I have to say that while nipple shields were a PITA, they were also a life saver. Jack had a tongue-tie and was unable to attach without them. He was 3 weeks old before we found out that his tongue-tie was the reason he couldn't attach (before that I was told that he had the tongue-tie but that my nipples were the problem). Once we fixed the tongue-tie we never looked back. However until then, without the nipple shields I would have been doing what I had to do for 2 days - pumping and feeding EBM in a bottle. And that was a much bigger PITA than using the shields!

Jack put on 400g in the first week I used the shields and 300g each other week. I hate to think how much milk I would have had if the shields reduced my milk supply by 30%! In fact this time around I didn't need the shields and I don't think I had any more milk than I did before. I am convinced that nipple shields do not necessarily reduce supply. Certainly they probably do in many cases, but I don't think it's a given. I say this from first hand experience, and also from knowing others who managed to keep up their supply using shields long term.