Breastfeeding and inverted nipples...can I?

[Mibby]

I'm almost 5 months pregnant and have inverted nipples but I want to breastfeed.

Can I? Has anyone tried it? Should I do/ buy anything to 'persuade them' out now?

My midwife wasn't very supportive

yes yes yes I did, I know others who have, your midwife knows jacks**t. I used nipple shields to begin with, which drew the nipple out, and quickly moved to BFing without it (important so that the baby doesn't get too used to the bottle-like teat). I tried avent nipplette before I had DS1 but it didn't really work and was quite painful. There's nothing like the strong suck of a newborn to get them sticking out! I have also noticed that Lansinoh have brought out this- it looks good too.

Yes of course you can! There are loads of advice pages on the Internet.

I managed it with my DS who is now 10months old, and didn't use nipple shields or anything else.

However, I would recommend that you try to see a BF counsellor/professional early on to ensure your baby's latch is good.

Hi - I used a nipple shield until my DS was 4 months and then he was able to BF without (took this long mainly due to his small size). I was really worried about using them at first but he always put on weight really well. I also expressed which I think helped maintain my supply and drew the nipple out.

I have inverted nipples and am now feeding my DD2 - I fed DD1 for 18months. Ifound I had to tease my nipple out then get DD to latch. I had someone check my latch to ensure DD was getting it right. SOmetimes she struggles to latch if I am popping her on in public (BF in public is acceptable, nipple twiddling I'm not sure ) but after 1 or 2 attempts she latches and feeds. I have never used shields.

I am also bfeeding with flat nips.

Had to use nipple shields for first few weeks to get a latch then weaned her off them. Sometimes also needed to use a lasinoh latch assist (I have two -one from a kind mumsnetter so I would be happy to post it to you if you wanted?) but I found that a little messy as it would suck some milk out which invariable spilt on dd's head!

Main thing is to tweak nips to be erect before latching on.

Thanks for the positive responses, i was beginning to feel quite depressed about it

Thandeka that would be great. I'm happy to pay postage or whatever

email me on thandekatotango at hotmail dot com