Nipple Confusion

Specialties NICU

Published

Anyone have information on how nipple confusion relates to breast feeding? Should prems who show interest in sucking be given a bottle if Mom plans on breast feeding?

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

With preemies, when they start to feed, it isnt always possible for Mums to be with them each hour of every day. But they still want to suck! So give them a suck feed!

Most of our breast feeding babies do have suck feeds from a bottle, great if its MEBM, but even if not...(and I would be hung by the neck for saying this by the baby friendly people!)......Nipple teat confusion is a lie! In the NICU anyway, we have so many babies who, once they learn to suck, are happy to feed from anything that goes in their wee mouths!

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

AND...most of our babes have "Non-Nutrative Sucking Devices" ie Pacifiers! SO frowned upon by the breast or starve brigade.:lol2:

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I don't believe in nipple confusion in premies. I just don't. It's a nice theory and all, but I've seen countless bottle fed babies be able to breastfeed successfully. I've also seen babies who were never even given a pacifier unable to do so.

Personally, I think it's barbaric to deny a premie the benefits of nns because of fears of nipple confusion.

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Specializes in SICU.

Given than evidence based research shows that pacifiers reduce SIDS by 90%. So that by stopping infants from having pacifiers you are increasing their chance of death, nipple confusion if even real, should not have a lot of weight.

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Given than evidence based research shows that pacifiers reduce SIDS by 90%. So that by stopping infants from having pacifiers you are increasing their chance of death, nipple confusion if even real, should not have a lot of weight.

The nipple nazis would just point out that breastfeeding reduces MANY infant illnesses, so by interfering with that you are harming their health as well.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I'm all for breastfeeding, don't get me wrong....but I have never seen a baby unable to breastfeed because s/he got a bottle. It is not the end of the world, though our nipple nazis would have you think so. We actually had one LC (who no longer works there, tg) tell a mother who gave her baby some formula that she was feeding him 'poison.' :angryfire

I work well-baby but we do see many late pretermers. I just don't see that bottlefeeding contributes to breastfeeding difficulties.

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Specializes in SICU.
We actually had one LC (who no longer works there, tg) tell a mother who gave her baby some formula that she was feeding him 'poison.' :angryfire

Several years ago one of the nicu nurses that I worked with went to a lactation conference. The whole time they would not use the word formula, it was called "the poison", your LC might have gone to the same conference.

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Breastfeeding is so much harder for the little guys. Too exhausting. If they don't bf at all , chances are they aren't bottle feeding all that well either. Nipple shields (another LLC no no) have worked great for many preemies that have a poor latch.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
Several years ago one of the nicu nurses that I worked with went to a lactation conference. The whole time they would not use the word formula, it was called "the poison", your LC might have gone to the same conference.

That is absolutely ridiculous! Bleach and orificenic are poison. Not formula! :madface:

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I'm not a believer in nipple confusion either. My kids had formula while in the hospital (jaundice) and I breastfed them for, in order, 6 months, 18 months, 3 years, 3 1/2 years.

The only thing that did happen with my first child was he was bottle and breast fed and at 6 months would turn away from my breast and preferred the bottle . . .I'm sure due to the ease of getting the milk from the bottle - not nipple confusion. I could have, of course, just not given in and completely stopped giving formula but back then I really wasn't very savvy about nursing at all. I think I supplemented because my doc said it was good for the baby to have formula (this was 24 years ago). After the formula in the hospital for my other 3 kids, I never gave them formula in a bottle.

I loved breastfeeding and am an advocate but I'm not a nazi - I really hate that women are made to feel bad about not breastfeeding or supplementing with "poison".

I've been to one LC class . . . . never heard it called that.

steph

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Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.

Nipple confusion is a misnomer - it's not really confusion about the nipple itself, it's difficulty in switching between the two methods of feeding.

It absolutely does exist, my son was a prime example of it. All the kids who will take a bottle and then just give one or two sucks at the breast before screaming or sleeping, that's nipple confusion.

I also really dislike the vehemence against breastfeeding proponents here. While it is absolutely inappropriate to refer to formula as poison, I think many nurses feel that bmilk/formula, it doesn't make much difference.

As for the pacifier/sids study, basically the finding is that not sleeping long times, deeply, is helpful against sids. You get that anyway with bfing, as long as the parent is not forcing the child to sleep through the night.

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