Good news from a nipple shield mama

[guestmama9916]

Just wanted to post my story in case it helps someone else. My DD was in the NICU for 10 days after her birth and she was a 35 weeker as well. She was tube fed then bottle fed then only after she came home was she breastfed. She wouldn't take my breast though without the nipple shield because she was already used to the bottle. I really hate using a nipple shield because it always seemed to take an additional hand that I didn't have to hold it in place. We somehow endured though until I started back to work when she was 5 weeks old. At that point I decided to just EP because it was easier and only nursed her with the shield once or twice a week. She is now 3.5 months old and I decided to give nursing without the shield another try (all of my previous attempts have failed). She latched right on yesterday evening and nursed like a champ twice! She did it again this morning too. I really can't believe it! Its so much easier without the shield and I'm so glad I decided to give it another try. This means I can nurse her whenever/wherever and not worry about the damn shield. It was a relief to skip those pumping sessions too. Woohoo!!!

[srneda78]

I am SOOOOO happy to read this! I have a 13 day old who will only nurse with a shield...and she's not even happy about that. She's quite the lazy nurser and gets really ticked off if she's really hungry and I try to latch her even with the shield. She's also not gaining well, so I have to pump and give her expressed milk in addition to nursing. The LC said she's using too much energy crying because she's hungry and nursing to gain weight, so that is why I have to pump milk.