@ilyric, I read it on a la leche league website actually. My little one won't latch without it mostly because of the texture difference now I believe.

Who told you nipple shields reduce supply?! That is as false as anything to come. After a while of using the nipple shield, your nip should be able to be erect enough to feed baby without a hitch, unless baby has a severe lip or tongue tie. Otherwise, you can use the shield however long you want! It was my ONLY success with my son until I got pregnant and that killed my supply. Don't give up just yet.

Honestly, and this is just my opinion, everyone's different, but exclusively pumping (plus being stressed out) made my supply completely dissappear by the time my son was 1 1/2 months old. I did everything to keep my supply and it sill went away.

@hitt_andrea, My little one gets upset if I try without the shield too . She is almost a month and my lactation lady said to try at six weeks . I just hope I can wean her off it . I hate using it . I use the medulla symphony pump hospital grade . It works great. I sterilize once a week and just wash them in hot water and soap after every use .

your supposed to sterilize (boil) once a day but then I read you don't have to. i usually just use hot water n dawn to wash them and then sterilize . but the putting in fridge with milk on them saves me from washing every time.

@leepster123, do you have to boil the parts every time you clean them or can you rinse them?

of course :) yes I feel you my son is two weeks so he eats every two to three hours. its just when he is eating im pumping n then the whole washing athing but once you get the hang you got it :) hope tomorrow goes well for you . I'm here if you wanna chit chat anytime.

@danamarie,
Thanks! I'm still trying to find a good pump.
@leepster123 thank you! That's super helpful. I know they say it's time consuming but I already feed my daughter every 3 hours for 20 minutes at least so I'm not sure how it would be worse? I have a couple good lactation consultants that I can ask but I just have to wait until tomorrow so I figured I would ask some other moms first. (:

I'm in the exclusive pumping / Still trying to breast feed. also handy to make a bra into a holder so you have your hands free.

pinterest has good tips. its super time consuming. but if you want it you can do it :) I think LA leche has some info on it too but I might be wrong I was looking at a lot of different things. basically every two -3 hours you pump. its good to get 7-8 pumps in a day. I read 2-5 am is a good milk time supposedly. to help with the time usage you can put your parts in a ziplock bag and put in fridge so you don't have to wash every time just do it once at night or whenever works for you. good luck and you got this !

So I got the free one from my insurance the medela electric double pump. I've tried hand expressing too - but good lord was that a time consuming process and kind of painful in comparison.

@danamarie, what sort of pump do you have? brand and is it hospital grade or personal?

I have a 2 month old and I just pumped before each feeding from both sides and it seemed to work. So about every 3-4 hours. I've heard the same about every two hours - but it's just too time consuming when I tried and I don't think I got as much. But that could be a personal issue I had.

@abbysue, I started out on day one with a nipple shield also because I have flat nipples as well. My daughter is just a few days shy of 2 months.

@danamarie,
I heard that you have to pump nearly every 2 hours to get enough for baby.
@rosalinasmami
My baby is just a few days shy of 2 months. For some reason she has been getting very frustrated at the breast even with the nipple shield. And she gets unreasonably upset when I try and latch her without the shield. I wish I could get her to bf better. She used to do pretty good.

I would talk to a lactation consultant . They may be able to help the baby latch and they could recommend a nipple shield if needed. I know the older nipple shield reduced supply but the ones now are made with thinner silicon and allow your nipple to be stimulated which prevents a drop in supply . I have been using one since my baby is a premie and I have flat nipples and my supply is fine. but we started off with one the first day . How old is your little one ?

how old is your baby? I had to use nipple shields to get my dd to latch on. it took awhile and a lot patience, but I would gradually take it away and let her try to latch on during a feeding. she eventually got the hang of it. it deffinently wasn't easy, but she's a pro now!

There have been days when I exclusively pump to see how much I'm producing, but it's a hell of a lot of work and time.