Breat sheild?

Sorry this has probably had a topic before but I have two week old twins and no time to search!!

Have had big supply issues with milk not coming in to day 7 after c-section and also latching problems with our boy (he comes on chomping he is very enthusiatic and unfortunately damages nipples alot in just a few attempts) he is improving though and lactation consultant eventually suggested a breast sheild once supply had come in.

She did not seem that keen on this and called it a band aid though. I was wondering what peoples experience of a sheild is were they able to ween off it - the pros and cons etc?

Our week girl can latch well (as long as she doesn't get too wound up) in which case I have resorted to using the sheild on her also just to get her fed.

I am at this point just happy he can now feed at the breast as was looking at one point that she could and he couldn't which would have been just awful.

Missy77 wrote: I used nipple sheilds for ages, they were my saving grace. im sure i would have given up if it wernt 4 them. gave my nipples time 2 heal. Jade was fine swapping from not using them, to using them, & then off again. I will def be using them again this time if they are needed. Go for it, & good luck, congrats on ur twins as well.

I fully agree with this post! Nipple shields were a god send in this house. I went on to b/f for nearly 8 months. I gave up the nipple shields at around 6-8 weeks. Although if we had a day of bad latching or fussy feeding, I resorted back to the niple shields!

Go for it!

Thanks, the lactation consultant advised that you have to keep expressing milk to keep supply up did you have to do this?

also feel like both the twins take longer to feed with the sheild

Can i edit the name of the thread was in such a hurry holding one fussing baby last night that i typed breat not breast!

i'm holding the other baby this time i am getting good at doing things with one hand!

I had to see the hospitals Lactation consultant when DS was about a week old. He had jaundice and was sleepy and lazy, I had real troubles getting him to latch and suck properly. She suggested I use the shields to give him something easier to latch on until he got his strength up to latch properly himself. It was a godsend. I wouldn't have been able to breastfeed him without them for a while.

For memory I used them for about 2 weeks, it didn't cause any problems with getting him to latch onto my nipple later on. Although, I would also try just the nipple first and then use the shield if things weren't going well.

Like MrsB - I hated getting up to sterilise them in the middle of the night, and it made feeding in public rather difficult. But, I wouldn't hesitate to go this route again with number 2 if I needed to

A girl in my coffee group used them for 3 months due to issues latching and then weaned bubs off them - she did have to pump to keep her supply up. I say if using shields is the difference between breast feeding and not then definitely go for it.

I think its just that they are not ideal as can cause supply issues, but hey, no point having a good supply if you can't feed your baby!

I was never told to express, I did most days though to build my stock up in the freezer but that was the only reason I did it!

I was given breast shields at the hospital due to DS having a tongue tie and trouble latching. While they were good for a week or so they majorily interfered with my supply and I got rid of them by three weeks. By this stage DS had a better latch and my nipples were used to feeding and more supple so they were no longer required. I say good for a short term solution though!

Oh, wanted to add...Liam was taking ages to feed and I didn't actually realise it was weirdo until I saw a mum with a baby a wee bit older who feed in like ten minutes...but now once we are not using the shields, he is much much quicker. Seriously can't believe that it didn't even require weaning, he just went boom straight onto the boob.
He is finding it a bit different as he doesn't have to work as hard now so is gulping and being a bit spilly but all good otherwise.

All the same despite it having been a pain using them and the long feeding times, if I had not used them, I doubt I would have kept feeding as I was finding it so hard and as soon as we used the shields it was like wow, easy!

Can I please ask what brand nipple shield you guys used & had success with? I tried a couple of different brands (Pigeon & Avent) that were both quite differently shaped back when I was bf but I still had a lot of pain with using them & was really disappointed.
I'd really be interested to know what brands you used & found good.
Thanks.

Yeah I used Medela too. It was just what the lactation consultant gave me so I stuck with it