Nipple shields do work for some mothers
20 October 2010
Millie came to see me about five weeks ago with her two-week old son Max, whom she had been bottle-feeding since his birth with expressed breast milk because she had been unable to get him to latch on and suck effectively. When he was a week old, Millie saw a lactation consultant who diagnosed tongue-tie as being the cause of his inability to suck on the breast and arranged for it to be clipped. Sadly, this did not resolve the problem so she came to see me. I was also unable to get him to latch on but it immediately became apparent that he had a very poor sucking action and he was using his tongue to push Millie's breast out of his mouth, rather than to suck it in. He also did this when we tried using a conventional nipple shield so I tried him on a very old-fashioned shield (a Portia nipple shield which is available from Bray Healthcare) and this worked perfectly. Millie had plenty of milk with a very fast letdown and Max sucked so effectively that he was able to get a full feed from the breast - and he continued to do that at every feed from then on. Millie was delighted!
The less good part of this story is that Millie rang me three weeks later to tell me that she had experienced extremely negative reactions from several midwives and health visitors and even some of her breastfeeding friends, all of whom told her that she should not use the shield because it would create nipple/teat confusion and reduce her milk supply. When she pointed out that she was only using the shield because she couldn’t latch Max on without it, not one of them offered to help her latch him on but they still continued to tell her that she shouldn’t use it. In addition, not one of them was interested when she pointed out that she had been using the shield for three weeks with no adverse affects to either her milk supply or baby, who was happy, settling well and gaining weight.
To me, this is another example of health professionals toeing the party line rather than learning by experience. If they had taken the time to talk to Millie (rather than simply criticise her) they would have learnt that nipple shields can and do work for some mothers - and rather than being detrimental to breastfeeding they might be the tool that enables them to continue breastfeeding.
PS. Bray Healthcare is developing a new prototype of the Portia nipple shield, which should be available soon. In the meantime, anyone wanting to try the current shield should call Mandy Ball on 01367 240736