Hi Winnie, You asked about others' experiences with small nipple shields:
I find that shields can help baby attach to the breast. The nipple shaped tip
merely facilitates baby attaining a deep latch onto the breast. Sucking on
the teat of the shield is a possibility, as with breast nipples, but that
just shows me that the mother and baby still needs support of someone
knowledgable if they have not done it before, and they are high risk, or
having difficulty.

I do use large ones on premies sometimes...it all depends upon the mother and
baby's anatomy. Most small babies that I see, however, need to use a small
shield when one is indicated.
Just yesterday I helped a mother baby pair. They had been working on their
own(in the hospital) for a couple of weeks(baby now 34 weeks, and almost 1800
grams). The baby has been bottle feeding. The baby took a few minutes to
figure out how to use the shield, but once he figured it out, he breastfed
beautifully, drawing the shield well into the mouth, and eliciting milk flow
with non-nutritive sucking, followed by several MER's. mom was elated, and
baby was too.

The plan is to eventually not use the shield, but baby needs to build up a
little strength so that his suction pressures can maintain nipple-areolar
grasp for the feed. the shield is helping him learn to breastfeed.

Fritzi Drosten, RN, IBCLC
Children's Hospital Oakland
Kaiser Hospital Hayward
Piedmont, CA

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