[blparent] question of feeding a newborn

[Barbara Pierce]

Dear Scott,

My heart goes out to you. My first child never would take breast milk or
formula from a bottle. That was my fault because I did not introduce the
bottle early enough. Believe me, I did not make that mistake again. 

Here are a few ideas that may help. The first is that, if the baby gets
hungry enough, she will take the bottle. You may have a nervous breakdown
before that point comes, particularly if this is a first baby. But it is
true. 

Hold the bottle close to the nipple end so that you can establish contact
with her chin. That will allow you to move the bottle when she turns her
head. You don't want to touch her cheek if she is very young because the
rooting reflex will make her turn to that side and frustrate both of you. If
you are quite coordinated, you may also be able to squeeze some milk out of
the nipple into her mouth so that she can figure out what is in that thing
and decide to suck. You might also try enlarging the hole so that the milk
comes out faster with less effort. You will have to be sure she is sitting
up a bit so that she does not choke if it really comes out faster than she
can deal with. Tamper with only one nipple at first, till you see if this is
helpful. 

She might be more willing to take the bottle if you try water or baby apple
juice, diluted, of course, in the bottle. Once she will suck on a nipple,
you can switch back to the milk or formula. 

The advice to put her down and regroup when you get disturbed is very good.
Parental anxiety does communicate itself to a baby and compound the
problems. My husband found that sometimes placing the baby in a position
very different from the nursing one helped to change the expectations. He
would cock one leg, bracing that ankle on the other knee and hold the baby
in the bent leg , head at his knee. That gave him more hands to control the
bottle and burp cloth and seemed to weaken the expectation that the familiar
nursing experience was at hand. 

I truly hope that some of these suggestions are helpful.
Barbara Pierce

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Scott Lawlor
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 7:47 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: [blparent] question of feeding a newborn

Hi.

We have what could potentially be a giant problem so I'm hoping to get some 
thoughts and or suggestions on the following situation.


Leah is exclusively breastfeeding and as a result of this, she doesn't know 
how to take a bottle, even if it's breast milk.

This problem is further complicated by the nipple falling out of her mouth 
when she turns her head and this is something that I am struggling with.

For times when Cindy is working and she needs to be fed, I need to be able 
to perform this task.

I won't go into the thoughts I had running through my head while holding a 
screaming baby but they weren't happy at all, something I know I'm not alone

in.

We have the bottles that are supposed to mimic the breast so I'm not sure 
what else I can do at this point.

Practicing is a good idea and we can do that but if she won't even suck the 
nipple and just chews on it, which is what she does with the pacifier, I'm 
feeling at a loss.

Thanks for the help.

Scott


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