Weaning off nipple shields - advice needed

[shell96]

When DS one was born he was badly jaundiced and very sleepy and refused to feed. This is combined with me having very small, flat nipples which ar enot very prominent. At the hospital we were advised to try him with a syringe, cup and bottle before one midwife suggested nipple shields which did the trick.

I tried weaning him off using the shields and had almost done it by the time he was five weeks when we went away for the weekend and with all the hassle of being away from home I ended up using them again. This continued until I stopped breastfeeding when he was 14 months.

When I was pregnant with DS2 I was determined not to use them, refused to buy any before he was born and for his first two days he fed great without them and I was delighted. By day three though when my milk came in and my breasts became engorged he was unable to latch on even when I tried expressing first to soften them a bit so it was back to the nipple shields again...

Basically I would rather ditch the nipple shields if possible to avoid the extra mess and the hassle of sterilising, etc but at the same time if this is the only way I can breastfeed (because of nipple shape) then I will do it.

But I do want to try and get him off them. He is now 9 days old and I have tried taking the nipple shield away mid feed but then he just doesnt latch on again until I put the shield back on. I am aware he is still very small and new to feeding and he is generally pretty sleepy during feeds which doesnt help so should I just wait a few weeks until he is bigger? I also worry that the longer I leave it, the harder it will be to wean him off them?

Any success stories or advice would be appreciated :)

I'm still using them. My DD is 13 weeks and like your DS couldn't latch when my breasts got engorged.

Now that DD is bigger she has started to knock them off herself (while wriggling about) then latching on without and feeds for awhile until she gets fed up. I think we might get to the stage where we lose them completely but if not then I'm cool with that.

I just use the same one all day and keep it in my bra inbetween feeds. Every few days they all get washed together then chucked in a pan for a boil. I found this to be easier than using one per feed.

I've not really made much of an effort to get rid of them although I was desparate to for a wee while.

I hope someone that's managed to wean off them will come along soon.

I used them until ds was about 5-6 weeks old and have been feeding without them since then (now 19 weeks). I think his mouth having got bigger made a difference but what enabled me to get rid of them was having a bfc help me teach him to latch without them. It also took quite a bit of courage - found it quite scary for a while to try without them as it could be v painful.
My nipples weren't very prominent to begin with but they are now!

thanks for the replies. I think i will leave it until he gets a bit bigger then. Its good to hear it can be done though!

I weaned my DD off them at 14 weeks, but I was using them because of nipple trauma/pain rather than shape - don't know if that makes a difference. I say weaned off them, I just decided not to use them and then didn't. DD was a little confused at first and then just got on with it. The key was that I had to relax. While I was still scared of latching without them then DD picked up on that. When I finally relaxed, so did she.