One important help in getting babies off nipple shields is to reinforce proper latch behaviors with the shield. If the shield teat is crossed across baby's lips, he will have to open wide to take it in. This helps preserve the kind of gape we need for latching to the bare breast. Letting baby just open wide enough for the shield teat, or letting him slide down the teat with his lips, are counterproductive, because those behaviors push the maternal nipple out of the mouth. I encourage moms to use the shield for every feeding until baby is excited to go to the breast. Once the baby trusts that breastfeeding works and he will get milk, he is usually more motivated to work at latching without the shield. Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC NYC *********************************************** 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