Bottle feeding can NEVER be like breastfeeding. There are too many
differences. Until an artificial nipple can be invented to change shape and
texture in the baby's mouth, and flow in response to stimuli of the baby's
tongue instead of gravity, and the baby has to open his jaw wide instead of
compress his gums around the nipple, etc, etc. There is just no comparison.
Getting a premie to open wide is a big challenge. Many premies just have
small mouths because they are small. I do enourage the nurses to tap on the
lower lip or just below it to encourage mouth opening and tongue protrusion,
instead of just shoving the nipple in the baby's mouth and hoping it lands on
top of the tongue instead of under it.

Debbie Rabin, OTR, CLC