Newborn will only nurse with nipple shields, help!

[Fishpond]

I am currently sitting in hospital with my not-quite-1-day-old baby boy who is lovely in every way of course. He was born at 37+0 by c-section but was a great weight 7lb 11. He was very, very sleepy until about 6 hours ago and nursed very seldom.

He has a small tongue tie but can't have it clipped yet until some blood results come back in 3-4 days (he may have a clotting disorder). Also my nipples are very large and don't poke out very well despite different efforts. So the lactation consultant got me to use nipple shields. He is sucking vigorously and staying latched and getting milk, but he gets extremely frustrated without them and won't stay on the breast.

They have suggested I pump before feeding him to try and draw nipples out so I'll do that later when my pump arrives, but does anyone else have any tips or experience with this? I know he is still quite small, but I live in the USA and am already having nurses and his pediatrician (!) suggest I top up with formula which I really don't think is necessary at this early stage?!

Congrats on your lovely new baby

It sounds like you are doing everything right, tbh. I think following what your LC suggests is the best option. It'll still be colostrum atm, so it might be a bit easier once the milk 'comes in' and after his tongue tie is snipped.

Sorry can't be much help, but didn't want you to go unanswered.

Thanks for your answer, just sad for me to think he gets so frustrated at my breast but eats ok with a piece of plastic between us

I know. Hopefully only temporary though.

I had this with one of my DTS and he stayed only feeding with nipple shields until we finished breastfeeding. BUT next time round when my DD needed to use nipple shields to start off with I did the following:

• pumping a bit before latching (as suggested to you)
• unlatching and slipping the nipple shield off half way through a feed
• lots of cuddling up to the bare nipple without any pressure to feed (my DTS seemed to get scared that I was going to force my bare nipple into his mouth to feed him and got panicky around it).

This was really successful and we are now still "bare nipple breastfeeding" at 12 months. I think she needed to grow a bit to cope with my huge norks, and once the supply was established that also helped.

That said, my relationship with my beautiful DTS is unaffected by the fact that he would only feed with a shield and he is a bouncy bonny 5yo. Same as his DTB who fed directly from me.

So try some things, but if it doesn't work out, don't worry. It won't affect bonding etc if you don't consider it an issue.

You could google "exaggerated latch", it's a technique to help babies latch (basically tilting the nipple slightly away from the baby) and I've read that it can help with tongue tie and flat nipples so might be worth a try. It's also called "flipple". Page 13 of this document explains it.

I had to use nipple shields with DD, and I know it feels disappointing that they can't feed directly from you, but I found that feeding with nipple shields was a lot better than not breastfeeding at all. It meant that feeds were quite slow but with practice I got quite good at putting the shields on and could feed in public fairly discreetly. DD was able to feed without the shields when she got bigger - it took almost 6 months for us but don't let that scare you, I think most people only need the shields short term.

If your medical staff are suggesting supplementing they presumably feel that your baby needs more milk. Increasing the volume of breast milk he takes might be an option to try before formula. Breast compressions (google Dr Jack Newman, some info here ) and switch nursing could help with this.

Hope things go well for you, and congratulations on your new baby!

Fish I saw some thing on Babies r us website the other day that helped to raise the nipple in order for baby to latch. I used nipple shields too with DD but only needed them for a short time - then she got tha hang of what she was doing and we managed it. She was b/f for 2 years until she self weaned.

Don't worry Fishpond it's still early days. My DS1 wouldn't latch and I ended up feeding him using nipple shields for nine months BUT I didn't have any breastfeeding support. There are lots of ways you may be able to get him to latch on, it may even get easier for him as he gets a bit bigger. One suggestion I heard (too late for me) was to cut a small bit off the end of the nipple shield each day so that he starts taking some of your nipple into his mouth. He will still be getting fed so he won't get irritable about being hungry but he can take his time to learn how to latch on. I think Schmee's advice is excellent as well.