Are there automatic dripping milk feeders?

Question

Does any device exist to automatically feed the baby milk, like how a IV (glucose line) continously drips glucose water? I have in fact seen a similar apparatus (not like how I want) in breast pump manuals as additional gear. I don't know what it is called, but it was connected to the breast for mothers who could not get the milk out.

Ideally I feel these milk bottles are very old technology and I would like to see a device emanating a pipe which the infant can hold with her hands and suck as and when required, so has anyone tried such devices or are there any similar devices to replace the plain old feeding bottles?

Answer 1

For completeness, our baby was scheduled for a Continuous feed NGT tube, the tube from her nose to her stomach. Then was to be a slow drip feed, the equivalent of her normal feeding oz/per bottle feed now oz/hour.

The advantage to this, for her, was no big bump of food at any given time, so no chance of a big dose of reflux. The bad news, you have a tube down her nose. Uncomfortable, needs to be maintained if she pulls it out, and also the whole mechanism of feeding sucking and holding the bottle is part of her motor skills development.

Generalizing a bit, I think the convenience of any automatic feed system needs to be weighed by the bonding and observation parent/child as they feed. That and motor skill development as they hold the bottle and learn to deal with meals, since that's what they need to do as toddlers, adolescents, and adults. Unless you think you'll do a liquid drip feed diet with your teenagers.

Answer 2

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean but this is what it made me think of:

While googling for that image, I came across this one which looks like the thing I think you're requesting:

I didni't think such a thing really existed, but hey, you can buy anything on Amazon!
$6.99 & FREE Shipping on orders over $35.

I'm surprised.

Answer 3

I'd strongly discourage using such devices.

First of all, it introduces bad feeding habits. Your baby will learn that it can feed whenever it wishes. Once it grows out of the crib you're going to have a very hard time attempting to not feed it.

Secondly, and this is just an opinion, I think that the parent-to-child contact while feeding is very important. The very act of feeding should not be reduced to an automated task, it should be a process in which the baby bonds with parents. A bottle still requires closeness and reasurring touch. Baby should not only feel fed, it should feel safe and loved.

Lastly, when I see such devices I can't stop imagining farms and thousands of animals just being born, fed, growing, and then being slaughtered. A baby definitely does not fit this picture.

Answer 4

To answer your question: I can't imagine for a moment that anyone sells anything like that. I'm no doctor, but from my personal experience, an automatic drip milk dispenser doesn't approximate any biological function.

Bottles are old technology yes. But that doesn't mean it's outdated or can be made 'more efficient'. Millions of years of trial and error have lead to a human machine that you know and love. And the whole purpose for a bottle to begin with is to be a reasonable facsimile of the breast. The mother is then free to reset the bear traps or change the blade on the bandsaw.

Answer 5

After some search I got this podee bottle feeder which seems to be something similar to what I was searching for. Also the picture I saw on in the manuals was this , and is called SNS generally used by adoptive mothers:

The podee bottle feeder seems to be an interesting invention going by the reviews on amazon. Unfortunately this is not available in our country , hence still searching for DIY solutions for this.

Another one which appears to work well as shown in their videos, probably this can be done DIY: