Bonnie wrote, "Yesterday, I worked with a 2-month old who won't open her
mouth wide enough for a deep latch....  This baby was given bottles in the
hospital and has been supplememented ever since.  In fact, baby has been
predominantly bottle fed.... Mom said she recently saw pediatrician, and
nurse told her she needed to decide if she was going to breastfeed or
bottlefeed."

Bonnie, if I was working with this mom-baby pair I would recommend
continuing to pump, continuing to feed the baby by the easiest means and
patience.  The finger-feeding you describe sounds good, but the
bottle-feeding would be OK too. How do I have such faith?  I have just
worked with a mom who "couldn't" get the baby to latch (multiple reasons I
suspect, not all of them physical) but was highly motivated to provide the
best nutrition.  She pumped and bottle-fed EBM for ten weeks before finally
giving breastfeeding a concerted effort.  Baby latched, first one side and
then, with a bit more effort, on the other side too. Baby has now been
exclusively breastfed for the past three weeks and, get this! REFUSES to
take a bottle!!

Patience, much stroking, lots of encouragement ....

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe