nipple shields, how to wean baby off them

[neenienana]

Hi, my dd is 6 weeks old and had a tongue tie snip at 4 weeks. Due to nipple trauma and breast rejection I have been expressing at times and using medela shields. Now I want to get her off them as she takes so long over feevds and doesn't always seem satisfied. Her weight gain is slow and she has dropped a centile.
Anyone else had experience of stopping shields and how? Skin to skin etc .guessing.

Have you seen the Kellymom page on weaning from shields ? There are lots of suggestions there. I weaned my DS1 off them, although he was a bit older when I did it (4/5mo). I had tried occasionally removing them during a feed, and it sometimes worked, sometimes not. Then one day I just decided to try without them altogether, and he pretty much got it immediately. My other suggestion is you consider phoning one of the helplines? They might have some ideas specific to the age of your baby, and also might be able to give you suggestions for improving weight gain, while you work on weaning from the shields.

My baby also just came off them at about 5 months after tongue tie snip and 50 mins feeds with nipple shields until then.

I did top up with breast milk but it was hard to express and then feed. I tried loads of skin to skin and to try feeds without the shields but he seemed to need to be a bit older to do it without them.

Hang in there - we had slow weight gain but no major problems although I remember HVs telling me my milk woild dry up at 14 weeks if I was still using shields.

Lose it in the middle of the night. Worked for me.

I Successfully fed with Medea nipple shields following tongue tie snip at 5 weeks until 12 months so don't stress too much if your lo won't wean off. Feeds were long initially but got quicker as time went on as baby sucked harder.

Good luck though, they are a faff!

I weaned ds off them at 5 weeks, 6 weeks ago.

I gave him lots of opportunity to explore and try without. My tip would be to try him without either part way through a feed (by sort of whipping it off) or at any point where he's not really hungry. If he's hungry he will get frustrated quicker. Just take your time. It can be done.

Good luck!

My DD is nearly 8 weeks, and we have been using nipple shields for about five weeks now - before that we were expressing and she was having that in a bottle. Her weight gain has been consistant, so I haven't had that concern, but she does take a long time over feeds, and I have pretty much resigned myself to eventually becoming a permanent part of the sofa.

When I try without the shields, she roots and licks and gets quite excited, which quickly turns to frantic when she realises she can't latch on. I have managed to get her to latch and feed on a couple of occasions, but it has been a total fluke so far. She was SGA, and is still only little so I think she just needs to wait for her mouth to grow bigger! I have support from a great lactation consultant, and breastfeeding support group which has been invaluable. Do you have any RL help?

Thanks for your comments, really helpful. I do go to a bf group and see an nct bf specialist who has recommended biological nurturing etc etc. Is your lactation consultant private or NHS?
Haylebop, I recognize you from postnatal thread, well done for getting off them. I did try mid feed tonight but she was really messing around with nipple and couldn't sustain latch. They have to work harder on Breast do'nt they?! Will keep trying.....

neenie if he's baking an initial latch but not sustaining it would it be worth checking that the TT hasn't reattached?