Breastfeding 19

Who has not heard the warnings about nipple confusion? They have been so often repeated that they almost resemble an old wives' tale by now. It is interesting to note that nipple confusion initially...

Who has not heard the warnings about nipple confusion? They have been so often repeated that they almost resemble an old wives’ tale by now. It is interesting to note that nipple confusion initially referred to a baby preferring the nipple of a baby bottle to the actual nipple of the mother’s breast, and would refuse to nurse after they had milk from the bottle. Once bottle nipples were invented that specifically mimicked the breast nipple, this philosophy went by the wayside. Today, the term nipple confusion relates mostly to the idea of a baby preferring an actual bottle versus the breast, nipple notwithstanding.

Moms who believe that breast is best have begun to switch over to pumping breast milk and then offering it to their babies in bottles. It is surprising that they are not afraid of nipple confusion, but they cite a number of reasons that appear to be more compelling than the supposed infant preference for a bottle over the mother’s breast.

* First, moms who prefer bottles for their breast milk like the ease with which they can tell exactly how much their little ones are drinking. The pediatrician wants to know, of course, how much liquid the baby takes in, but without the help of a bottle this is hard to find out. Milk letdown may not be as adequate as hoped, or the latching on process may not be as easily achieved as was initially anticipated. This of course can be counteracted quite well by measuring not only the milk output but also the milk intake.

* Babies who are being put on a schedule also require the availability of milk at the predetermined times. This cannot be accomplished with breastfeeding and instead requires the use of available bottles.

* Moms who would like to enlist the help of their husbands with feedings find that bottles are a godsend. Husbands can now interact with their infants just as well as moms, and even though the breast milk is contained in a bottle, the infant is still getting the best nutrition possible. This also has the power to greatly cut down on maternal exhaustion and post partum depression. Mom gets to rest, sleep in, and occasionally also sleep through the night while dad takes on the feeding duties and also the diapering duties.

In light of all these advantages, it is somewhat surprising that neither nurses nor lactation consultant will give new moms this option, especially when it turns out that things are not going as swimmingly as perhaps they would like them to be. Moreover, in light of the availability of high quality breast pumps, the odds are good that more women who choose formula would indeed opt for breastfeeding, if they understood that this was a viable option.

Who really cares about nipple confusion when it comes to getting breast milk into the baby? In addition to the foregoing, there is little need to actually supplement with formula once the milk supply is firmly established. Pumping is one surefire way of getting this supply to come in.

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