I have a lot of experience with premies who are now at home, often sent home still very small. Some still under 4 pounds. They need to gain weight and grow. I am aware of the research on the work of bottle feeding vs breastfeeding. However, many of these little ones can not transfer enough milk at the breast for adequate growth. This puts them at considerable risk for insufficient caloric intake. Many of these mothers are pumping and providing all breastmilk feeds by bottle. Given a little time and growth, most of these babies transition to the breast very well.Sometimes, I think preterms are beter at this transition than the full terms who are having problems breastfeeding. Each breastfeeding dyad needs to be evaluated individually. Use of upright, paced bottle feeds, in my clinical experience, can be a more effective feeding method than long, slow, arduous breastfeeds for the early baby now at home. I prefer not to call this the bottle vs breast discussion, but the bottle leading to the breast discussion. Ann Anderson, RN,IBCLC NJ > >> *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html