Flat nipples (nice)

[Mummycrocodile]

I wondered if anyone had any experience of this. I was never able to bf ds (now 3.5) despite help from an excellent midwife and NCT bf counsellor. The hospital told me I had flat nipples (one nurse even shouted accross the ward to her colleague "Could you go and help the lady with the flat nipples please"!!! ) The bf counsellor said I don't and so does dh (!) but a midwife did mention that before having a second child, I should wear some contraption to tease them out a bit (to be blunt) - think they may be made by Avent. We will be ttc in a couple of months - when should I wear these things - does anyone know anythng about this?

My sister has these but that was many many years ago her youngest is 11 years old

Anyway she had these things that had a sort of suction thing that you sucked nipple into then took the sucktion thing off and left the sheild thing on under bra

She breast fed all 3 boys after using it but actually is would have been 17 years ago.

So no idea if still available.

Do they arrive when you are cold?

I don't know about the devices she mentioned but I had flat/inverted nipples before ds. They would come out normally though by pushing on the area surrounding them. After bfing ds one is now pretty normal looking but one is still very flat. It was never a problem with expressing but he did seem to prefer the one that is "normal" just a bit. I don't know how to put this tactfully, but perhaps dh could help you work on them ?

What I mean is she would have got it 17 years ago

IYSWIM

Good Luck

I think this might be the thing you're looking for - and at the nurse's comment!

Lots of different views about this one, so bearing that in mind here's my experience. HATED those Avent things, totally impossible to disguise them under clothes, uncomfortable, everything. I bet they wouldn't even have worked anyway, since only thing that really sorted mine (and that effect didn't last) was the superstrength pull of an electric breast pump.

Had a sensible MW after my first was born who suggested nipple shields (obviously being aware of how controversial they are) - used them throughout with him and later dd. Little bit more trouble than "natural" BF'ing since you have to sterilise them and so on - and I only BF'd to 5 months, so I don't know how they'd work with an older baby - but otherwise no problems whatsoever, including enough milk.

Would also suggest (as above) that you hire an electric breast pump - if you have real problems you could always express and bottlefeed EBM.

That was the word I was thinking of

Syringes

binkie has a good point. Ds had nipple confusion almost immediately from having his first bottle when I went back to work part-time so I did a lot of expressing. I used a really powerful electric pump which may have had a lot to do with my results.

I had semi-flat nipples before DS1 - they did come up when erect though. I had a hard time with bf, which may have been related to my nipple shape, we used shields, etc, etc. But eventually, I got him off the shields, and we breastfeed for 18 months. Which, it turns out, changes the shape of your nipples.

I've had no problems with DS2. But in the run up to his birth, I looked into this a bit, and was told that a) the avent thingies won't stay on if you start to leak colostrum b) you can achieve the same goal with a pump - just pump when pregnant (if you can stand to, and if there isn't a risk of nipple stimulation bringing on labour?), and pump a wee bit before each feed to bring up your nipples.

Oh thank you everyone - thanks Hunker Munker for the link, I will give them a go when the time comes. RTKangaMummy - do they arrive when cold! We did buy an electric pump and expressed before and had no joy with latching him on after - or with the shields - no-one could work out why it wasn't happening, who knows! Thanks everyone for the advice, this has been on my mind.

Mummycrocodile - the niplette was publicised a lot a number of years ago but wasn't really popular with women to use. Worth a try though.

The other things you can do are

wear breast shells for a short while before a feed as they draw the nipple out - downside is they can interfere with milk fow if worn too long

ice in a plastic bag (cold) can make nipple stand out

draw nipple out with breastpump prior to fixing baby

roll nipple between fingers on daily basis

DH can suck nipple out on a regular basis (much more pleasurable I would say) {smile]

Remember though that babies breastfeed, not nipple feed so sometimes it is a matter of getting the right technique to latch babe on.

BTW, if you are going to buy the avent nipplette, i'd get it now as you are not supposed to wear it during pg, if not, you can wear it just before feeding for a few mins after LO is born.

Tip-I found they kept dropping off, so wear them as often as poss but try when you know your not running around ie-maybe if you sit on pc/sofa of an evening.

I was really pleased with the result and it does last a fair while if you use them as directed
gd luck

I had seriously inverted nipples before DS1 - never used those devices (though thought about it)... as soon as DS latched on they popped out and there was never a problem ... they went back in between DS1 & 2 then i fed DS2 for 2 years. I am now pregnant again and they didnt seem to go back in after DS2 .... they are now definate "sticky out" nipples - sorry for TMI!