feeding long-term with nipple shields?

I used shields for quite a few months, for different reasons than you, my boy couldn't latch from about day two....but it had no effect on my milk supply,

I always fed with a nipple shield, I gave up breastfeeding at 8 weeks but for an entirely different reason (reflux) and he was just starting to get the hang of latching without it when things went awry, so Im sure he would have managed if the reflux hadn't gotten so bad that he wouldn't feed at all. My milk supply was always good when I was using them.

Also, you can use nipple shields as long as you are breastfeeding if you want to, if it keeps you breastfeeding I say go for it as I understand how gutting it is when you can't breastfeed when you want to.

My midwife also said it was good to express once a day as well just to keep the supply up to ensure the shields didn't drop your supply

I used a shield for 10 weeks and hated it (first baby and poor advice combined with poor latching). I still wonder if it was a contributor to me getting mastitis twice even though I sterilised it every time. Found it too difficult to swap side to side and such a pain when I went out. Definitely not discrete to put on in public either.

Both MW and LC tried to help me wean DS off it, but I found the best thing was perseverance, and no even trying it during the night feeds. It seemed to work best if DS wasn't over hungry or over tired, always started off with the shield, and then kept shortening the time I would let him use it. After a while I tried offering without the shield first, and if it didn't work, then back to the shield. Sucking through the shield drew the nipple into a better shape for him to latch on anyway, until he got used to it. As I said, took 10 weeks to wean him off because he basically had to relearn how to feed (instead of sucking into the shield and then sucking, he seemed to find it strange that the milk hit him in the mouth - he sounded like a very loud rooster crowing at first!).

In regards to supply, it took about the same time for me to establish a decent one, so it could just be coincidental, but next time, I'm going to ignore the hospital MWs and feed through cracked bleeding nipples as much as I can stand. We're nearly a year down the track and still "naked" BFing, so it can be done without shields even when it was well established. The advantage of using a shield was that DS would easily switch between breast and bottle, but as I wanted to fully BF him, I perservered with weaning him off the shield and I'm still grateful I did because it's just so much easier, especially the middle of the night feeds where you can just slide the baby straight on without having to find the shield and mess around with it first.

ETA once we got BFing fully established without the shield, he was a right pain to get back on a bottle when we needed him to!

Edited by ItchyFeet

MissShell I'm wondering if thats our issue too (mouth too small to latch properly) rather than just the feel/taste being preferable...

So far feeding has been easier with the shield, mostly because he isnt popping on and off all the time and filling up on wind, and the midwife visited yesterday and gave me a medela shield to try out which has been easier to use than my cheap one! In the meantime I'm pumping inbetween the morning feeds to keep supply up, and using as top-ups if necessary in the evenings when milk isnt quite as fast-flowing.

That was our problem too Babykat DS couldnt latch for three days at all and was spoon fed and it was taking me 10min PLUS each side each feed to latch him through many many attempts. I never used a shield so a bit off topic but he had is tounge tie (a moderate one that was borderline to need snipping) cut at 5 weeks and we're much improved so hopefully you get the same effect! Word of warning though it changed the way he sucks so i had to go through the whole sore nipple because we're new at feeding and it hurts thing all over again.

looks like 6 weeks was our limit... hes now refusing to latch for more than 5 mins per feed, due to weight gain issues I'm not allowed to NOT give him top-ups via bottle so doesnt look like I have any other choice but to let him have his way... at least with Jae I made it to 12 weeks before this happened...

Apparently my boobs arent designed too well for feeding... too much fat/muscle tissue and not enough milk ducts to get a full supply (And if they dont make enough to sustain a 6w old, they'll never make enough to feed him without topping up)... wish it had been pointed out before i failed 3 times when i could have enjoyed much more time with my babies just going straight to bottle!

Aw chickie, you did not fail! You did your best to make sure your bubs had the best start to life, and if it didn't work out, then it sounds like it wasn't for lack of trying!

If it helps, we came off top-ups and shields, and I have a friend who does both bottle and breastfeeds alternating. If you want to continue there may be ways to have the best of both worlds, but if you go on formula then thats fine too!

How are things going now? A bit late in the piece, but just wanted to share that my good friend's DS2 had a tongue tie that wasn't snipped till about 8 weeks old so they had all kinds of issues with BF as well. She mixed fed him formula (from a bottle) and BF and he has just stopped BF now at 10 months. S never seemed to have "enough" milk for R either, but she just went with the flow giving him bottles when that's all he'd take and offering boob the rest of the time. Hard work but it can be done

Re the nipple shields I used them the whole time I BF'd my first son (till 5.5 months) and for the first 2 months with DS2. Both my kids' mouths seemed to be too small to get a good latch especially with me being particularly well-endowed

Are you also taking domperidone to help your supply? That sounds pretty rubbish from the LC, I am surprised she doesn't want to help It sounds like you have a plan in place, I hope you have some lovely friends coming to keep you company as well. I found when I took the step to drop the nipple shields, it helped to think - just one more day, just one more week, just until he's 3 months, just until 6 months.. now he's 7.5 months and I can't imagine stopping!

Good luck

I bf for ages using the nipple shield ... well I think it was 4 months at least? Abi was prem and couldn't suck properly to start with, she had a bottle in the nicu (of ebm) and then I used the shield. She decided she didn't want it when she was around the 4 month mark ... once I stopped stressing about it - also I didn't find it diminished milk supply ... Abi always seemed to get enough