I had to use a shield for the first 3 weeks as my little girl just would not latch on. She decided when she no longer wanted to use it - this caused some issues as she still wasn't able to latch on easily but it is getting better (2 weeks post shield). But I would have continued using it for as long as she needed it regardless of what anyone would say to me.
My LC wanted her weaned off it after 2 weeks, I just lied and said we were getting there.
If you are worried about supply I was advised to express for no more than 5 minutes each side after a feed. However, I think this expressing has created issues as now i have too much milk.
after a week or so, every few feeds I'd try without it, so that I could stop using it when DS could manage without, but my supply wasn't affected at all.
I was a complete jersey cow for ages, and would feed and then express the extra, to store it up for later.
What MantaRay said! I think most of this school of thought is an overhang from people's concerns about the old thick ones.
I used one for 3 months, and went on to BF DS for 2.5yrs, always had great supply. I think you just be guided by the baby - some might take longer to feed with a shield for instance, but as long as you let them finish, and feed them on cue, then they should still be able to regulate your supply even with the nipple shield. Sounds like you are doing great!
PZ, I used a shield with my first son for 5 months. My initial CHN was a bit like yours she made me scared that I was under feeding my child, I went to a LC who did get him to latch but my goodness it took forever (that was at 6 weeks) I went home still trying to not use the shield but my poor little man just couldn't latch for a variety of reasons, I'm flat, he had short tongue etc. By midnight he was beside himself I got the shield out and he was a happy little camper. I then started seeing another CHN and she was very supportive, and said the stress of me worrying about trying to get him off the shield was probably more likely to dry up my milk than the shield itself.
Anyway my supply didn't decrease he was putting on good amounts of weight, he probably took a bit longer to feed but being my firstborn that didn't worry me as I didn't have other children to tend to. I also used to offer a top up before he went to back to bed which he always took. At around 5 and a half months he started pulling the shield off whilst he was feeding that got a bit tiresome, especially out in public when this baby would be waving a shield around. So I decided it was time to try again and he started latching no problems and was breastfed til 14 months. I think being older his mouth was bigger and tongue had grown and he just attached better. If I hadn't used the shield he would have been FF from about 6 weeks of age, so for me the shield was the difference between breastfeeding and not.
I guess the question to ask is "what is the alternative?" If breastfeeding was going well and baby attached then most mothers probably wouldn't be using a nipple shield. But in this day and age with cultural practices around birth being what they are some babies come out stressed, and not with their proper instincts intact. They find it difficult to breastfeed. In this instance, with proper midwifery of LC support the nipple shield may be a useful tool to use in the short term to assist in breastfeeding. To me the alternatives mostly are not "Breastfeeding with a shield" or "breastfeeding without a shield" if it were that simple that's what would happen- no shield. When I see mums as an LC it's generally "breastfeed with a shield" or what? Express and bottle feed? That's not breastfeeding. Or struggling with attachment? I have seen no evidence that the thin latex nipple shields used correctly reduce supply 9as I said - compared to what?) In the long run what I see is that the tool that was a lifesaver in the beginning becomes a drag and at some point mum and baby are happy to get rid of it and go on to breastfeed well. and just about always babies learn to feed without the shield - in their own time. And the very few that don't may go on to feed for literally years with a shield (but in my practice I have just seen 1 baby feed to 8 mnths with a shield and that baby kicked the habit and went on to feed until he was over 2 - nearly all others give them up in the first 12 weeks or so
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