My DD is 3 weeks old.I had a difficult start with breastfeeding, she would not latch on no matter what I tried. I was told I had flat nipples and dont think it helped that my baby was very battered due to forceps delivery.
I ended up hand expressing at the hospital but couldnt seem to manage this very well at home by mysef at home so for the first day n half at home after much stress and tears she had pump expressed breastmilk topped up with formula. Then the midwife suggested nipple shields, these were a godsend and we then got a good latch,she now feeds using these beautifully and is fast gaining weight (8.15 born and now 10 pounds at 3 weeks) the issue is everyone seems very ngative about the shields, the midwife , HV and feeding support worker not to mention family keep hassling me about weaning her off them, no one really explains why I need too. Im very reluctant to go through the stress and tears again as last time i was ready to give up on bf. I do try every so often to get her to latch on without them but no success. Is it really that bad to continue to use them ? ppl have mentioned nipple confusion but this wont be a problem as she already feeds from bottle with expressed bm and uses dummy so another bit plastic shouldnt make any difference. I also dont like breastfeeding in public so will I give her expressed BM when we go out.
Has anyone continue to use these for duration of bf ?sorry for long post