Feeling guilty about nipple shield :(

punkrockabye

LO had a perfect latch while we were in the hospital. She was also able to nurse perfectly in less than ideal positions, which impressed the LC there. Only her initial latch on my right nipple caused damage right away so I couldn't nurse her on that side, and because of that I was given a double electric pump (to keep, even!) to stimulate my right breast so the milk would come in. I never had to pump to give her milk.

Since being home her latch went downhill and the... top front (?) of my nipples were cracked and raw. Basically it seemed like it was too shallow of a latch and the top of my nipple was pulled in more than the bottom. And in addition, she suddenly stopped nursing for long. She'd latch and either fall asleep or fuss and push herself off, or just not be interested at all. She did have to have one bottle of formula while I was in the ER to get checked out (excessive swelling, I had pre-e and didn't know what was normal and I know pre-e can sometimes continue). That broke my heart but she couldn't starve for hours while I was there. 

So the other day, an LC I know came over to provide some assistance after LO had not eaten in MANY hours. I was desperate. She was really just sleeping so it wasn't like she was screaming with hunger, but I also knew that it had been 8-10 hours since she had a decent feed, and I was scared. The LC gave me a shield because my nipples were sore and LO just wasn't taking the breast otherwise; I don't have flat or inverted nipples. And my nipples are improving although it's still sore, just not intolerable... but my problem is that I feel so, so guilty about needing it. I know it's preferable to feeding bottles of milk, and pumping bottles to give her is preferable to giving her formula (although I haven't had to give a pumped bottle yet).

I just dread feeding her because of the slight pain but mostly because it reminds me of how well she did early on and I feel like I "broke" her somehow, and now I'm doing something that can only hurt our nursing relationship... can someone please slap me? I absolutely know that I must do whatever is best for this baby, which means getting her my milk in whichever way necessary, and I know we're still not at the point of needing to pump bottles (which I wouldn't view as horrible if I worked/needed to pump, but as of now there's no reason I would need to give bottles). I just can't shake the feeling of having broken her.

Can I get any positive nipple shield stories? How much of a battle was it to transition to just the breast? As of now that's not even on my radar since things are still sore, we're still trying to adjust to everything, and I really need to try to take this one day at a time so I keep telling myself that I need to just do whatever works right now. Which is true, I mean, I have to feed my baby, plain and simple. I keep telling myself this but I still feel really bad about it and I am terrified that I'll never be able to nurse her normally.

mcanant

Using a shield saved me in week two. I had very bad BF anxiety because of pain. With a shield I have felt no pain and breastfeeding has gotten a lot easier. I am now coming up on the two month mark and never thought I'd even make it to one. I have no supply issues and baby doesn't seem to care. My LLL leader worked on latch at one month mark but could tell I still felt pain and said their is nothing wrong with using the shield. So on we go!  I have read of many women here who used the shield for months successfully. Don't feel guilty! 

amanda_wahl

Don't feel guilty! You are only doing the best you can! I used a shield with my lo from day 2 due to poor latch. My son would only nurse with it and wanted nothing to do without it. I would offer the breast every few days and same thing. Well it was about the 3 week mark and offered on a Friday, he magically was able to latch without and off we went to successfully nursing without! The key for me was to just keep trying and know that even if we kept using the shield he was getting breast milk! So far so good now at 9 weeks without using it. Good luck! 

ColesMommy0606

I used it with DS and again with DD. When I came home from the hospital my nips were starting to get cracked and bleeding. I used the shield and it made my life a lot easier for a while. Then at 4 weeks my DD kept knocking it off and just latched on without it. We haven't looked back ever since. 

elampl

We used a nipple shield until about last weekend when LO (9 weeks now) suddenly latched on. We've only needed it once or twice since when she's very tired and has a lazy latch.  My sister used a shield for a year and said it didn't bother her at all.

Divashrink1982

No reason to feel guilty. We used a shield for a number of reasons but were able to wean off of it around week 8. Took a week or two to transition off of it completely. I considered EPing in the beginning because BFing was so hard for us, and I didn't only because DS loved, loved, loved BFing. He is now a BFing pro, even without the shield. I am so proud of how far we have come! He still loves BFing and also transitions breast to bottle with no issue, which is great because I work PT.