Newbie: Flat nipple question
I have a one week old and so far it has been quite a ride with the breast feeding. In the hospital I was unable to get her to latch on, apparently I have flat nipples. She was then diagnosed with jaundice so I had to begin to give her formula. I tried it with an SNS/nipple shield but to be honest the nipple shield I found to be a pain, it kept falling off and made a mess. So what I am doing is pumping (now getting anywhere from 1.5 to 2.25 oz every three hours) I then give her that milk at the next feeding and supplement with approx 1 oz of formula or more if she will take it.. Having to pump ends up adding an additional half hour onto each feeing, after I pump for 20 mins, and then clean up all the insturments. I am going on Tuesday to see a lactation specialist, hoping that will help us with latching and positioning. Yesterday, at a laction mothers group meeting I spoke to the specialist and purchased a special bottle which is supposed to better mimic the flow of a nipple.
I guess my question is, have any of you had such issues and are now finding success? Can you share how you were able to overcome the obstacles? It pains me to know that I am unable to "breast feed".
Re: Newbie: Flat nipple question
I have one side that is flat and DD wanted nothing to do with it. Last week I purchased a thing called "Latch Assist" made by Lanisoh and it has helped so far! I found mine on Amazon for less than 10 dollars!
GL
I have similar issues; we've found success with the nipple shield and the BreastFlow bottle. The nipple shield can be frustrating, but it has helped significantly turing my small, flat nipples into a more normal size. I've been to the LC three times now.
I still have a very low supply and can't pump nearly as much as you are so I am by no means an expert.
Have you tried Nipple Shells? I used them to heal my sore and cracked nipples, but they are also recommended to help flat nipples protrude a bit so that babies can latch on. It made latching my daughter to my one flat nipple a lot easier.
Some reviews say that they might cause a plugged duct, but I was willing to give them a try to heal my nipples:
https://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/179-8756575-1870826?asin=B000058DPM&AFID=Froogle_df&LNM=|B000058DPM&CPNG=baby&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000058DPM&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001
I have had to use the nipple shield since the hospital. Apparently I have flat nipples and "too firm breasts" (really?) according to the nurse. they are still a little bit of a pain and messy, but I found the "falling off" issue improved a lot as DS got better at latching. In fact the shield is almost vacuum sealed to my breast by the time my little barracuda is done feeding.
Of course at 6 weeks - now he is getting coordinated enough to pull the shield off with his hand ...so we'll see where that goes.
I hope you found something that works for you!
Well, I have flat nipples, and when they evert (come out) they're really large - so both DD's were not able to latch until much older (mouths not big enough). I pumped in the meantime (they would try to latch, but not able to get the full nipple, so caused me alot of damage and pain).
As others have suggested, a nipple sheild can really help - and pumping the nipple out before latching.
Oh yeah. I EPed for nearly 4 weeks then had the nipple shield for another 4 after that. BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!! I love being able to BF now. It gets so much more rewarding a few months in once LO starts to interact a little more. Keep it up, you'll get through it!!!
Also, to help with the pumping, I think this video is excelellent, it taught me how to pump enough so I didn't have to use formula to supplement, I was able to do it all with BM: Maximizing Production