Conference moira::parenting_v3

    I would say why not, providing the child isn't choking or having
    difficulty swallowing.  What the "experts" discourage is having your
    child go to sleep with a bottle - milk/liquid in the mouth can
    encourage tooth decay and/or ear/sinus infections.
    

    Neither Steven nor David has ever had so much as a twinge of ear
    problems from having a bottle while being changed.  
    
    --bonnie

    You are right in that children drinking while lying down can contribute
    to ear infections, but for the short time it takes to change a diaper
    this should not be a problem, especially because the child is upright
    immediately after the change.
    
    This all comes from the fact that in young children the ear canal is
    almost straight and horizontal. It runs from the sinus cavity to the
    ear.  When the child drinks, some liquid can back into the cavity, then
    the canal.  When they get a cold with sinus congestion (congestion is
    worse than the constant runny nose), the mucous backs into the ear
    canal and cannot drain back into the sinuses; this in turn provides the
    breeding area for the infection.    As the child gets older the canal
    begins to convolute so that in adulthood it is difficult for the mucous
    to get out to the ear...no more infections!
    
    By the way, I have found that giving my kids 1/2 tsp. of the Yellow
    Triaminic liquid (for congestion) when they first get a cold and every
    night until it is gone prevents the ear infections...one of mine got an
    infection almost weekly before I did this.  This only needs to be done
    at night, about 1/2 hour before bedtime.  It also helps when they wake
    up with the pain of an infection...helps everything to drain and
    relieve the pressure (=pain).  A small cotton wad soaked with Anbesol
    placed on the outer part of the ear, then laying the head on a heating
    pad to help vaporize and warm the stuff also helps with the pain.
    
    LB

    Among cows, Mother Nature has engineered the nursing process so as to
    discourage - indeed, preclude - a recumbant posture on the part of the
    calf.  Among humans, it is quite otherwise.  About the only babies I've
    seen nursing in a vertical position were those in snugglies;  the rest
    were horizontal.  Mother Nature would have arranged things differently
    if this posed any threat to ears or other body parts.
    
    		- Bruce
    

re: .5

Huh?

Actually, the only babies I've seen nursing horizontally, on their back -- the 
position that could cause the problem of fluid getting in the ear -- are 
babies who are nursing from bottles in the manner that .0 recommends against.
I doubt that mother nature intended nursing from bottles.

Other than those babies, all the ones I've seen nursing from bottles at least 
have their heads inclined, which prevents fluid from getting in the ear.

And it's hard to imagine a baby nursing from a breast, horizontally, on its 
back, without getting suffocated and the mother being in an extremely awkward 
position.  I doubt mother nature intended that either.

Clay

    In re: .6
    
    Huh?
    
    Our universes must be 90 degrees out of phase, Clay.  In mine, nursing
    is typically horizontal; that is, the baby's spine is roughly parallel
    to the ground.  It would be pretty awkward to hold it vertically.  I've
    got plenty of samples on videotape, if you're dubious (but don't tell
    Jesse Helms!).
    
    Now, it's true that the nose is generally not oriented at the zenith
    (as it might or might not be during a diaper change).  Perhaps a 45
    degree incline is normal.  But that is not germane.  If such a
    roll were to diminish exposure of one Eustachian tube to milk, it would
    only be at the expense of greater immersion of the other.  This would
    be true even if the nose were oriented toward the horizon.  Only if the
    nose were oriented directly downward would it keep fluid away from the
    Eustachian tubes.  This, I suggest, is rare (and the epitomy of awkward).
    
    So, I again submit that this is a non-problem.  If it were otherwise,
    every baby in the world would be in trouble.
    
    		- Bruce

Well, this of course is a totally trivial discussion, but since we're both 
into minutia  - -   ;^)

For purposes of this discussion, the orientation of the _spine_ to the horizon 
don't make no matter.  What makes a difference is the relationship of the 
mouth to the ear.  If the baby is situated in a common (bottle) nursing 
situation, lying on its back, cradled in a parent's arms, the back of the head 
is supported by the parent's arm, thereby tipping the head slightly forward, 
and causing the ears to be above the mouth.  And even if the ears are slightly 
below the mouth, in this orientation the milk encounters the throat before it 
encounters the ears.  No problem.

Now if the baby is lying on its back, without any support for the head, it's 
quite natural to tilt the head back.  Not only can the ears get below the 
mouth, but if the head is tilted enough, the milk can flow down the roof of 
the mouth, and encounter the ears before it encounters the throat.  Hence, 
whatever danger there is can be eliminated by providing a slight prop for the 
back of the head.

I agree that the short time spent on a changing table is unlikely to cause 
problems.  And I also think that this precaution only needs to be taken for 
an infant who is unusually prone to fluid buildup and ear infections.

Clay

    One of our families must have ears in a funny arrangement, Clay.  Ears
    I'm familiar with aren't much higher than mouths when the head is
    straight up.  It doesn't take much backward tilt at all to get the ear
    below the mouth, certainly in a usual nursing orientation (bottle or
    breast) it is.  In any case, what matters is the forward end of the
    Eustacian tubes, which are at either side of the upper throat.  They
    certainly are routinely immersed in a variety of fluids (milk, water,
    saliva, etc.) without this causing flooding or infection of the ears.
    This whole topic is a red herring (as opposed to a red ear ache).
    
    		- Bruce