Flat nipples and nipple shields - advice please!

[stripeymummy]

Dear All,

I have small flat nipples and really want to BF. I have gotten the impression that wearing nipple shields before the birth might help bring out my nipples and reduce initial problems with latching on etc.

Is this actually true, and if so, when should I start wearing them? And what brands would people recommend? I have heard good things about Avent and Medela.
I am 27+3

Cheers :)

Hi Stripey

There are a few things you can try, this might give you a few ideas. I would see if there is a BF group near you that you can go along to before your baby arrives. There's a list of LLL groups here.

You could also try posting in the BF forum, you'll get a lot of responses there from people that have been in the same position.

HTH :)

i dont think they would do anything before birth as theres no suction... but they certainly help afterwards.

my dd is 18 days old now and can only latch on when using shields - we use the boots own ones - mothercare own are rubbish.

Cheers for the advice guys, I shall hunt out the BF forum :)

I tried Nipplette before having DS1, but to be honest the suck of it paled in comparison to the suck of a hungry newborn! You can pull the nipple outwards which then helps something stick out, to be honest. You can always take nipple shields with you in your hospital bag but try to lose them as quickly as possible, as your baby will probably get nipple confusion if you use them beyond a few days. But persevere, it's not too hard to get going and it's so worth it.

I had one inverted nipple and found feeding without a shield was painful. I recommend the Medela shields -they come in different sizes and you can get them from Amazon.

On the plus side, after feeding DD1 for 14 months it was no longer inverted!

I used the medela ones when I was really sore in the early days - they're very thin, which is what you need.
Not sure how much you can do before the baby arrives, but my biggest recommendation is to have loads of support lined up for when it does arrive. Make sure you know where & when your local bf support group is - I found mine invaluable. Also have a look at websites like Kellymom, which is brilliant for bf questions. And of course the bf forums.

I don't know if this helps, but I had inverted nipples before DS came along, not anymore! Once I started feeding him, they just popped round the right way and I never looked back!