I agree with Gail that brief, gentle suctioning usually does not cause
obvious breastfeeding problems.  However, nurses often suction babies
who are spitting up mucus and/or colostrum, but not choking, or who
begin to choke but manage to handle the secretions themselves.  Babies
are often suctioned with bulbs because their noses are stuffy and the
parent or staff member often doesn't realize that the stuffy sound is
due to the nasal mucosa already being swollen from previous suctioning
and that suctioning will make matter worse, not better.

I worked with one baby who had such severe swelling of the nasal mucosa
as a result of suctioning (don't remember the details as to type of
suctioning or reason for it) that she could only nurse with
humidification and upright positioning for 3 days.  We used the
humidification (via flexible tubing hooked up by respiratory therapist)
all the time as she had symptoms of respiratory distress without it.
When she breastfed, we ran the tubing up through mom's gown to keep it
as near as possible to baby's nose.  Mom used a humidifier at home, and
she is the one who later reported that it had taken 3 days before she
could nurse without it.

One other comment on bulb syringes.  One of our nursery nurses who also
does home care says bulb syringes used in the hospital should not be
sent home because they all grow bacteria within 2 days.  I can't
remember the name of the bacteria she mentioned--it's the one that is
common on babies on ventilators.  I think she said she heard this at a
conference.  Has anyone heard of this?

Bonnie Jones, RN, ICCE, IBCLC
from the sunny S.W. USA