Nipple mess
As nipple confusion is called a temporary or permanent false sucking a baby on the mother's breast , with the result that the breast-feeding is not successful.
This phenomenon was first scientifically described in 1995 by Marianne R. Neifert from the Rose Medical Center in Denver / USA.
causes
The cause of a nipple confusion is usually the fact that an infant who is to be breastfed is fed with the bottle. Breastfeeding requires an exhausting, differentiated sequence of actions of chewing, sucking and swallowing for the infant. The child has to work hard on the breast, in the form of a certain tongue and mouth configuration with a special suction pattern, in order to get to the milk. In order to be able to pick up and model the nipple and areola, the infant must open its mouth wide so that it can drink properly. He also "chews" with the toothed strips to stimulate the flow of milk. In contrast, when bottle feeding the baby is relieved of much of the work by gravity. In addition, the teat is placed in the mouth, not sucked in by the child itself, like the mother's nipple, to create a vacuum. Furthermore, the baby does not have to open his mouth so far on the bottle, since there is no need to build up a negative pressure. The bottle teat usually reaches up to the palate. This is where the "suction reflex point" is located. Since the milk flows automatically from the bottle, the sucking reflex becomes superfluous and the child "unlearns" it instead of reinforcing it.
consequences
The consequences of nipple confusion can one still strike or even the entire breast refusal be so mean, the infant that exclusively bottle-feeding can.
Prevention
Many midwives advise mothers who want to fully breastfeed to wait at least 6 weeks before giving the infant a bottle or pacifier . During these first six weeks of life, the initial reflexes to conscious movements are shaped, which are also used if another suction is required in the meantime.
Countermeasures
Once a child suffers from nipple confusion, it often helps to put silicone protective caps over the nipples to simulate a teat. However, if this does not help either, if you want to continue to feed your child with breast milk, expressing the breast milk with a special breast pump is a simple method, which is also supported by most health insurances, to prevent milk congestion and to breastfeed your child at least indirectly .
literature
- Carina Kroth: Breastfeeding and breastfeeding advice. Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-86126-649-0 , p. 121ff.
- Marianne R. Neifert, R. Lawrence, Joy M. Seacat: Nipple confusion: Toward a formal definition. Journal of pediatrics 126: 66, ISSN 0022-3476 , pp. 125-129, Elsevier, 1995.
- Chantal Schlatte: Breastfeeding. A scientific plea for practice. Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-940921-22-2 , pp. 59-61.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Neifert et al. 1995.