So you’ve found yourself breastfeeding a newborn. Like many, you may have learned it is not as easy or as natural as you expected it to be. Don’t worry, you are not alone! Many women and new babies struggle with breastfeeding. This is a new relationship and your little person is just learning to recognize they have hunger and how to get their mouth around that balloon that is the size of their whole head. Whether it be a well-meaning friend, a family member, a doula or care provider, someone may suggest you use a nipple shield to help with breastfeeding.
You try to breastfeed. Your baby wants to eat, searches for the nipple, but never fully latches. You are frustrated and ready to quit.
Someone comes along and says, “Hey, you should use a nipple shield.”
Can a nipple shield help with breastfeeding?
The short answer? Yes, but read on any way.
They sell them at Target, Amazon and a million other places, so you go ahead and buy one. You try it, and low and behold, the baby nurses!!!!
Congratulations! What a relief. The nipple shield saved your breastfeeding relationship.
Here’s the trouble. What no one told you is nipple shields should be used under the guidance and support of our Infant Feeding Specialist or an IBCLC, because baby’s can become addicted to the nipple shield and this can cause issues.
Let’s pretend for a moment.
You go to the store and intend to get home before the baby needs to nurse again. Now, you are stuck in construction traffic, your baby is crying with hunger and you are definitely not going anywhere soon. So you pull over to feed the baby, you dig in the diaper bag, but you don’t have your nipple shield. Now what? Baby won’t latch and their cry becomes more frantic. You are both frustrated and now you are sitting in the car on the side of the road sobbing.
This is only one of the many times we have heard about women who find themselves without their shield.
So what DO YOU DO? Use that nipple shield!
But also get help.
Get baby used to nursing at the breast. Maybe this is for a day or two or maybe it’s for a week or two until baby learns the coordination of nursing. When it’s time to wean, your lactation support person should tell you that the nipple shield should be used to initiate the breastfeeding session- just long enough to allow baby to satiate the intense desire to eat. This allows you to work with a baby who isn’t frantically searching for a nipple and perhaps to even draw out the nipple if flat or inverted nipples were an issue.
Once baby has nursed for a minute or two with the shield, safely unlatch the baby, and attempt to relatch without the shield. This is not always easy. We know. Keep trying. If baby gets frustrated, put that nipple shield back on, nurse for a few moments and try the whole process again.
It’s a pain in the ass…and it’s frustrating as hell. Hang in there, get some support from your partner, friends, and someone trained in breastfeeding, and call us for help. And please know that at the end of the day, FED is best, no matter how that feeding happens.
