Lynn says: "He would repeat suck, swallow over and over w/o a breath with
an increasing
look of panic on his face until he would finally gasp and this was with my
*expert* help at the process. He did much better with the *avent* nipple but
still didn't demonstrate a rhythmic suck,swallow, breath."

I prefer the 'Avent-like' broad based nipple also, if only it were
available in my hosp.

On the occasions I find myself offering a bottle, I count baby's suckles.
Usually after 6-10, I pull the nipple out of baby's mouth. Usually, he
gives a big sigh or gasp of air and relaxes. I watch & wait, then tickle
his lips a little. When he opens, I take that as saying, "I'm ready now",
and slip the nipple in. Again, I count suckles & pull the nipple out. Same
breath, but not so big. Slowly, baby learns to suck-swallow-breathe, even
on the bottle. I do have baby sitting as upright as possible & snuggled
close to my body while feeding this way.

I have done this - a couple of passes with a bottle when baby has already
had several bottle feedings - to calm him down a bit before going back to
the breast again. My reasoning is, if anyone is desperately hungry (like
being brought out to mom after 2-4 hours in the nursery lined up with other
babies waiting for assessments) he's in no mood to learn something new.
Give him a little of what he's familiar with first, then go to the new
thing. It has worked on many occasions, but no one thing works all the time.

--- Phyllis Adamson, IBCLC
--- [log in to unmask]
--- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html