Nipple Shield to help a shallow latch?

pinkspringtulip

My daughter is 3 weeks old and has been gaining weight very well... however, my nipples hurt!

Yesterday I went to see the public nurse in our area to see if there was anything I could do to reduce the pain.

The nurse said that baby girl has a shallow latch, which I already suspected. The nurse got her to latch on deeply / properly, but the baby will slowly go back to her shallow latch, which she definitely prefers.

I'm going to keep practice a better latch, but in the meantime, does a nipple shield encourage a deeper latch?

Starynightsky24

The shield will likely help your discomfort but won't encourage a correct latch. The sheild is more like sucking a bottle. I used it with DS for latching issues. It was messy, and a pain to make it stay and keep up with.

The LC at the hospital told me that latching is muscle memory. That's why you have to keep fixing it over and over till they get it right. It's exhausting but they should eventually get it.

amk013

I was told to avoid shields, if possible. Milkies makes these things you can put in your bra that keep your nipples from rubbing against anything. Look it up on amazon, that might help you in between feedings. I got a jar of organic nipple cream from target.Com. It's in a black jar and has helped me so much! I can't think of the name of it and am not around it to tell you.

LEGALLYblonde86

I used a shield with my first daughter. It helped us successfully BF for 6 months, which we probably wouldn't have made it to 6 weeks without. I loved it. Bought one for this time, turned out we not only did not need it, but the one time i tried to use it because I was so sore, it made DD really gassy and made or a bad night. PP is right, I would try the shells to help with things rubbing your nipples, and def get a good lanolin. I used Medela first and it wasn't helping. Tried Mother's Love and it helped tremendously with the pain I was experiencing. Also I bought the ice packs and those have helped as well. Good Luck Mama! 

nakoppel

I'm not sure if it encourages a deeper latch. But I have been using one since the beginning because LO couldn't get enough of my nipple into his mouth. I've had great success with it LO and I are both much happier.

candicejeff2013

I used a nipple sheild a few times mainly to draw out my right nipple. It helped. And maybe a more favorable drawn out nipple will help latch?

melanier26

My LO has a shallow latch no matter what I do. It took close to 6 weeks before I stopped cringing every time I fed him. I think my nipples just toughened up! I do use Boobease by Bamboobies, which is the organic balm available through Target. I haven't had any cracking and I think that's why

emmacake08

The thing that always helped me get a deeper latch was to "hamburger" my breast. I have to flatten it behind the nipple and then have LO latch. While they're feeding, I have to keep doing it especially to keep my breast off their chin to keep a deep latch. Once LOs older with a bigger mouth you won't need to hamburger your breast for the latch. The nipple shield didn't really achieve as deep a latch as the hand manipulation.

CaliforniaDream87

This was DD's issue-shallow latch. My nipples were bleeding by day two. The shield pissed her off. She was so frustrated at the breasts with the shield. That's when we went to EP'ing.

taylorharber1108

The nipple shield is a pain in the ass. I wouldn't start using one if you can do without it. I started using one in the hospital because I was told my nipples were too short for DS to latch on. I'm in the process of weaning him off the shield now and it isn't easy.