Hi Judy,

I agree with both you and Ann Cagigas that babies can habituate to
fingerfeeding. I don't use it very often and if I do, I like to limit its
use to a short period. I kind of go on gut instinct as to with whom and how
long. I will use paced bottlefeeding and/or cupfeedling to help to loosen
the jaw, so to speak, because fingerfeeding babies can really set their
little jaws.

If a baby is very resistent to feeding any other way, I may start him on
fingerfeeding to calm him a little, go to paced bottlefeeding to loosen the
jaw and suck reflex, then to cup to loosen some more and make him wish he
could suck again, then to breast with some good areolar compression and
upper and lower jaw support and voila! he often will latch. All in one feed,
in pretty quick succession and it will often work, kind of like magic.

I have had success also with the "rebirthing technique" in the tub. As an
aside, I once worked with a mother several years ago who had a baby who was
probably the most nipple confused baby that I have ever seen. BUT she would
latch and nurse well in the tub, after we used the rebirthing technique. Mom
was ecstatic, but told me later that they only had success in the tub, so
she went on to feed her baby for months in a morning and before bed bath
daily and the rest of the feedings were bottles of expressed breastmilk.

Say hi to all in NYC for me,
Jan Wenk, IBCLC
Rochester, NY

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