Description

The supplemental nursing system (SNS) consists of a container and a capillary tube leading from the container to the mother's nipple.

The SNS container can be filled with fresh pumped breastmilk, with fresh donor milk, with pasteurized donor milk or, if no human milk is available, with infant formula

Infant formula

Infant formula is a manufactured food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from powder or liquid . The U.S...

.

The tubing is usually attached with removable tape. When the newborn infant

Infant

A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...

 suckles on the breast, the infant is nourished both by fluid from the capillary tube and by the mother's breastmilk from the nipple. The mother's milk supply is stimulated by the infant suckling, and in most cases the use of the SNS can be discontinued in a few days or weeks when the mother's milk supply has risen to meet the infant's needs. Mothers usually obtain SNS supplies from a lactation consultant

Lactation consultant

A lactation consultant is a healthcare provider recognized as an expert in the fields of human lactation and breastfeeding. The USLCA, United States Lactation Consultant Association, is the presiding organization in the United States of America and the International Lactation Consultant...

.

Reasons for use

A supplemental nursing system (SNS) is used by breastfeeding

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...

 mothers for different reasons

Reasons concerning the baby

• hyperactive or hypertonic baby
• baby has a weak suck
• baby has a poor latch
• baby who loses more than 10% of birth weight and is at risk for jaundice, hypoglycemia
• premature baby who has to get lot of calories in minimum of time because he is quickly exhausted
• baby was separated from mother and milk supply is poor
• baby with Down Syndrom, Pierre Robin Sequence...
• baby with cleft lip, cleft palate
• baby with Congenital Heart Disease CHD
• baby who has a failure to thrive (FTT)

Reasons concerning the mother

• mother has an adopted child and wishes to induce lactation
• mother has been separated and has to stimulate lactation
• mother has had breast surgery and subsequent impaired lactation
• mother has a hormonal problem and insufficient lactation
• mother has flat or inverted nipples which makes it difficult for baby to latch

Advantages of supplementing by SNS

When an SNS is used, it is still feeding breastmilk, the device ideally helps coming back to exclusive breastfeeding. Mother and baby are in close (possibly skin to skin) contact which helps lactation hormones to act ; oxytocin

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone that acts primarily as a neuromodulator in the brain.Oxytocin is best known for its roles in sexual reproduction, in particular during and after childbirth...

 for milk rejection effect and for bonding, prolactin

Prolactin

Prolactin also known as luteotropic hormone is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PRL gene.Prolactin is a peptide hormone discovered by Henry Friesen...

for milk synthesis. The rule is, like for breastfeeding : look for feeding cues in baby, and feed on demand.

External links

• Information on SNS for adoptive mothers (Retrieved 2010-07-08)
• How to use a supplemental nursing system (Retrieved 2010-07-08)