Our hospital has a new policy in place on cup feeding, but only a few of us have
any comfort level with it.  I've had some success using it in my private
practice and on the unit.  A training blitz is scheduled for January to update
our staff on all breastfeeding policies including alternative feeding methods,
especially cup feeding.  I cup fed a little guy today (using a medicine cup) who
was 32 hours old and still hadn't figured out this sucking thing.  Mom had a 25
hour labor, 12 hour epidural, ending in CS for fetal distress.  Had a couple of
bottles on nights but would not latch at breast (or suck on my finger).  Just
screamed.  I convinced him to take 15 cc of SimFe the first time, and 20 cc
about 2 hours later.  At that point, he began to root so we gave him to mom and
he took a few sucks.  She pumped a small amount of colostrum and I showed dad
how to cup feed it to baby.  The plan was to continue pumping/cup feeding until
he catches on, but since there will be no LC there again until 9:30 a.m.
tomorrow morning, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

FYI, the following is our policy/procedure for term infants written by myself
and several nurses with information from articles and Sandra Lang's talk at
ILCA:
SPECIAL INFORMATION/PRECAUTIONS:
        Indication is need to feed baby supplement without introducing rubber
nipple
        The following procedure is for term infants
EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES NEEDED:
        Small cup with smooth top edge
        Cloth for catching drips
        Expressed breastmiulk or breastmilk substitute
PROCEDURE: