Am climbing onto very high porch, and probably will be pushed off....

Do not throw nipple shields out with the proverbial dirty diapers. I use
them fairly frequently, nearly always for short-term use to solve problems
which I have found they work well for.  (poor sentence structure, but I
hope you get my drift)

Two most recent cases:

33 week premie at home, very poor sucking response. Used nipple shield for
4 days, during which mother was able to get baby on breast for at least
half of feedings; others were by bottle. At end of 4th day, baby was
exclusively feeding at breast and gaining nicely. Within 3 weeks, he went
from under 4 lbs to more than 7!

Baby with IUGR at term; very tiny (less than 3 lbs) and kept in hospital
for 2 weeks --very poor hospital practices (known not to help breastfeeding
mothers; baby got all feeds by bottle and rednipple). Mother brought in her
milk but nurses refused to let her feed baby at breast until she got home.
After 2 weeks, baby home, but refusing to latch.  We are currently using
nipple shield. Baby took BOTH breasts with shield; previously, she would
not take one at all and the other only sporadically. Within 3 days, baby
taking ALL feeds at breast, but not yet willing to do so without shield. We
are going to let her continue to grow and gain antoher 4 days and then
begin easing her off.

ATTENTION: The December 1996 issue of JHL will be devoted to nipple shield
use in all kinds of situations. Read it and learn how to use these devices.
Like nearly all "assists" they can help or they can harm, depending on when
and how they are used.

Next; am falli
              n
                g!




Def. of LC service: "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities
brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Homewood, IL)- [log in to unmask]
WEB PAGE: http://www.mcs.com/~auerbach/lactation.html
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