feel that the baby is
spending even more time on the breast, it is still hurting, she still
has to pump afterwards, it is taking a lot more time...
I am still pretty impressed by cup-feeding. It is quick and easy, and it
is easy to convince moms with sore nipples caused by a bad latch that
the baby can be taught gradually to latch better, and meanwhile can be
fed pumped ebm and get "nothing but breast milk."
To differ a little bit with a previous post, no, I find the idea of
"nothing but breastmilk" empowering rather than burdensome, even --  no,
especially, when a mother has a "difficult" baby with a poor latch
nothing but breast milk. Studies on postpartum depression suggest that
we should validate a mother's feeling that her baby is more needy or
difficult to manage than others; I think we should also validate her
feeling that breastfeeding is difficult with this baby for one or
another reasons we might try to explain. Being able to breastfeed, under
these circumstances, is a wonderful thing she should be proud of. (Other
people on this list know that I bragged about my youngest baby's "body
by breastmilk only" and felt truly empowered.) But I find it more
empathetic to tell a mother that it is wonderful if she can offer
nothing but breastmilk... Not that this is the minimum acceptable
standard, but that it is the optimum, the best, the "tops" (sorry).
Jo-Anne, co-creator of a body-by-breastmilk masterpiece

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