I do have a skewed view, as I see the "worst" babies...anyone referred in who is over 2 weeks of age and anyone the LCs I work with "give up" on. Many come already mostly bottle feeding. I find bottles useful in certain situations...and as has been pointed out many times over the years, the treatment plan must be customized to the parent(s) abilities to cope. There are occassions...like a 6-week-old just at birthweight....mom has very low milk supply, and baby starving. You know baby likely will need supplement for quite a while, mom is usually completely surprised and guilt-ridden over the lack of gain, and will need to pump until baby stronger and original problem is solved. So I would choose a bottle that helps the baby gain quickly, and perhaps encourages baby to change position of mouth if necessary. If baby comes in refusing the breast and only bottle-feeding, I will use the ventaire series...you can try it yourself to see if the baby is sucking at all. Often they get NOTHING from the ventaire, cuz they are only chewing on their regular bottle. SO the ventaire can teach them to actually suck. (as an aside...the wide-mouthed stage 1 nipple flows more easily than the narrow stage 1 ventaire) And it gives me information about how they THINK they best get milk. Anyway, like nipple shields, bottles are a feeding tool that can be useful in certain situations. Kathy Leeper, MD, IBCLC MilkWorks- Lincoln, NE The contents of this message may be privileged and confidential. Therefore, if this message has been received in error, please delete it without reading it. Your receipt of this message is not intended to waive any applicable privilege. Please do not disseminate this message without the permission of the author. *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html