MedelaContact Nipple Shield for Breastfeeding, Medium 20mm Nippleshield, for Latch Difficulties or Flat or Inverted Nipples, Made Without BPA

I love these nipple shields!!! I have flat nipples and my baby couldn't latch on. The nurses gave me a couple of these shields at the hospital and it was the only way the baby could nurse. As time went by, I'd occasionally try to give her a bare breast, but it was too frustrating for both of us, so I gave up. It's been 4 months now and we're still going strong with the shield. It has made breastfeeding possible for us! I'm so grateful these things exist. I've had no supply problems at all. I started pumping from the beginning, just to build up a stash for rainy days, and then had to go back to work soon so I've been pumping in addition to nursing all the way through. Maybe that has helped with my supply, but the shield doesn't seem to have hurt at all. I have gallons and gallons in the deep freezer. The baby has no problem latching and nursing now, no problems with let down or anything. I can't tell if she swallows more air with it… With a couple of good burps she's all set either way. A few points mentioned in other reviews:- Washing. Yes, you have to wash it between uses, which is why it's great to have several. I got 2 from the hospital and then bought 2 more. That will last me for a while into the day, and then I just wash all of them when I have a minute. Doesn't take long and I don't mind. Then I'm good for the rest of the day and night.- Easily lost. Yes, they're clear and delicate and hard to find if you drop them, but that hasn't been a problem for me. I've only dropped a shield maybe twice in 4 months, and that's because I threw it across the bed and missed... I keep them in a little tray basket on the night stand or by the nursing chair. When I'm done I just put it back on the tray, and grab another at the next feed. Then I batch-wash them all and put them all back in the tray. It really helps keep them in one place and helps keep them from falling or getting lost. Before I started putting them in the tray, they were rolling around all over the house - much easier to fall or get lost.- Detaching/sliding. This is my only point of frustration with the shield. If you have a wiggly baby who moves their face from side to side when feeding (for whatever idiotic reason), the shield can slide off target or detach. It's easily repositioned though, and most of the time it does stay on. I've gotten so used to adjusting it that it's really no big deal now. Given the amount of moving my baby does, I'm actually surprised the thing manages to stay on as well as it does! Also, it's easy to tell if it has shifted even without looking at it - by how your nipple feels. When it's on target and the baby is sucking, I can really feel the suction and the draw in my nipple. If I don't feel it, then the shield must have shifted, so I check it and readjust if necessary. I can do that in the dark. You really get used to it. You should be aware of its positioning one way or another though, whether by how it feels or by checking, because if it shifts, the baby would be sucking on air and won't get a good feed.- Leakage. Definitely put a burp cloth under your breast when nursing with the shield. The milk that collects in it can leak out if the shield comes unstuck or the baby falls asleep with their mouth open.- Contact vs. regular. I would definitely advise you to get the contact shield as opposed to the regular. I don't care so much if the baby's nose touches my skin (its advertising point) - I doubt she cares about my skin - but the actual benefit of it is that it gives the baby more room to breathe. With the full shield, the part that's under the baby's nose tends to come unstuck and flap itself back onto the baby's nose, blocking their breathing. I have one regular shield from the hospital and it's pretty frustrating to use. The baby can't breathe and throws her head back to get some air, yanking the nipple in the process. With the contact shield, that part is cut out so the baby's nose is unobstructed.UPDATE: 10 and a half months now and I'm still nursing only with the shields. The transition never worked for us, but whatever - the shields are making nursing possible! We've had no problems whatsoever - not with letdown, not with feeding, nothing at all. My boobs and the baby are doing great! She has teeth now and oh am I glad I have shields! :-)

My son was a preemie (born at 34 weeks) and had trouble latching on to my flat nipples. This nipple shield helped us get started with breastfeeding and was also a lifesaver when I came down with mastitis. I used this shield for three months. I kept trying to wean my son off the shield almost every day for those three months, and at three months we finally succeeded with a little help of lactation consultant :-) I reintroduced this shield for a brief episode of mastitis (which happened because I tried to cut down on pumping...) a bit later because breastfeeding was just too painful without it; my son didn't mind at all and I was a lot more comfortable until mastitis went away. Now he does fine with the shield, without the shield, and takes the bottle, and the pacifier with no nipple confusion or anything. I like this "contact" version a lot better than the regular "non-contact" shield. It conformed to my breasts better, stayed on better, and it was nice to have my son's nose against my breast during the feeding as opposed to a piece of plastic. This is a very nice product! I highly recommend it to anyone who needs it. If you are using this thing for months, like I did, I suggest storing it in your bra. That way you don't have to run around the house looking for it when you need it.

*** See updated note at bottom of review ***While I was pregnant, a girlfriend of mine gave this to me and said, "Don't ask now, but you'll be thanking me later." Boy was she right. Late one night about a week and a half into the breast feeding realm, I was at my wits end. My nips were, well, in rough shape. No one at the hospital had quite prepared me for just how painful it could get. OMG I felt like a failure! But I remembered that the friend had given this to me and I stumbled to the closet where I had stashed it... and I opened the package...and it has literally saved my breast feeding experience. I still had another painful bout after beginning to use these (perhaps a week into the usage and not nearly as bad as the first meltdown - I would describe this bout as bruising or soreness rather than outright injury), but now three weeks post partum I really feel as though I have turned a corner. I even sent the friend a wine gift basket from my nips as a show of appreciation!The shield is made of very thin, flexible silicone and has a cutout fo allow the baby's nose to still come in contact with the breast. It reminds me of a bottle nipple but way more pliable. Just figure out what angle you need to position the cutout at, apply it over the nip and you're rolling. The edges do flip up after a while but my son doesnt seem to care. Usually just manually flattening them back down works fine. You are supposed to boil them once a day but I do it every two to three and just wash them with antibacterial soap every day. They dry very quickly. I keep a few placed around the house at my breast feeding "stations."The baby does seem to prefer the shield to the real thing, which for some may be detracting. But honey, I am no hero and am simply glad to still be able to further the bond with my baby through breast feeding while enjoying pain free nips!A word about the pain of breast feeding: It flabbergasts me that hospitals aren't doling out nursing aids such as this! Lets all get real here - breast feeding for most women is a painful experience. New stats just came out that said that by six months, less than half of post partum women are still breast feeding. Well if you don't get proper support and aren't warned about the pitfalls, you're definitely going to be set up for failure! Possibly needing to give up on it is the most gult trippy thing I've ever experienced. If lactation consultants could just offer up a few realistic tools for a new mom to put into her arsenal, such as these, way more women would still be breast feeding months later! These shields are that effective!*** Updated 4/13 ***I used these shields until my 2.5 month old son started turning away from them (read: he was shouting at my boobs). So, I've gotten him to latch better and I've started pumping here and there, and we aren't having too many issues. But I realized that the shields may have been causing plugged ducts (one every other day, and I haven't gotten a plugged duct since I stopped using the shields) and they were also dramatically slowing down my feeding time. Before it used to take me over an hour to feed my little guy and now it takes max a half hour. Overall I would recommend these shields to a friend who was having problems and I would not hesitate to buy one if I needed it during a rough time, but I want any other ladies who have babies who spend hours at the breast, or have repeated plugged ducts, to consider that it might be the shields.

This has been a lifesaver for my breastfeeding journey! I have a four week old who latches on the left side but absolutely refused to latch on the right. This nipple shield totally changed that and now he has no problem latching and staying latched. I like that it’s clear so you can see it fill up with milk. It’s also easy to clean and durable! I would also recommend buying one of these if your pregnant just to have on hand in case and to bring to the hospital with you!