Donna,

I had a teenager whose baby had trouble latching on, mom hand expressed for
a while and Grandma fed with a dropper or cup - when we finally got baby
on, mom's let-down was so hard baby learned to clamp down to stop it!

Mom was at the end of her rope, and was considering pumping and bottle
feeding, when I suggested a nipple shield which would at least prevent the
strong stream from gagging the baby.  It worked very well, and after 4 more
weeks she was able to stop the shield (either baby got used to the stream
or mom's stream got less strong - don't really know which.

My reasoning for using a shield is:  if the next choice is a bottle, better
a shield...



Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, IBCLC, LLLL
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Project Director - Proyecto Lacta - Puerto Rico
http://netdial.caribe.net/~prlacta/
Lactancia Materna '98 - La Mejor Inversion