Nipple sheilds good or a bad thing?

[lollyheart]

I posted a few days ago about my ds2 not taking my right breast,i now think its because my nipple is quite flat,he has nothing to grip iykwim,i have tried lots of different ways to latch him on, he will have a few sucks then it will just come out.

Do nipple sheilds really affect your supply? its the only thing left i have to try.

They can really affect your supply.

You can:

• see a breastfeeding supporter (tricky on the weekend but possible)
• ensure your nipple is erect before he feeds - if it becomes unflat when erect?
• get more help on here
• feed only on one side

Nipple shields can help with latch, I used them lots, as I had flat nipples (had, because after feeding DS1 for 18 months and DS2 for 3+ years, they aren't flat any more!), but they caused real supply problems. I guess if you're only using them on one side, your baby might not get so 'hooked' on them?

have you tried a breastfeeding counsellor? sorry i haven't seen your earlier thread.

i had a go with shields and it was even worse, another thing for ds not to latch on to, may as well have kept the bra on.

ooops ment shields

Is it really pos to only feed on one side? we both get abit stressed when i try and get him to feed on the right.
I will be seeing a bfc on monday.

I have flat nipples and after two weeks of no latch and expressing like mad a breast feeding counsellor recommended sheilds. DD latched on straight away and we have had no problems since. It hasn't affected my supply at all. I don't know much about these things but I can't see why it would? Can any one explain the science behind this? I am really grateful that I was advised to use them, otherwise I would have had to have given up breastfeeding...

they are dodgy because they come between the baby and the nipple. protect is another word but prevent is what happens. so less milk is got out and less is produced. and a gloomy picture of reduced supply and no improved latch can result.

roundgirl you probably had a bountiful supply , i didn't . i have learned from tiktok that stimulation early affects milk supply throughout bf term.

Shields didn't affect my supply either. I fed three babies with them for about 4-5 months each until they were able to latch without them. Old shields (made of latex I think) did used to impact on milk supply, but modern ones made of silicon, and with cut-outs for the baby's chin and nose allow good contact and good breast stimulation.

I was told by a very pro-active bfc that she thought the majority of stories about shields affecting supply were from the days of the old style shields, and that she hadn't heard of supply problems with the newer ones. She didn't recommend them as a first port of call, but said they were definitely in her 'armoury' of things to try.

I agree they are a faff, and best to try and feed without them, but if they are the only thing left to try, then I would recommend you do - they certainly meant that my babies were breastfed when all other options didn't work. (I had small, flat nipples, small babies and engorged breasts). I tried - expressing before a feed to soften the breast, nipple-twiddling, nipple sucion device, feeding in the bath, breast crawl, feeding lying down, walking around, different holds, staying in bed for a day. Only thing that got them on and feeding beautifully were the shields (Nuk/Mam ones were good, Avent were ok, Boots ones crap).

Best of luck. I remember how hard I found it all, but fed them all till they self-weaned and it was worth the grief

Lolly I think that if they help you to continue to breastfeed whilst your nips get a break or get used to being pulled in directions they aren't used to then they are a good thing, but
IMO I really think that you should try to stop using in them after a short period of time because the best solution is for your nips to get used to breastfeeding.

If you find they help you then go for it, just not long term. GOOD LUCK

ps not read your other thread so info is irrelevant to your situation - sorry

Im off to mothercare in the morning

They were a godsend with both my daughters in the first week of breastfeeding, they just helped the healing process and i was able to carry on breastfeeding until they were 11-12 months.
Without them it was agony!

Only used them for a couple of weeks and they were silicon, but i loved them!

oh my goodness they were the only reason i breastfed past a month. loved them!

had been in agony and they made it easy. they did not affect my supply. i used nuk shields.

Do i need to steralise them everytime i use them?

I used to sterilise them in batches of about five, then put them in a sterilised bottle. I could then pull a clean one from the bottle when I needed it, and didn't have to faff around ten times a day...

I have some brand new, sealed in packet, can offer FFP if you are interested. They are Avent I think, bought them from Jojomamanbebe four months ago or so, but luckily have not needed them! CAT me if interested.

Shield worked like a dream for me, I only used them for half a feed because it was so much easier that I knew I'd never stop using them if I carried on and ideally I wanted to avoid that because of sterilising faff etc.

If you only have a problem one side could you try putting baby on 'good' side, giving them a couple of minutes to get into their stride, then quickly putting them on more difficult side. Bfc recommended for me and it worked until DD 'learnt' how to work the difficult side.

Thanks UmMwahahahaaaaa i have not got cat but my email is lollyheart81 hotmail com, what does ffp mean?

I did buy some avent ones today but they curl round his face and move around is there a trick to useing them?

Haven't read rest of posts so sorry if repeating. I found nipple shields a curse in disguise, IYSWIM. They initially made it easier (I have v flat nipples and she was having problems with latch and my boobs were bleeding and horrid) but eventually made much harder as she would only bf with them, they affected my supply, and I never found the confidence to make the latch good enough without them. Ended up she would only feed from one boob from one particular brand of shield. Supply was crappy and I was constantly expressing. She lost far too much weight and I had to ff.

If was doing it again, I would find a good bf counselor and persevere without them.

Ring La Leche League - the woman I spoke to (when crying and desperate in hormonal new mum manner) was wonderful. Unfortunately was good advice but too late. There is someone on phone always.

Good luck!

Might be different if you use them after establishing bf, of course. I used them almost immediately as was told to by MW in hospital, so I think that didn't help matters.

sorry to hear about Ellie's problems - maybe using them so early was bad advice.
I had a different experience - and very similar problem to OP, ds wouldn't latch on right breast, ended up with cracks going in three directions on that nipple - thought I was going lose a third of it at one point . Tried different positions, expressing, etc. using a shield got me through the pain barrier, but more importantly somehow sucked my nipple out more and more of the aureola was going in to DS's mouth.
I used from about week 3 to about week 6, off and on, had 4 shields and washed and sterilised in batches so had one ready always. I categorically wouldn't still be BFing if it wasn't for them.

Used the avent ones but always wondered if there were something better - sounds like NUK or maybe Medela might be better? I got a bit of curling with the avent ones too, I just flipped the sides back down. I also used to move the shield about, sometimes having the sides going vertically and others having the sides horizontal - maybe that helped stimulate the area a bit more?

BTW, at 6 weeks DS had a growth spurt and suddenly seemed to be able to latch much better - he does have a little rosebud mouth..maybe we just didn't fit very well until then?

Lollyheart - sorry for not posting on here before, have only just seen thread. My midwife suggested using shields due to flat/inverted nipples and they were a godsend. I did worry about supply and the faff of them in public etc but decided just to relax and enjoy breastfeeding withe them rather than worry about whether or not I should be using them Periodically I would remove them whilst DD was feeding to see if she would latch onto breast, sometimes she did but it didn's last long! Had no probs with supply and used Avent ones as they allow some skin to skin contact. Used to sterilise in boiling water and have about 6 of them on the go! Also, I used to just push the flappy bits back down if they got in the way and as DD started to grow more and more the shield didn't seem to get in the way of her nose etc. A few days ago I tried without shield and DD ~(who is now 5 months) latched on perfectly and has done on both sides since. Have packed away the shields and am SO pleased we just comtinued feeding with the shields in the meantime. Keep going and just try without from time to time and then one day, who knows! Good luck!