Baby won't feed without nipple shields

[MammaBell]

Hi all, to cut a loooooong story short I've had an absolute nightmare with breastfeeding since day 1 due to late diagnosis (and treatment) of tongue tie. During that time, in order to cope and continue EBF I was advised by breastfeeding support consultant to use nipple shields. After several visits from breastfeeding support and guidance from health visitor, even after the tongue tie was fixed when we try a day without the shields my nipples would be agony. Basically DD was still sucking too tightly and pinching making the blood drain and turn my nips white! Anyway, I was told since she's putting on healthy weight gain etc that I should just stick with the nipple shields and periodically when my nipples are healed to try again without them. Well this week I felt comfortable enough to try again, and I do think since she's grown her sucking is better and more efficient also. Well it's a battle! She's squirms, cries, squeals and won't stay latched until I concede and put the shield on. I've tried hand expressing so there's milk on the tip, tried different positions etc but she gets more and more frustrated. Any tips or advice on what else I can try would be really appreciated!

@WandinValley yeah my nipples are kind of stubby lol, a wee bit short and very wide/fat lol. In fact one is fatter than the other, my DD doesn't like that one as much haha!! Thanks for the tip, I'll look up singlets.

@1stWorldProblems thanks for the advise! With the Milton, I have a bottle in the kitchen that I forgot we had (bought it whilst stocking up when I was pregnant). How do you use it exactly for nipple shields. I'm a little confused by the instructions on the back as it says to use 5L of water lol...I don't need that much!

@Cheeseandwineandgin oh that's really handy to know that you don't need to sterilise them every single time, I didn't know that you could do once per day and wash them normally in between. Thanks!

@BigFatTent yeah I'd been stressing for about a month after DD's tongue tie division as they said so many mums just find that's all of a sudden latch issues are gone and no nipple pain....which didn't happen for me. Then people kept saying I should keep trying and that it should be no problem anymore. But after hearing from all you guys I feel so much better about it and just not listening to others anymore. I'm doing it my own way and we might get there eventually, or we might not, we'll see! But like you say at least she is getting breast milk and it's working for us just fine as we are

@LittleCandle thank you well she is more than happy with the shields, which you are right it's the main thing really! What did they do before nipple shields???! lol

My first would only feed through nipple shields (probably due to undiagnosed tongue tie) and I fed him until 8 months using them. I found the oval shaped shields easier than circular one (can't remember which brand it was now sorry) because it was easier to hold it on with the other hand without spillage. A couple of years later a health visitor suggested one way to stop using them is to cut the tip of the shield off then cut more of gradually so that more and more of the nipple enters the baby's mouth over time and they get used to it gradually. Whatever happens you're giving your child the best start with breastmilk and that's much more important than whether or not you use shields or anything else that makes your breastfeeding journey easier.

Thanks @MammaBell my DD won't bf and I tried boots shields and Medela and Mam and Avent! Will try them all again as it's been a while since tried. I am about to stop expressing and just wanted a final attempt at bf...

@MammaBell you're very welcome! I had such a tough time BFing at the start and it's only a couple of months ago I decided to just stop stressing and use shields full time.
With regards to the feeding in public I often wear a cheapy primark vest top (make sure the straps are loose for pulling down) and a top over that. In order, I pull vest down under boob, unclip bra and pull down, shield on, then finally top up and baby on. I like a vest as it covers my tummy but in this heat I'm just wearing a top and as baby is such a chunk now she covers me up!
I have 8 shields- 2 pairs of mam and 2 of the Medela. Both equally good I find- I tend to use the mam for night feeds as the base is a bit bigger and easier to whack on in the night and medela in the day! I always have one emergency nipple in my changing bag that I have made myself 'forget' is there as I have forgotten to pack them before and had to come home with a crying baby who will not latch on without!
I'm pleased you're ok with using them now, it really isn't the end of the world and baby is still getting your milk! Also and this might not be true for everyone but I feel it actually helped my baby to take to a bottle as soon as I started offering them as she's used to a teat which is something a lot of EBF babies struggle with.

@Mammabell - glad our comments are making you feel more confident of doing what works for you & your baby. I pretty sure that the advice about diminishing supply is related to the original (1970's) shields, which my mum (where I get the inverted nipples from) used - she said they were a lot chunkier & there was less boob sucked in, than when she saw my thin silicone ones.

As far as sterilising the nipple shields in Milton - we just did them over night too - in a pint glass of warm water with a dash of Milton in it - probably about 1/2 teaspoon? My husband made a batch of however many pints the instructions say, then added drops to a pint glass until they smelt the same. Not particularly scientific but it seemed to work.

I had a selection of Medela ones - some of which came with their own plastic carry cases - so we had one in the nappy bag, one in my handbag & one in the car (after the overnight SNAFU at 10 mths). I think we also had some small tuppaware boxes - with our phone number on (& along with our Handysitt) as we tended to leave things behind places with DD1.

In answer to your history question - women with inverted nipples would probably have used a wet nurse. Babies with tongue tie might have been fed with a spoon or from 1800's from a bottle. There must have been solutions for both or those genetic quirks would have died out.

Keep it up.

Hey, just thought I'd give an update in case anyone pops-by this thread. Thanks to all the lovely advise and encouragement it helped me relax about the nipple shields. Low and behold, my LG eventually sort of figured out that the milk came from my nipple and not the shield...she started to grab the shield off and still suck on it realising nothing was in it I think. Anyway, one day she pulled it off and then latched straight back onto my nipple - this was on her 'favourite' right-hand boob. So we went a week with her feeding shield-less on the right side, but still with shield on the left. I then started to drop using the left one gradually each day and then noticed after a couple days she got fussy when it was on and since then have kept it off. Sooooo it's been 3 weeks almost and no nipple shields yeeeey!! . At first there was some discomfort just with the yanking when she pulls up during feeds to look about or is distracted, but not I feel no pain! I can't believe we actually made it by 5 months!!!
....now it's passed one hurdle and straight onto the (belated) 4 month sleep regression TORTURE!!!
Thanks again to everyone who commented, it really helped me through xxx

I fed DS with shields until he was about 6mths, trying periodically without (generally because we were out and I forgot or it was too much of a faff and then seemingly overnight he was fine without.
He gained weight and was obviously getting enough, my fab and very practical HV said not to get too het up about them if they worked then go with it.

I tried to use them first time with DS2 assuming it would be the same and he never had a problem latching and so I never ended up using them.

Hi Mama, just to add my twopence in case it helps ...

Friends who don't understand why you need/ed shields are infuriating, and I often felt patronised. Don't waste energy trying to explain, just say 'Using shields is a bit of a faff but I'm happy I'm able to bf my baby so I'm grateful for the invention of shields.'

Neither of my two DC could latch on to me at all without using a shield. I felt ashamed and defective, like there must be something wrong with my body. I felt a lot of shame using the shields especially in public. However in my head I know this is RUBBISH because using shields takes a lot more commitment than being lucky enough to not need them! You are doing an amazing job, keep going!

With my second child I tried several attempts to wean baby off the shields between 8 and 16 weeks but got strong resistance and it made us both miserable. I was determined not to spoil our bf relationship and instead made peace with the idea that I may still be using shields at 18 months.

So I tried lots of ways to feed in public until I found what felt comfortable for me. I tried different bf tops, different bf covers, stashing a shield inside my bra so it was always to hand & I didn't lose it. I got a routine down pat :)

Then at six months, my baby suddenly latched on herself and never looked back!! I won't lie, feeding without shields is way easier and I'm really glad we got there. But likewise feeding with a shield is way way way better than not being able to feed at all, so USE THEM FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT OR NEED, and just celebrate the fact that your fabulous body is feeding your little one!! Good luck XX

@mammabell Just read your update and see you're off the shields, wahoo! Well done for persevering, so glad you got there! Now just enjoy the sleep regression haha 😂

Hey mamabell, great update so pleased it all worked out. 😀