With my DS I got myself in such a state about him not latching on etc when he was born I put him on the bottle after about 1 week. I was never offered a shield or anything while in that particular hospital and I was a wreck as I was getting completely pressured about b/feeding him.....
At the hospital where I just had DD they were really great - on about the 3rd day they could see I was having problems and wasnt confident so I was offered the shield once my milk came in and it has been great.... I wouldnt have kept b/feeding up if I didnt have it so it has worked wonders for me....
It's just all the articles out there about supply dropping etc that had me concerned so thanks for your advice....I will keep going with it - the way I see it, the longer that she is able to b/feed the better and even if for some reason it only lasts another 2 weeks or something it's better she had breastmilk for that long than nothing....
Shayna, my DS1 had a tongue-tie and was only able to attach with shields. However I was told that I had flat nipples so until I found out by accident about the tongue-tie, I just assumed it was my nipples that were the problem. It was only after the tie was snipped and he was able to attach by himself that I realised there was nothing wrong with my nipples. And then when DS2 was born I was told I had great nipples for bfing - go figure!!
If you are happy with the way things are that's fine hun. But I thought I'd mention this, because it is common for midwives and doctors who don't have bfing training to assume it's flat nipples when there's an attachment problem. It might be something to think about.
Hi there JD's mum. Just thought I would pop in and share my experience with nipple shields. I had flat inverted nipples too. At around day 3 the hospital also gave me a nipple shield in the hope that it would help to bring my nipples out. It worked great on the right side, but I still had a lot of problems with the left. Around the time I left hospital I tried to stop using the nipple shield and ended up with the most horribly cracked, bleeding nipples (it looked like I had been butchered) and I was in incredible pain when feeding. So I went back to the nipple shield. I did plan on using it for the rest of the time I breast fed. But around the 8 week mark when my nipples were healed and DS was a bit bigger and used to feeding I decided to give it a shot without it. While I found the nipple shield gave me comfort, it meant that I wouldn't feed in public or when people were around because lets face it who wants to be mucking around trying to get a shield on in front of everyone.
Every now and then I would give him the second breast without the shield (so he wasn't starving and didn't get too frustrated trying to attach to the nipple). As I found he could attach (with a little work) I started off trying to do one feed each day on each breast without the shield. As we both got more used to it I gradually started doing more and more feeds without. By the time we got to 12 weeks we were able to stop using it all together. TBH I am glad I no longer have to worry about it, now I am happy to feed in front of people cos he is big enough to attach himself easily and I don't have to worry about baring all.
I think it is probably worth seeing an LC about the possibility of a tongue tie like MR said. If you're happy to keep using the shield then keep going with what works for you, but if you think you might like to not have to use it then maybe give it a try. Don't put pressure on yourself though, just every now and then to see how it goes, if you find that you can get a good attachment then maybe just slowly get rid of it like I did. If not keep going with it. GL
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