MY EXTREMELY LACTOPHOBIC NEONATOLOGIST just faxed me a reprint of the
letter Chloe Fisher wrote in response to Marianne Neiferts' article
defining "Nipple confusion" 1995 published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
He was gloating over the impression that he and Chloe agree that there is
no such thing as "Nipple ---------" that ALL his babies that can't nurse
will sucessfully go to breast after days or weeks of bottles  and that
depriving a baby of sucking when they can't or won't go to breast is
abnormal and innapropriate.  I totally agree that babies need to suck and
should be given natural options to suck on like their own fists or fingers
like they are often seen in ultra sound weeks before birth. but i can't
believe when a baby sucks on a rubber/silicone teat that it is mimicking
the breast with the infant's oral motor response,  all you have to do is
look at the infant mouth profile on the various artificial teats and few
look like the mouth of a properly attached infant with effective milk
transfer...I have only read the abstract of Dr Neiferts article from 1995
so I'm not sure what Chloe's rebuttle is directed at.  Maybe I am naive but
in our community there are not alot of mothers who initiate the steps (with
or without guidance) to return the baby to breastfeeding when bottles have
become the separating issue.  Perhaps it's a difference in British
mentality that they will work as diligently and patiently to seek support
in transferring back to breast.  The average mother whose infant does not
easily go to breast, usually doesn't persist except to pump for a while
until she gets bored with that (quickly stateside).  Many women in my area
verbalize impatience with hand expression, which helps enhance milk
production, They usually just say after a couple of frustrating days that
"bottles of formula are much easier and oh i can get free formula"  and
"besides my sister's kid did just fine (on formula)".......as was the case
of a premie discharged home after 3 "successful"(per mom) nursing sessions
at the nicu, but as  soon as they got home and struggled with nursing, GAVE
UP trying after 6 HOURS because "she liked the bottle so much" they figured
no one could help, "either a baby does or does not like to nurse" also they
returned the pump as soon as her "free month was up"..... Someone please
enlighten me what Chloe does to make ALL her babies take to the breast no
matter how many bottles they have and if bottle teats ARE SO CLOSE TO
SUCK-SESSFUL nursing WHICH TEAT IS CLOSEST ? I've been watching women
breastfeed for nearly 22 years and I've not seen one nipple that looks like
most mom's ------BY the way why did healthflow change to such a "leaky new
nipple" I've been calling there 800 line for a week and it's either busy or
closed, Dr Neifert ? Chloe ? are you out there to respond ??????

IS the nipple confusion a semantics issue ?  are we hung up on the word
"confusion" because that requires "thought processes" and newborns are not
thinking about sucking. suck is reflexive ? but is it also learned or
refined ? What do we call a baby from a normal unstressed lightly medicated
vaginal delivery that opens mouth at the breast but his tongue is "glued "
to his palate and he is perfectly "content to suck (only his tongue)" when
stimulated lightly at the breast with a few drops of expressed mom's milk I
know we could get it on a pacifier or bottle but instead i taught parents
to help baby suck on his fist and daddy's thumbs while being offered
continual skin to skin.....is it CLOSER to use latex teats or Silicone
teats ? which flavor ? and which brand could it be ? I hold Chloe in great
respect for all she has done, but I'd like a review of her techniques and
what she says to mothers to convince them to keep trying the breast even
after seeing how easy an artificial teat has been in a "MacDonald's
Society"..."inquiring (and still learning) minds would like to know.....