I find this (pasted below) very interesting, and it stimulated me to ponder
something . ..

While i know bottles do not necessarily spell an end to breastfeeding, and
that they can sometimes be helpful in getting a baby back to the breast or
to the breast for the first time, i wonder if moms who use bottles for
supplementation instead of alternative feeding methods don't possibly run
the risk of giving up sooner, simply because they are feeding the baby in a
"continuable" way - in other words, they can keep feeding the baby with a
bottle, indefinitely, but when one is finger feeding or cup feeding a
newborn, it seems clear that it is a transitional tool, and the only thing
it would clearly transition to would be nursing at the breast.  On the
other hand, perhaps the fact that bottle-feeding is perceived as more
"do-able" than syringe feeding, etc,., keeps moms going longer . . .. .what
have others noticed in their practices?  do moms often feel they have given
up by giving bottles and that they might as well make it permanent, or do
they tend to be more tenacious because they can deal with giving bottles
for longer better than they can deal with finger or cup or syringe feeding
for a prolonged period.  i could see it going either way. Is there any
documented study or evidence for either one of these hypothesis? Would the
results be somewhat culturally dependant?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts,

Lyla Wolfenstein

>Subject: Re: Nipple Confusion/PreferenceI have to agree with Heather with
>respect to a change of attitude with
>regard to nipple confusion after spending a week with Chloe Fisher and Sally
>Inch.  It simplified my thinking and the way I work with mothers.  I now
>have no problem working with bottles and nipples, as long as the mother is
>pumping in order to protect the milk supply, and using the nipples in a way
>that resembles suckling.

>We had babies who latched for the first time at 2 1/2 weeks, 2 months,  4
>months, and all were bottle fed with a technique that protected and
>resembled breastfeeding. The moms found this much easier than using
>syringes, tubes, finger feeding, etc.

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