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Subject:
From:
Kathy Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 16 May 1997 16:38:58 -0500
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I'd love to see ultrasound studies done of cup feeding.  I saw Chloe
Fisher's wonderful videos of ultrasounds of bottle and breastfeeding --
baby's tongue is an awesome thing to see!  I have seen the video showing the
babies lap the milk from the cup -- they can do it.  It is a very different
tongue/jaw movement from breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, but there's no
doubt milk is going in, and you can see/hear baby swallowing.  Also, we've
heard lots of anecdotal studies here on LactNet of babies being cupfed and
then peeing, pooping, and gaining weight, so the milk *must* be going into
the stomach the way it's supposed to.  Since many baby bottles actively drip
milk into the child's mouth, and the child sucks with only the very tip of
the nipple in their mouth, I don't see how cup feeding is any different from
bottle-feeding in terms of where the bolus of milk is located, and the cup
feeding, since it is under the infant's control, seems to be less dangerous
in terms of aspiration.  I have seen many instances of bottle-feeding babies
sputtering and choking from the bottle.  And we all know that formula is bad
stuff -- in the lungs as well as the stomach, whereas breast milk is full of
antibodies and antibacterial and antiviral agents.

As usual here on LactNet, I challenge those who are skeptical of cup feeding
to find me a scientific study showing any evidence that aspiration of breast
milk has ever led to lung necrosis.

I have also never heard of this "flexion reflex" that supposedly lasts until
3-4 months (but then again, I'm an anthropologist).  We all know that even
into late adulthood people relexively curl up in the fetal position when in
emotional or physical distress, so this isn't something that "goes away" at
3-4 months -- it never goes away, in some sense.  It is also an instinctive
reaction to a physical threat, as the fetal position protects the head/face,
the breasts, the belly, the genitals, and presents the parts of the body to
the attacker that are most protected by enclosing bone (or quills if you're
a porcupine).  I'm still not clear what it has to do with feeding, except
that we know that flexing baby's hips helps them feed at the breast if they
are disorganized and distraught.





Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University

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