Nipple shirld and length of feeding

utfan92

Hi all...at my 5 week pp check-up today my OB said that using a nipple shield could be the reason why feeding my DD takes so long. I was telling her how amazing it was that I could watch her down a bottle of my breast milk in 15 minutes, but it takes me 45 minutes to feed her from my breast. I was wondering when she would get more efficient because 45 minutes is not fun in the middle of the night. Just wondering what you all experienced with the nipple shield? TIA!

ReeseM

DD did get more efficient as she got older even with the shield. She however, weaned herself off FINALLY last week, and now it only takes about 5-10 minutes, compared to at least 20. It's amazing!!

Linds&Chris777

Well I know that DS downs a bottle faster than when he's BFing but that's b/c the flow from bottle nipples (even the slow flow ones) is pretty fast.  It usually doesn't take him more than 15-20 per feeding and I'm also working on weaning him and haven't noticed a difference when I'm not using the shield.

sheena75

definitely true! i used a nipple shield for 4 months and feedings took half an hour. it was such a production every time i fed him. but once we stopped using it, his feeding time went down to about 7 minutes. it freaked me out at first but now i'm loving it!

Megan Briggs

I didn't see a real difference in time, but a difference in the effectivness of her sucking.  FWIW, DD went cold turkey at 5 weeks.