At the institution where I work, we use far too many nipple shields but they work.  We send many babies home breastfeeding  and using nipple shields.  This hospitals induction rates, C/S rates, and epidural rates are very high.  Needless to say we have a lot of sleepy babies, babies with uncoordinated sucks, etc.  We use to send these babies home being alternatively fed (many using fingerfeeding) and   mothers pumping.  Maybe 7 or 8 years ago, a new to our hospital not new to mother & babies, LC, RN s, started working here.  She came from mostly an outpatient environment.  She pointed out how ridiculous this was and pointed out that mothers and babies should be together.

We did a study involving ~250 mother/baby couples using nipple shields.  These women were followed for 4 months.  Many gave up breastfeeding quickly (I think about 11% which was not to much higher than usual).  What we found out though was many women stopped using the nipple shield very quickly and went on to have a long, successful breastfeeding experience. 

 Interesting fact we have had 3 women come back who breastfed fairly long-term using the nipple shield the entire time.  One breastfed for 12 months, one 15 months and one 27 months.  The mother that used it for 27 months did not get it from our hospital-she was living in another state at the time.  She said that she started using the shield at 6 weeks after being seen by several different LCs.  By the end, she knew that the nipple shield was a security blanket for her and that her little one could of and probably would of done just fine with out it (once things were corrected).

Do I like using nipple shields-no.  Am I proud of using sooo many nipple shields-no.  Are there better alternatives-I believe yes. But they do give an instant fix sometimes and unfortunately that is what the women delivering at our institution today want.

Hope that this helps someone.

Marla, MOM, IBCLC, RN



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