Nipple shields

I also have flat/inverted nipples. They've gotten better, and we've latched successfully without a shield a few times, but with some fussing and trial and error. Honestly, we may just use them the whole time, it's just a lot easier. When he latched, I made sure they were as erect as possible, and then squished them up as far as possible to help latch. We also had more success taking the shield away in the middle of the feed

I started with nipple shields and have now completely weaned off of them. I have one flat nipple that I was using the shield for every time. It became so annoying bringing them with me everywhere and cleaning them. I’d try to get her to latch without it by kinda squeezing my nipple beforehand to get a little milk out and then trying to get her to latch. She was very frustrated at first but now she got the hang of it.

It took me nearly 2 months to finally get mine off the shields. I almost gave up breast feeding altogether but I was determined. I tried getting her on my breast at least once a day when she wasn’t too hungry, that way she wasn’t getting frustrated. I’d either hand express right before putting her on or I would squeeze my breast while putting it to her mouth to get her to latch better. I kept increasing the times of her being on without them until she got the hang of it. We haven’t used the shields in probably two weeks and breast feeding has gone great. She’s sometimes able to latch herself without me helping her. It’s completely possible but takes lots of patience. Once you guys get the hang of it it’s so much easier.

I have also been using shields since my baby was born. It is very annoying to bring them everywhere and to clean them but I don't even know how to start to stop using them. For some reason it's in my head that if I don't use the shield it's going to hurt my nipples 😔 so I'm not even trying even though I would love to.

it does hurt! It hurt me for about a week straight it was the worst pain. I just pushed through it and now it doesn’t hurt at all when she latches. I think my nipple just had to get used to being without the shield!

I'm going to give it a try the next feeding, but I'm so scared! 😂 I have gone through such a painful bf experience already that I don't want to start over with the pain!

I think it'll work out as long as you try every time you nurse. I totally weaned from them by 4? Weeks of age. Sooner than I thought. And my flat nipple isn't flat anymore. Seems like tissue grew.

A proper latch does not hurt. Feels sensitive maybe tingly. And you feel tugging. Break seal and relatch for wider latch.

Thank you mommas for the ideas I just need to push through it and be patient. I’m really fed up from them affecting my baby in any bad way.

Btw did anyone use the nipple extractor? I was thinking of giving it a try

I just tried to remove the shield mid feeding and my baby was hysterically crying and wouldn't even try to latch 😭

same thing here and if she latches on it’ll be for a couple of minutes tops

I have inverted nipples and didnt know about nipple shields lol (even if i did my stubborn ass prob would have refused them anyway)
Basically it hurt like hell before they finally popped out
It took about 1-2 weeks for them to take a good shape and now they pop out whenever hes hungry. Basically i was just stubborn with it till it worked lmao.