<< The one difference between what went on in the NICU with continuous
 gavage feedings and bottle feeding breastmilk, is that the saliva mixes
 with the bottlefeeding breastmilk.  This does make a difference.  The
 saliva begins to break down the milk and the bacteria count will
 increase. >>

Let's think about this for a moment.  If the baby is cup feeding, yes,
absolutely there will be saliva in the milk.  If she is feeding via straw --
there will be too.  However, are we sure there is saliva in the milk when
feeding via bottle?  Those holes are awfully little for saliva to get back
down into the bottle of milk when the pressure is negative pressure going
into the mouth--not into the bottle.

I don't know.  I don't know that anyone has done a study on this and looked
to see what gets into the bottle.  We could try, I suppose -- paint a baby's
mouth (that has thrush) with Gentian violet, and immediately feed some ebm
via bottle.  I bet if the saliva is going back into the bottle, we'd see
purple right away.  Anyone up for that?  We talk about his happening, but are
we really sure it DOES happen?

Jan