I know that 27 years ago when my daughter was born, I was told that I had a flat nipple and would have to use a nipple shield.   I dutifully did so in the hospital- using their nipple shield.    Before leaving the hospital to go home I sent my husband out to buy me some nipple shield to have at home so I could nurse.   We were living in Bangkok at the time and, even though my husband speaks Thai, he didn't know the word for nipple.  He had to act out what I needed to a bewildered young Thai saleswoman in a baby store.   somehow he came home with the right thing!

I was never told that the baby would need to learn to nurse without the shield.  And of course it go so that she wouldn't take either breast without the shield.   When we went in for her two week check up and she had lost a whole pound, the doctor was alarmed to learn I was still using nipple shields!   She told me to wean off of them, go home and, eat a lot, and take the baby to bed with me and nurse, nurse, nurse.

By the way, that flat nipple worked fine for all five of my kids-after I learned NOT to use the nipple shield.

Weaning from the nipple shield (the old rubber type) was hard, and the only thing that got me through it was perseverance and commitment.   

By the way, those old nipple shields did have one good use.  They are great as jar openers!

Nancy Sherwood
LLLL, BA, IBCLC
Reston, Virginia, USA

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html