NICU feeding. Cup or bottle?

[shellideaks]

I'm pumping for my baby at the moment and he is being tube fed. Today the nurse asked me how I would like him to be fed when I'm not there, once I start trying to introduce breast feeding.

She said it could be via cup or bottle. I don't know

Is nipple confusion a concern if he has bottles and I'm trying to get him to breastfeed? Would a cup be better? Apparently if he is cup fed, the nurses have to do it at all times as it is a choking hazard (which I don't like the sound of!). I just don't know and would appreciate some advice

 

[sunnylove]

I am unfamiliar with feeding via a cup? I've never heard of that. Some people are concerned with nipple confusing. My son was fed both by breast and bottle in the NICU. Now he is exclusively breastfeeding and takes a bottle great whenever we give him one. He had latching problems with the breast in the beginning, but he has had no problems going between bottle and breast.

Again, not sure what a cup is, but I think if he is fed by a bottle with a Preemie nipple (one that stimulates the flow from a breast), he will be fine. This is what my NICU nurses suggested and they were very pro-breastfeeding and knew I wanted to get him to completely breastfeed.

 

[TheNewMrsB]

My son was breast and bottle fed in the hospital, they did try with a small cup (tiny plastic thing) but he wasn't a fan. He's never been confused, he knows the difference between dummy and boob and doesn't care how his food comes as long as I hurry up lol

 

[shellideaks]

To be honest, I'm unfamiliar with feeding via cup too. I'd never heard of it before! I have spoke to a few of the nurses since posting and after reading both of your replies, I've decided he's going to have bottles when I'm not there.

Today was our second go at trying him on the breast. He did a lot better today than yesterday, he was actually rooting and trying his hardest to get a big mouthful

 

[Srrme]

MY 28.6 weeker and 35 weeker were both fed my breast milk from bottles (along with tube feedings) during their entire stay in the NICU. I breastfed my 28.6 weeker a couple times while he was in the NICU, but that was it. Once we came home I began exclusively breastfeeding both of them, and they had NO nipple confusion or problems whatsoever.

 

[shellideaks]

That's great Srrme! I am hoping I will be able to achieve the same with Nate

 

[Cheska]

Shelli I said bottles as wasn't happy with the cup feeding being a bit risky. I wanted to provide him with breast milk as I felt it was all I could do for him, I didn't really care how he got it. When he was strong enough I breastfed once a day while in nicu and he was then always able to do both. I prepared myself that if he couldn't latch on I would just pump and pump until it stopped.

 

[Foxybabyhg3]

I wa told cups as it's apparently the same action they use for BF (still trying to figure out how) we ended up cup feeding and then bottle, she latched on with a shield but that was more to do with her size than how she'd fed. She's now bottle & breast, again more to do with my obsession of knowing how much she's eating rather than she can't.

She took to it all very well and I was shown once then I did them all.

 

[misspriss]

Is there a reason you need a cup or bottle? I did only breast and tube. He had his feeds by NG tube and by breast when in the NICU. They said it might take longer, but he was honestly only in for a couple of days after he was heavy enough to maintain his body temperature for learning to feed.

We tried the bottle, even with the preemie nipple it came out fast, so I said no more bottles. I was not given the cup option. The nurses pressured me about the bottle a lot, they like it because they can get the LOs out faster (not a bad thing). My LO got nipple confusion easy, when I went back to work I spent the first weekend trying to convince him to BF again after having bottles for 2 days.

 

[shellideaks]

I think it's probably because I'm not there often enough to do lots of breastfeeding. I usually get to the hospital around 9am and have to leave at 2:30pm to get DS from school. He has 4 hourly feeds so I'm only actually there for 1 feed each day (12pm one) and he can't go home whilst tube feeding.

He's currently on alternate tube and bottle feeds and doing well with that. I'm hoping once he's home we'll be able to fully transition to the breast.

Thanks foxy, I've ordered a Medela breast shield to try him with as he seems to have trouble getting a good mouthful of breast when I try.

 

[misspriss]

Well, I was only there for 1 feed for the first week, 2 feeds for the second week, but then had me room in for a few days before he could go home. I guess the rooming in thing would be the deal breaker. If we didn't have such choking issues with the bottles it might have been a different story, but the milk just poured down his throat even with the preemie nipples.