We FINALLY (at 6 mo) managed to latch without the nipple shield for the first time yesterday! 
This feels like a HUGE milestone. She has been using it since day 5 - before that she was unable to latch at all and we were finger feeding. I have been trying so hard, every day offering the breast without the nipple shield, feeling frustrated that every single time we nursed (in public, in bed, etc) I always had to make sure we had a clean nipple shield, and try to keep it out of her grabbing hands long enough for her to latch. . . I had just about given up on ever nursing without it, thinking something was wrong with my nipples, I was just resigned that we would be using it to the end of our nursing relationship.
Then two days ago I saw her playing with a toy , putting her mouth all over it and sucking on it and I thought "if she can do that, she can latch onto the breast." Yesterday morning I tried her without it and waited through a few fusses, and then sure enough, she latched! Next time, she did it on the other side! Since then we have not looked back - I put the shields away.
Now of course we have other challenges - nursing with the shield has let us be sloppy about our latch. We have to re-learn. And she's so easily distracted these days, it's hard to get her to nurse for more than 4 minutes before she pulls off, shrieking and arching her back. . . (she was doing this even with the nipple shield). Any ideas here? I assume it's a phase she'll grow out of - eventually.
Sorry for such a long post, but maybe this will give hope to others out there using the nipple shield. Thanks for reading!
This feels like a HUGE milestone. She has been using it since day 5 - before that she was unable to latch at all and we were finger feeding. I have been trying so hard, every day offering the breast without the nipple shield, feeling frustrated that every single time we nursed (in public, in bed, etc) I always had to make sure we had a clean nipple shield, and try to keep it out of her grabbing hands long enough for her to latch. . . I had just about given up on ever nursing without it, thinking something was wrong with my nipples, I was just resigned that we would be using it to the end of our nursing relationship.
Then two days ago I saw her playing with a toy , putting her mouth all over it and sucking on it and I thought "if she can do that, she can latch onto the breast." Yesterday morning I tried her without it and waited through a few fusses, and then sure enough, she latched! Next time, she did it on the other side! Since then we have not looked back - I put the shields away.
Now of course we have other challenges - nursing with the shield has let us be sloppy about our latch. We have to re-learn. And she's so easily distracted these days, it's hard to get her to nurse for more than 4 minutes before she pulls off, shrieking and arching her back. . . (she was doing this even with the nipple shield). Any ideas here? I assume it's a phase she'll grow out of - eventually.
Sorry for such a long post, but maybe this will give hope to others out there using the nipple shield. Thanks for reading!
That was a big milestone for us, too. We hit it around 4 months and it took a week or so to get the latch perfect, but we're going strong at 12.5 months still. Enjoy not having to worry about keeping track of that thing anymore!
