Nipple shield??

[Charlotte91]

Just wondering if anyone else has had to use this??

DD was born at 34 weeks with Gastroschisis.
She was fed via nasal gastric tube from day 5 til 6 weeks.
She had started bottle feeding at 5 1/2 weeks.
But she's only just made it to 2.5 kilos, but she has never latched on to me.

She'll only drink from me if I use a shield...........


Anyone else had a problem like this??

[KimmyF]

i fed DS with a nipple shield for the first 10 days as i could not get him to latch on with out it , until i went to a lactation clinic, and one of the girls in my mums group fed iwth the shield for about 5 months, trying each week to get her off, eventually she just feeding with out it. But neither of us had any of the issues that you have had with your DD. hope someone else pops in soon with some more advice

[Miss E]

I used a shield for about the first 12 weeks. We didn't have any of the issues you've had, but I did have inverted nipples and DS couldn't latch properly, wasn't gaining enough weight and my nipples were horribly cracked. Early on I thought we would have to use the shield for our entire BF'ing relationship (and many people have successfully). But once he got to about 8 or 9 weeks I started attempting to get him to latch on directly to my nipple. I would always do this when I offered the second breast, so he wasn't starving and would have a little bit more patience. At first we would just do one feed on each breast each day. As we progessed we worked up to two on each side, then every second feed etc... By about 12 or 13 weeks we were able to drop the shields for good, and now at 18 months we're still BF'ing.

As babies get older their mouths get bigger and their ability to suck and latch gets stronger. So if you give it time and then try to gradually drop the shield you may find that you are able to. But that said there is nothing wrong with using the shield either.

Have you seen an LC? They might be able to help you work on attachment in the meantime?

GL, you're doing an awesome job!

[*Beema*]

I used a shield with both girls, DD1 33 weeker and DD2 35 weeker.

2.5kg is still quite small and I would think that she is too little to go without for now, the advantages of a shield for smaller bubs is they don't have to suck and hold the nipple out, using less energy to feed.

DD1 was on it until she was 3.3kg/10 weeks and DD2 used it until 3.4kg/5 weeks, DD1 was a terrible feedwer until she was 5 1/2 months old when it was finally pain free, should have kept her on the shield longer, DD2 was a great feeder and two weeks after dropping the shield it was pain free

Give her more time and she will get there I just saw how much she has gained you are both doing fabulously!!!!

[Charlotte91]

Saw an LC while she was in RCH and Bendigo SCN.

SCN was the ones that got me to use the shield.
I was sooo over being in hospital so I tried everything I could to get DD to feed so we could go home.