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Breastfeeding/Need help on breaking my daughter from nursing with a nipple gaurd

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Expert: - 3/29/2009


Question
I began using the nipple guard in the hospital when she was born cause my nipples wouldn't stick out. So the lactation specialist gave me a nipple guard to use and she latch on right away. Now she's 6 weeks and still is using the nipple guard. I try to break her of it once my nipples started to stick out. But she refuses to suck with out it.  It's just getting to be a hassle for me to put it on all the time especially when we are out and I need to discretely nurse her. Any advice on how I can get her use to the natural nipple with out causing her to starve? I would really like to continue nursing. Please help.

Answer
Dear Kathy,

First, congratulations for giving your daughter the best start in life by breastfeeding her!

I am assuming that a "nipple guard," is the same as a "nipple shield." One reason for a baby's reluctance to do away with nipple shields may be because of the tactile difference between skin and silicone.  One measure that sometimes helps is for the mother to use a clean finger to pacify the baby instead of a pacifier, so the baby gets accustomed to what skin feels like.  Once the baby is OK with sucking on a finger, you can de-attach the baby after your milk has let down, but is still flowing quickly. Pull the nipple shield off and reattach her.  If you move quickly, the whole process should take only a few seconds, not long enough for your baby to become outraged and/or cry.

Years back, when these shields were made of latex (and transferred only 40% of available milk), lactation consultants would suggest cutting a bit off the tip and keep taking off small amounts until the baby was sucking on the nipple itself.  With the silicone shields, this is dangerous to both mother and baby: cut silicone can have a sharp edge which can cut the mother's nipple, the baby's mouth, or both.  I just mention this in case someone (who doesn't realize that the material nipple shields are made of has changed) offers this suggestion to you.

Good luck!

Sally
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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters. Now in revision for a fourth edition, with pediatrician Laura M. Marks, M.D.  

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Sally Wendkos Olds

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What do you want to know about breastfeeding? I can tell you what`s good for the baby, what`s good for the mother -- and the father, how it`s related to a woman`s sexuality, how working moms can nurse, how to overcome obstacles, and lots more. As the author of THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING and author or coauthor of 8 other books and more than 200 articles about child and adult development, I can offer sound, sensible advice on breastfeeding, child care and family issues.

Experience

I nursed my 3 daughters and am the grandmother of 5 breastfed children. My book THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING (written in consultation with pediatrician Marvin S. Eiger, M.D.) was first published in 1972, and in 1999 came out in an updated 3rd Edition by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books. It is now a classic, with over 2 million copies in print. I am now revising this book for a fourth edition, consulting with pediatrician Laura M. Marks, M.D. This new edition will be published September 2009. I welcome any and all suggestions for the new edition. I coauthored college textbooks A CHILD'S WORLD: INFANCY THROUGH ADOLESCENCE, and HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; both are leading texts in their fields and have been read by 2 million students. I am the coauthor of HELPING YOUR CHILD FIND VALUES TO LIVE BY and RAISING A HYPERACTIVE CHILD, and author of THE WORKING PARENTS' SURVIVAL GUIDE & THE ETERNAL GARDEN: SEASONS OF OUR SEXUALITY. My newest book, A BALCONY IN NEPAL: GLIMPSES OF A HIMALAYAN VILLAGE, published in 2002, tells the story of the way of life in a remote village in Nepal, where all the women breastfeed! My book, SUPER GRANNY: COOL PROJECTS, ACTIVITIES, AND OTHER GREAT STUFF TO DO WITH YOUR GRANDKIDS, will be published March 2009. I speak often to professional, parent and general audiences and make many radio and TV appearances.

Credentials I received my B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, where I minored in Psychology, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude.

Other points of interest I have received national awards for my writing, and am a former president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. I am listed in the World Who's Who of Women, International Authors & Writers Who's Who, and Contemporary Authors, and am a member of several professional and civic organizations. I believe: that all parents are working parents; that parents employed outside the home need special support; that mothers' well-being is crucial to their children's welfare; and that the family is the best institution in the world and the one for which we are least prepared. My thrills come when parents or kids tell me they were helped by my writing or speaking or just understanding. To find out more about me, go to

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