Hi,

I have flat nipples, I too found out when I went to attach my first baby. I ended up having to use a nipple shield for the first 5 months as he just wouldn't attach without it. Once he was older and stronger he learnt to attach minus the shield.

With DS 2 I managed to attach him without the shield (took a lot of work though) but I reaslied the difference between he and my first son was that he had a long tongue, my eldest son has a short tongue. (So I then realised why I had so much diffculty)

3rd time around, DS was born, I mentioned my issues to lovely midwife, she looked in his mouth and said get out the shields, he too has short tongue and very minor tongue tie. He used the shield until about 10 weeks and I then managed to get him on without them.

I know alot of people have different opinions on shields, but I was lucky in that they did not decrease my milk supply at all. Yes they do mean bubs feeds for a bit longer, but for me it was either the shield or a bottle. It was my saving grace, and meant that all my children have been breastfeed up until they have chosen to wean. I had a very supportive Maternal Health Nurse who supported me using then, and was the one that basically said unless their is a problem with bubs weight gain then keep using them as long as I wanted.

Oh and the shields I used were the Pidgeon brand, I have heard Medala are also good but I couldn't get them where I live. Avent ones were very very large.