In a message dated 11/24/00 8:37:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> Denise said:
> <But I do think they could be receiving their
> own mother's milk, even just trickled into the corner of their mouth so
> you're doing nothing to mess up their suck.
>
> This protects the lactation (my original aim) and keeps the baby in good
> condition without unduly harming him.>

    Jean said:
     A mom is usually thrilled to see that "there is something there". Even if

> that one drop of colostrum dried on the nipple, it might still have an
> odor and taste that would stimulate the baby to lick eventually. Even
> this would be teaching him/her that extending the tongue might bring some
> kind of reward.
>
>

Jean & Denise,
This is something that we do encourage the moms to do (in addition to
skin-to-skin & lots of time near & at the breast). Just today I saw 2 moms
who are doing this. 1 baby is about 36 hrs old & can't quite get the tongue
out for proper latch--this mom has been expressing colostrum into his mouth
for the entire time.

 Another is a new baby-- IUGR, 5 lb 5 oz, and on hypoglycemia protocol (
blood sugars X 6!). Luckily this baby's glucose levels have remained between
55 & 70. The nurses have "threatened" to give him a bottle if he doesn't eat
soon (because he is so small) but the mom does not want to do this. The baby
is alert, does a little rooting but no big attempts to latch. She is
expressing lots of colostrum & baby gets it directly from mom's nipple. I
spoke to the nurses & told them how to document on the chart so that the
other nurses will know that although the baby is not latching, the baby is
getting nourishment.  As Jean stated "All this could be "killing two birds
with one stone" in that more moms would learn fingertip extraction . . ."   I
tell the moms--you are  feeding your baby & stimulating your milk supply.  At
this point (in the 1st couple of days) this works even better than using a
pump.

Laura Hart
Winter Park, FL

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