Weaning off shields

[le42]

Hi

I’d like to try and breastfeed without nipple shields - any advice?

In the hospital my colostrum didn’t come through and baby dropped a lot of weight so we had to formula feed for 3 days ... I kept expressing to get my supply up and it eventually came through. At this point I switched to exclusive BF... However I found it so hard to get a latch. I started using nipple shields as the baby was used to the plastic of bottle feeding (and my nipples are quite flat) and they have worked so well. BUT... I find it hard to use the shields subtly which makes it difficult to feed in public or when people come over without having my whole boob out.

I would like to wean him off but he keeps crying when I try to get a normal latch.

Any advice?

How old is baby? I had nipple shields for the first 20 weeks. At first I was really worried they were 'wrong', would affect supply or cause nipple confusion. She wouldn't latch without them, just got upset as though she could smell the milk but not find it. Then gradually I stopped caring and started equating it to drinking with a straw.
At 20 weeks she just pulled the shield off one day and latched normally. We never used them again. She's now 14 months and still breastfed.
If I were you I'd focus on what you need to do to feed comfortably in public. Waterfall cardigans are good because they drape nicely around you and baby so you can see what you're doing but no one else can. I also found using nipple cream or Vaseline on the shield before rearranging clothes made it stick on so it didn't get knocked off while latching.

He is 4 weeks old. Yes maybe you are right... I’m not very good at arranging them and holding baby without my whole boob just sitting there - some women make breastfeeding look so easy but I feel like it’s a struggle to get him on smoothly.

I never used shields but wasn't much good at the subtle, calm feeding either OP! Just all thumbs it seemed.

Anyway... A friend used shields for s reasons, and wanted to ditch them for similar reasons. What eventually worked for her was giving her baby the shields to play with when not feeding, so he realised the milk was coming from the boob not the shield. I think he was about four or five months though.

Try starting the feed with the shields, then once the milk is flowing, see if he'll latch onto the boob, maybe.

I weaned DD from shields at this age. It took about a week in total. I actually found the best advice on Mumsnet so you should search for old posts. Basically I would start DD with the shield, then unlatch her a few minutes in and quickly try to relatch sans shield. If it didn't work or she was getting too upset, I would go back to the shield. I just kept trying and trying this approach and eventually she was able to latch, and then keep going for longer periods, and after about a week she didn't need the shield anymore. I think I also tried quite often when she was sleepy and less aware, and also not ravenously hungry. At the time I remember the frustration and thinking we'd never get there, but it was definitely worth persevering!

I weaned my baby off shields but it did take time and practise for both of us to get the hang of it. I had a lactation consultant come to the house to provide some advice via community midwives have you asked for some help. I was advised to move to thinner breast shields (boots own) as they are move of a sheath than a shield. Then advised to starting feeding with the shield on then during the feed whip the shield off. I just kept practising every now and again when I felt me and my baby were in the right frame of mind and eventually he latched. This was probably about 8 weeks old. Another thing to check is if the baby is tongue tied mine was and had the snip - this was affecting the latch and the reason for using breast shields to start with. Good luck just keep practising and you will get there.

I weaned my DD off shields at 4 weeks- I hated them for the same reasons as you. I offered breast without shield at every feed in the day to start with (just took easiest route at night!). I used the “exaggerated latch” techniques (look at flipple and breast sandwich). I did also try the technique of slipping it off mid feed but this didn’t work for us. It took some persistence (around 2 weeks total) but we got there. I would say that I worried about them more than is needed though and I’m really grateful that they saved our breastfeeding relationship after a really bad start.

And yes to getting checked for tongue tie.