Cup Feeding - Barbara Wilson-Clay:  I really liked what Barbara said in her
posting on cup feeding.  I've also seen that film on cup feeding where the
infant is splaying fingers, nasal flaring, and demonstrating other signs of
distress.  I personally don't prefer to recommend cup feeding if I am not
able to provide adequate follow-up; meaning if I'm helping with breastfeeding
at the hospital and I am not establishing a working relationship with the
parents where I know without a doubt that they understand appropriate use of
cup feeding.  I worked with Paula Meier when I was getting my master's degree
and I know that Paula fed those preterm infants herself and did not screw the
bottle nipples into the baby's mouths.  They were properly fed with the
monitoring equipment in place.  So, I agree that when people force feed these
infants, the results of the feeding may vary.  And, when Paula bottle-fed the
premies and a desat or apnea took place, she did not continue to feed the
infants.  She paused the feeding, providing adequate time to recover, and
once all monitoring demonstrated stability, resumed feeding the infant.  She
did not foster a prolonged distress of an infant while assessing tolerance of
bottle feeding.  In fact, infants demonstrating non-tolerance of bottle
feedings required for her studies were eliminated from the study so that harm
was not caused to the infant for the sake of research.  Paula is clinically
competent and fosters safe practice before the sake of research.  So, I
personally feel it is a liability issue to teach parents cup feeding in a
short 2 day hospital stay and then send them home after merely 1-2 observed
feedings to assess their technique and not have any follow-up.  That scares
me!
Carol Chamblin, RN, MS, IBCLC
Breast 'N Baby Lactation Services
Geneva, Il

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