Please send your reponses to this question to: <[log in to unmask]> In misc.kids.breastfeeding, Anna <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I am posting this on behalf of a friend who is a breastfeeding counsellor. Her >and some fellow counsellors in the area have been having problems with *term* >babies who were cup fed (a method designed to avoid nipple confusion in babies >who cannot breastfeed at first, but who's mothers hope to do so when the baby is >better). Unfortuately, these babies now refuse to feed from *any* nipple, be it >breast, bottle or SNS. One poor woman has been forced to cup feed and another >has managed to get her baby to take the bottle after weeks of struggling to get >him to take anything other than the cup. >The problem seems to be in the way the babies are feeding from the cup. Premie >babies lap the milk from the cup like a kitten, and cup fed premies seem to >easily graduate to breastfeeding. The term babies that have the problem seem >to be drinking from the cup by sucking the milk up, and not lapping. This seems >to be the root of the problem. It then seems that the babies do not realise that >milk can come from a nipple and although they will happily latch on to the >breast, they will not suck and seem clueless as to how to get the milk out. >So far, they have tried an SNS, syringing milk into the baby's mouth as it is >latched on and all the other techniques to persuade a baby to suck - so far >without success. At present, the only near success has been that a baby who was >formerly cup fed, and has now learned to suck at a bottle (after weeks of >coaxing) and is gradually being introduced to the breast. He will at least >suck, but is likely to have nipple confusion so he doesn't suck at the breast >very effectively. >This is an urgent problem, as my friends have been recommending local hospitals >to cup feed all babies who cannot breastfeed to avoid nipple confusion, with the >intention that the mothers can breastfeed later. If there really is such a thing >as "cup confusion", we need to know about it. >If you have experienced this problem, or are a breastfeeding counsellor who has >come across it, please email me ASAP. I would like this problem to be put to >the people on the breastfeeding mailing lists, but am not subscribed, so if you >are on the lists, please forward my question. J.Rachael Hamlet e-mail: [log in to unmask] Visit The Breastfeeding Advocacy Page at http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html