Has anyone used the habermann bottle. Any luck with it. Alice has had it for nearly 6 months now and the average I get into her orally is 40ml. The rest down the ng tube. It is as if she is more just not interested. I've tried to starve her thinking she will surely drink, but no this doesn't make a difference. Any tips on getting her to take more orally rather that down that tube all the time? It feels like we are force feeding her, she gets it whether she wants it or not. Arrgghhh!
Hi there! Yes we have and do use the haberman bottle and it can be a success and definitely worth while for any parent and child who is able to use it. The fact that Alice is taking 40mls speaks volumes because she has already conquered a massive mountain: She can fit the bottle in her mouth, and it will only get better from here because she’s only going to grow. Now the obvious goal is to get her to take more and do it in a reasonable amount of time! Thus I can help! I'm so excited. Elaina, my 1 and a half year old is currently being weaned off of the bottle but when she was around your daughters age we were able to get her to take 200mls/per feed 4x/day within 10-20 minutes every time. So there is hope. Here are a few suggestions but by all means is you would like to personally talk with us I'd be absolutely more then happy to organize a phone conversation. Here we go:
1) Consider talking to your doctor about getting a dietician involved and either adding a calorie supplement ie) duacal to breast millk or making her formula “concentrated” which basically means adding more then the tin can recommends, hence the dietician will be able to properly inform you of new mixing amounts of formula. Why? Doctors main concern will be: is your baby burning more calories then she is taking in with her needing to work harder for her food because of her PRS. This is training time for you and your daughter which means you need to be able to allow for more then the usual 20 minutes to persist with feeding via haberman. By increasing the calories during this time it gives you the possibility to persist for longer without worrying your using all her energy up. 2) Get a timer and start timing. My husband and I would call it quits when we reached 30 minutes. With the exception of a few times when Elaina seemed up for it. This is necessary because using the haberman is going to be something like training for a marathon, you’re going to start by looking at your time and when she starts taking 50mls easy in 30 minutes then you’ll start increasing the amount of milk. Eventually you’ll be at 100mls and she’ll be able to do that in 30 minutes. There’s was a happy balance between waiting for Elaina to get used to 50mls and pushing her to get through 55mls. We would aim to increase her milk by 5mls every 5-7 days. This is going to be just as hard on you as it is on her because you’re going to feel like the awful parent who’s making your poor little baby, who’s already been through so much, work hard for something that just shouldn’t be this difficult. Let me encourage you, if you are one of those fortunate parents who’s child is able to take the haberman it is worth fighting to take more ground. Elaina doesn’t have reflux, she doesn’t choke on food, and she’s never had the issue of severe bleeding noses from NG tubes or milk getting into her lungs all because developed proper reflux/reflex muscles when she learned to use the haberman bottle fluently. Your time will become more flexible, you won’t have to worry about how long it takes to feed your child and eventually when Alice get’s more fluent with using the bottle you’ll be able to start properly training friends and relatives how to use it, get a baby sitter, and get out for a break because you’ve done the very painful hard work. This is a two-way benefiting street and it’s not selfish or inhumane cruelty, you’re giving your child a tool as simple as drinking for herself and you deserve a medal not a reprimand so don’t beat yourself up keep persisting. 3) While you’re timing you may notice that your baby takes more and does the best during the first 15 mintues then the last. I noticed with Elaina that she ran out of steam quite quickly. So our goal was get the most down as fast as possible, the last 15 minutes became a matter of showing her that she could do more and working to increase amount of milk. If Alice is having a good run and not choking or loosing color in the lips keep going, don’t stop. Also, there are “speeds” on the side of the haberman. Short line = slow, medium = medium and long = fast. My suggestion start off slow and work your way to medium if she’s doing well go to fast but don’t feel like you need to stay on one particular line for the entire feed. Experiment and see what speed works best for your daughter. 4) Try sitting her upright on your lap. Don’t lie her down. The airway is already so small and with all this fluid suddenly clogging what little space there is in the throat and coming up the nose it’s hard for babies with PRS to use the haberman while lying on their back. You’ll find she looses more color in that position and more milk coming out the nose then if you sit her up…we did anyway. When Elaina was first born we would sit her on the edge of our knee and support her neck with one hand and hold the haberman in the other. But as she got older and heavier this became harder to do so she currently sits on my lap and slightly rests her body on my chest. One of my arms supports her back to keep her upright and not slouching and the other arm/hand is free to use that haberman. 5) I guess the last point, that I have to make, would be prayer and persistence. No matter who you are or what part of the journey you’re at if you are still in the “training” phase of teaching your child to use the haberman bottle then it is a challenge. And there will be times where you feel uncomfortable because grandparents, family members and random onlookers in the parents room of the shops look at you like what’s wrong with your kid and what’s wrong with you for making your kid use that strange looking bottle. Elaina used to make all kinds of obstructive noises while using the haberman and it was torturous to watch her because it was such a difficult task of insisting she learn to swallow on her own and get the coordination between suck, swallow, BREATH! Breath, breath, breath! The truth is often times when she was struggling to get her breath I would pull the bottle out because I’d think that would allow her to be able to breath properly but once during our hospital stay the nurse saw me continue to pull the bottle out every 20 seconds and said you realize you’re pulling it out in vain because even after pulling the bottle out she still wouldn’t go back to breathing smoothly. This was because her brain was trying to figure out the suck, swallow breath and it didn’t matter if anything was in her mouth or not, once she got into that training mode she was working over time to try and figure out how to do this bottle “thing” with such limited amount of space in her mouth and the inability to suck.
How do you teach a baby to suck, swallow, breath, when they can’t suck properly?! It’s frustrated and agonizing to watch and even harder to participate in as a parent. You want to yell and scream and quit. I don’t just write this for you Charmain but anyone else who’s going through it as well: I know how you feel. I know how often you want to cry right along with your child. I can’t tell you how many times I had to stop trying to give her the haberman because my eyes were so filled with tears I couldn’t see what I was doing. But there is hope. If your baby can fit the bottle in her mouth then she simply needs to become more fluent in it. Yes, she can’t suck properly, but she can still work at doing the motion and following through with the swallow and breath part and it will pay off in the long run.
I’m sorry this is a bit scatter brained, I haven’t the time to proof read and it is a bit long. Quite long, but if you are a parent learning to use the haberman bottle with your baby then you need to know there is no three step solution, every child is different. But as there parent you know your baby better then anyone else, you know what they can handle and when it’s time to stop. If it’s time to stop or give it a break or take some more time, or lower your goals, then that’s what you need to do and that’s okay! Just remember don’t lower the goals because it’s hard on you, lower them when you know that’s what your child needs. If you know your baby can do more then go for it.
Cheers, I hope that helps a bit, Once again if you would like to talk directly to me please email me at: nita_prosser@hotmail.com ; and more can be set up.
Hi..my daughter had problems sucking also. In hospital we were given a all-in-1 Farlin dummy that has help her sucking motion and really improved it alot. She has become stronger and at 3 months can suck 160-180ml through the Haberman.....no tube!!!
Thanks for the tips, but we are still getting nowhere fast. We have been back to Brisbane and now they are suggesting her not sucking is behavioural. This I can understand as she just kicks and waves her arms around whenever a bottle goes near her. So we are now trying the cup with spout. At this stage anything is worth a try!! Her solids eating is one step forward and two back, but getting there. An awful lot coming out of her nose. Bring on the surgery I say!
Hey Charmaine, Don't be too discouraged about the whole solids coming out the nose. Everything came out Elaina's nose for quite some time and it wasn't until she was a year old before she got the hang of redirecting things properly down her throat. Take care!
Hi Guys.<br /> Mel what type of Farlin dummy was it ? We are willing to try anything. We have twins - one with PRS - he keeps steeling his bros dummy. He is not really able to keep in in due to his lack of suck - but I would like to improve that. I am very excited today he took 160 mls in the habermann - he is nearly 9 months and I cannot wait to get rid of the tube!
Hi there, its a Farlin Orthodontic pacifier, they are made from 100% silicone. I dont know of the availability of them in Australia, we got ours donated to us when we were in hospital. We have since bought a Wubbanub Silicone pacifier from ebay from the US, cost about $30 inc postage
It is the one-piece pacifer. A lady with a child also with PRS donated them to the Princess Margaret Hospital. She advised us that this dummy was recommened by other PRS specialists. The doctors from our hospital agreed and wanted Mia to use to strengthen her jaw and sucking motion. It really has worked for her. They also recommend either a Wubbanub (very cute I must add) or the Soothie dummy. As my partner has advised you can get these on ebay. These dummys have a simular teat as the Habermann.
I am not sure if you have been able to get your hands on one of the Farlin dummy's or not but I have a spare one that i could send you if you like? Our Son is 6 months old and was in PMH for just over a month with PRS and when we were admitted we were told of the farlin dummy's and that they only had the one left which would be steralised and shared around and given to the baby with the worst case of PRS to use in hospital, so my husband and I searched the internet and got them (50) from Singapore and donated majority of them to PMH for other parents with babies in the same situation. If you havent yet got one and would like me to send you one, email me your details on ann.elansary@gmail.com and I can sort it out for you. Mel, was Mia born end of March? When we were at PMH we had a baby girl called Mia next to us for a few days before we finally got to go home? I am glad I found this web site because my son still has his NGT as he gradually decreased the amount he was sucking to the extent of not taking any at all, and has now started taking 20-50ml from the bottle but is just not interested in food at all, milk or solids!! I cant wait for the day we get the tube out and see all of his cute little face
Hi Ann, that was us next to your bubby in PMH 6B. Sorry to hear he is not feeding well, what i suggest to you to speak to my Mrs Mel, ill email you our number and she can discuss with you the dramas we had with the feeding and the people that have assisted us at PMH, its totally diffrent departments than what we were dealing with before and they may of help to you.
I thought by the dates that it must have been you guys next to us at the hospital. I cant believe how many cleft babies they had in the nursery at the same time, we were joking with the nurses saying they should call our end of the nursery "cleft corner"!
Thankfully Ethan is now tube free (fingers crossed it lasts). He pulled his tube out last Friday and we thought enough is enough and thought we would keep it out and see how he went, thinking that we would need to put it back down very soon because he would start to get dehydrated. Long story short, he has gone from sucking 80ml a day to around 450-550ml as at now which is day 11. We had seen the feeding team and dietician etc at PMH and they told us to keep doing what we were doing by offering him solids and the bottle before tubing him but it didnt seem to get us any further forward. Has Mia been booked in for her cleft repair now? Are you seeing Dr Vij or the other plastic surgeon? We saw him early Sept and surgery was postponed due to him having the tube in so now he is tentatively booked for 22nd Dec. Hope you are all doing well :)
I am happy to hear that Ethan is starting to come along a little better now. It looks like we will be in hospital around the same time. We must catch up for a coffee before hand. Our Plastic Surgeon is Tim Hewitt. We are going to see him today for a followup. Mia is doing really well. Every since I met Katherine from speech, feeding has become a ease. I have had the OT come out with equipment to help support Mia while feeding. It makes such a difference when you find the right technique. My email add is mchecksf@hotmail.com Would love to catch up before our op.....some extra advice and support would be great!
Hi Mel Great to hear from you. That would be great if we are in hospital at the same time. I was told by Wilma initially that we had been pencilled in for 22nd Dec, but when my husband took Ethan for an appt up there he was told 15th Dec. I have an appt with our surgeon Dr Vij this Friday so will hopefully find out then. I will be glad once the surgery is done and over as Ethan isnt wearing his plate because he kept spitting it out despite using truck loads of polident! He feeds well without it so it was more trouble having it in and worrying about losing it, then having it out. I will let you know after our appt on Friday when our surgery is and we can hopefully catch up for coffee. Glad Mia is doing really well. It is so much easier when they are actually wanting to feed rather then feeling like you are force feeding them! Speak soon Ann :)
