nipple shields and flat nipples

[doulawoman]

I am using a nipple shield with my 5 week old infant...in the hospital after her birth we (several nurses, an LC and my mw's) were not able to latch her directly to my breast or get my nipple out long enough to help her with that. At this point I have been able to latch her a few times without it though it is challenging...this is mainly after using it for a few minutes until my nipple is drawn out -and no pumping first does little as the nipple goes back in before I can get her on. I have trouble with her opening her mouth wide at the best of times and even with the shield and she cries and gets confused and frustrated when I try to latrch her on without it. I really feel the shield is helping her to sustain bad habits like pulling off to the nipple and "nipple feeding" , she also chews on the shield sometimes and I can''t always notice it...my milk supply has also recently gone down after having a very abundant supply...I feel she is still getting enough amnd it may just be my breasts settling down so I am not leaking profusely all the time, but I don't want it to go down further and I've heard long term use of the shields can contribute to that.

Does anyone have experience weaning off a shield -esp if you have flat nipples? What have you done about the frustration of the baby? How much and how often do you try before you were concerned about them associating nursing with frustration? When were you able to lose the shield completely?

I haven 't had much feedback from my midwives or the lactation consultant who visited on how to go off the shield, only not to rush and to do it gradually when things are going well....

tips, feedback, resources would be helpful.

[Spiralshell]

Hang in there Mama -- you are doing great!
I used a nipple shield with Nate from week 1 to week 5. My nipples weren't totally flat, but they weren't nippley enough for him to latch on either. This was made worse by the fact that the nurses in the hospital NICU fed him bottles against my express wishes... grumble. But we made it off the nipple shield and so can you!
I started weaning him off only during really content and relaxed feedings. Don't try to do it at night in the dark, or when he's really smacking his lips for milk. We nursed every two hours in those days (who am I kidding - he's 5 months old and we still do this most of the time!) so I would sometimes take him a little early for a feeding before he was asking for it, and I would try to latch him without the shield. Sometimes he was game, sometimes not. I'd give him some time to explore and get latched on and get some milk. If he got frustrated, I'd go ahead and put the shield on and let him drink a bit, then after a few minutes take it off again and let him try some more.
This was the hard part for me -- with the shield we had gotten good at a little routine. Arrange boppy, arrange baby, shield on, baby on, nurse, done. But the weaning was a lot more work, shield on/off, baby positioning much more carefully, etc. If either of us lost patience, I just got the shield back on and let him finish without any more fuss. It was hard for me to balance that moment of letting go for each feeding -- I didn't want him to get super annoyed with me, but I also wanted to make him try long enough to start to see some improvement. There was usually a moment where he'd give me a look like "look lady, cut it out already. I'm hungry!" and we'd let it go for that feeding.
And then when he was ready he just figured it out. He would latch on and stay on, and instead of the shield being our "default" feeding setting, we didn't need it any more. This was somewhere around 5 or 6 weeks if I remember correctly.
My nipples now are not at all flat any more - they really transformed. (I sometimes wish that I had some topless photos of myself before getting pregnant, when he was born, and now for comparison purposes! I can hardly remember my little flat nippled A-cups! LOL!)

[Maluhia]

Whatever you do work with your LC, unlike the nurse who gave me mine and never explained nursing withough it. I nursed with a shield for two years and although I'm grateful to have been able to nurse it was AWFUL the one or two times I "forgot it" and had my baby and my boobs but could not get her to nurse without the plastic

[Megan73]

Have you tried the Niplette? I haven't BTDT but I've heard good things about it.
In the meantime, I'd pump after feeds to keep up your supply. The shield can really do a number on supply, especially when it shifts from hormone-driven to supply-driven.
Good luck, mama.

[marinak1977]

I had the same experience as Spiralshell, I tried latching him every time without the shield and if he was getting frustrated out came the shield. I also used it at night because I was too tired and sleepy to really try hard. He stopped needing it at around 4 weeks and it was great, but the shield was really helpful in establishing breastfeeding and I'm grateful for that.

[Mosaic]

The shield actually helps draw your nipple out so that it doesn't stay so flat. We started on the nipple shield because I had flat nipples, but we were able to wean off of it at around 6 weeks, and I believe it only took about 3 days. I'd try latching on without it, and if she didn't go for it then I used it again. Whenever I switched sides or stopped to burp her, I'd also try to relatch without the shield. I actually found it easiest to latch on when she was very sleepy (dream feeds, etc.), and eventually we'd go a whole feed without the shield.

I thought there was no way we'd be able to ditch the shield, and I was very surprised at how easy it was. My only advice is to test it out and see how it goes, and not to get discouraged if you have to keep pulling the shield out again... the fact that she's already latching on without it is a great sign!

[naturalnesting]

Thank you to all the mommas on this thread! I am using a shield and have been since my son was born (nine days). After much help from the LC, we felt it was necessary as he was not latching on correctly. Now I'm scared that we will be stuck on it. You're post have encouraged me to begin weaning from the shield. Thanks!

[doulawoman]

update

Hi everyone,

so dd is 3 months old now and we are almost totally off the shield. Her mouth getting bigger was a big help. I do use it most nights as laying down in the dark it is difficult to latch her on and when she is trying to chew me... but we don't *need* it. Thanks for all your support. and to the new mama, don't get discouraged if it doesn;t work at first, give it time and keep trying.