Medela Contact Nipple Shield for Breastfeeding, Large 24mm Nippleshield, for Latch Difficulties or Flat or Inverted Nipples, Made Without BPA

The medela nipple shield is truly useful when it's needed, but please keep in mind how difficult it is to change a habit once an infant has started down any particular road! Our personal experience with the shield started b/c my infant was in the NICU for 10 days and developed "nipple confusion" - he was more comfortable with bottles and pacifiers b/c that is what he started with early in life.I'd highly recommend using this product ONLY if you have had a lactation consultant recommend it. It may seem like a great short term tool, but if your infant becomes dependent on using it, it is a long and painful process to wean them from using a nipple shield. Infants use a different mechanism to express milk if there is a nipple shield in place compared to feeding from the breast alone. For instance, they don't have an opportunity to use the correct asymetrical latch where they use their tongue to massage out the milk. Instead, with the shield they mostly get their milk by "pulling" the milk out by suction. Thus, my child never really developed a great latch mechanism, and I am stuck just dealing with it! Furthermore, your child may get used to the feel and shape of the shield and reject the bare nipple. Additionally, a lactation consultant can assure that the shield is the correct size for you. Finally, you may need their help to wean from the shield. Medela has a webpage discussing use of nipple shields that you may find useful.Summary of reasons the nipple shield is useful:1) Helps if infants have nipple confusion and are having problems latching. The silicone feel and the shape of the shield resemble a bottle nipple, so it can be a bridge to plain breastfeeding.2) Engorgement - often times infants have trouble latching onto a very engorged breast. I use the shield to start some morning feedings, and once the engorgement is improved I take the shield off.3) Slows down flow - this is both a good and bad thing. The flow of breast milk is decreased b/c the milk comes through small holes in the tip of the nipple. Thus, if you have an oversupply of breast milk that is overpowering your infant, this can help modulate the flow.4) Helps nipple recover if they are painful, chapped, or cracked - but given the other methods to get over this I don't think painful nipples alone are a reason to start using the shield frequently. Furthermore, the pain may be a sign that your baby is latching poorly and it's probably better to troubleshoot the root cause than getting stuck using a shield.Summary of potential negatives about the shield0.5) ***The most important consideration *** Babies often get hooked to the shield and then you have to go through a long weaning process. Even after a baby is weaned, they may have a poor latch due to bad habits they picked up when using the shield. See below for more information about weaning.1) swallowing air - Use of the shield can lead to increased intake of air while feeding thus causing your infant to be more gassy/colicky2) leaking - yes the nipple shield can leak, but I don't think this is a reason NOT to use of the shield if your infant truly needs it to feed. It's going to leak more if you need to use lanolin (see next bullet point). If you have a lot of milk production, the milk will actually pool in the shield after your infant finishes feeding. Thus, I would keep a towel with me at all feedings to soak up the excess milk, but half ot the time, my active infant would knock the milk filled nipple shield off my breast, soaking my shirt!3) pain - the shield can cause pain, for more it was located on the areola b/c the shield was rubbing against the sensitive skin. Thus, I needed to start using lanolin BEFORE putting the shield in place. This was quite a mess and a headache b/c then there wasn't a seal, the shield would slide around, and milk would leak everywhere!4) fear of losing shield - I was so nervous about losing the shield while out of the house that I wasn't comfortable till we had three shields. As someone else noted, it's transparent and thin, so it's not easy to see once it's misplaced. I once thought I lost one shield, only to find it days later on the bathroom floor!5) extra hassle of having to wash shield + using shield on the go - it's a pain to have to wash something prior to every breastfeeding episode. At night, it really helps to have 3 or more shields so you have backups. When you're out of the house for a full day, this might mean you have to wash your shield in a public restroom, which is a bit suboptimal!6) slows down flow - as stated above, this could be a good or bad thing. If you have slow flow from your breasts, your child could get frustrated with the even slower flow while using the shield. My breasts have different flow rates and my child would literally scream at me while feeding with the shield on the slower breast.7) ? decreased milk flow - I can personally attest that this nipple shield does NOT cause a decrease in milk supply. From reading lactation references, it seems like this is a problem from older shield designs.Weaning babies from the nipple shield -------------------------If you search online, often times moms talk about infants that reject feeding straight from the breast in lieu of the shield until they are 3 to 6 months old! For me personally, my child used the shield until he was 1.5 mo old. IT seemed like I couldn't get my infant to latch well with the shield off. Then a lactation consultant evaluated the feeding. She taught me that the subtleties of the latch are less important once the child is out of the newborn stage. She also thought that I should just "suck it up" and start having my baby feed straight from the nipple, even though it was painful. She was right, I did develop more tolerance as my child nursed straight from the nipple, but unfortunately I still am having occasional problems with painful/cracked nipples. I suspect it is because my baby has a poor latch.Here are a few tips I have picked up about trying to wean him the shieldA) Don't do it when he/she is super hungry/agitated/crying. They will not be in any mood to try new thingsB) Consider trying to breastfeed without the shield when they are in REM sleep b/c they are more pliable at that stageC) Try feeding with the shield on, getting them feeling more relaxed, then trying with the shield off. This also works well b/c they have helped to elongate the nipple with their suctionD) If you can, try to have a lactation consultant observe the feeding. I know it's tough b/c often times you are weaning at home and you no longer have access to the L/D or NICU lactation consultants. But it's super useful to find out ways to make the latch better without the nipple shield.There is a nice article at KellyMom about weaning from the nipple shield for your reference!

The hospital gave me one of these when my baby was born, and it is a lifesaver. I bought a second one in case I lost the first one. I was an insulin-dependent diabetic during pregnancy, and my baby was born with low blood sugar. It was important that my baby latch and nurse to get her blood sugar back up, so the lactation consultant gave me one of these. My baby latched and nursed for 45 minutes within an hour of being born, and we had great success with breastfeeding in the hospital. The lactation consultant assured me that I would not have to use this for the entire 12 months of breastfeeding, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. After returning home, I continued to use this nipple shield, and it made breastfeeding much easier. I avoided the cracked and bleeding nipples, pain and discomfort that my other breastfeeding friends went through. My baby latched correctly every time and fed well, which helped me avoid clogged ducts and mastitis. When my milk came in, I was only engorged for a short time because my baby was able to latch and nurse properly. This nipple shield made breastfeeding a very pleasant experience.When I returned to work at 8 weeks post partum, I had a very easy time transitioning my baby to a bottle because she was already used to the silicon nipple. I became an exclusive pumper at 12 weeks due to my work schedule, but my nipple shields were still in excellent condition and could have been used for many more months.I have only two things that I dislike about this nipple shield. The first is that it collects milk in it while baby eats, so when baby is done, if you forget to lean forward and catch the extra milk in a towel when removing the nipple shield, the milk ends up everywhere. The second is that it takes some coordination to keep the nipple shield in the correct place and get the baby latched properly, especially in the early days when the baby doesn't have any head and neck control. As head and neck control increase, this gets much easier.Overall, I highly recommend this to any breastfeeding mother. This saved me from additional nipple pain when my whole body was hurting after delivery, and that is priceless.