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Flat Nipples, Shields, Pumping . . . Success! – Cristina’s Story

Posted on May 25, 2009
Filed under: Expressing, Flat nipples, Mastitis, Nipple pain, Nipple shields

Being a formula-fed baby myself, and suffering years of horrible environmental allergies, I was convinced that I would breastfeed my first child no. matter.what. Even if it only gave her a fighting chance to not suffer from the allergies, I was willing to do whatever it took to successfully breastfeed, and spent hours reading books and educating myself.

Going into breastfeeding with an “I WILL” attitude instead of “If it works” made a huge difference for me. When my daughter Lily was born in November of 2002, the I WILL attitude was the only thing that kept me going.

First, I had a regular OB/GYN (with my second, I switched to a midwifery practice). She never noticed that I had flat nipples, let alone checking me specifically for them or asking me about my plans to breastfeed. If I had known, I could have been wearing shells before I went into labor.

I had a fairly uncomplicated birth and within 30 minutes I had Lily on the breast. It didn’t feel “right” but I had no idea what “right” was. By my second day in the hospital, I had a blister to the left of my nipple and my daughter seemed very hungry and very cranky. The hospital lactation consultant came in, immediately noticed my flat nipple, and gave me a set of shields to wear while nursing.

She neglected to mention that when using shields, you should also pump after the nursing because your milk production will drop if you don’t. I went home and continued to nurse by using the shields but Lily was not gaining weight and wasn’t getting enough to eat, and my milk production was way down.

A friend recommended an excellent lactation consultant and she single-handedly saved me. First, she informed me that if you wear shields, you need to pump after on each breast to ensure your milk production stays up. Second, she helped me figure out the best hold for my short-waisted, large-breasted body. Thirdly, she realized that because Lily hadn’t been getting much milk out of me, I was going to have to retrain her how to latch on.

I went home feeling like I had a chance. Sleep-deprived and incredibly sore, I spent the next two weeks nursing every 2 ½ hours and pumping after for another 15-30 minutes. This gave me about an hour between feedings to rest after getting everything else done. My husband was a trooper and often stayed up with me at night just to give me support. I remember sitting in Lily’s room bawling my eyes out because I was just so tired and so frustrated. I wanted it to be easy. I wanted to zone out like some of the other mothers I saw at LLL meetings – blissed out breastfeeding, I called it. I wanted what they had. Instead I had aching breasts, the sound of the pump literally made me break out in a cold sweat, and I was wondering when I would be able to sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch.

After getting mastitis and nursing through that, I was truly ready to rip my hair out. It was now three months since Lily had been born, and I was still having to wear shields and pump. Lily just wouldn’t latch on without the shield. My lactation consultant told me to keep at it, and I did, and magically around month 4 she learned, and so did I! It took some wrangling with my nipple and her bottom lip and chin, but those first few times where she latched on without shields, drained my breast, and fell into what we affectionately called the “milk coma”, well – it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. After natural childbirth, I felt like superwoman. Overcoming my breastfeeding obstacles made me feel like I could conquer the world.

The advice I always give to any woman about to become a breastfeeding mother is to commit to the idea of it. Then I tell them to keep a lactation consultant’s number handy, and not to be afraid to call at the first sign of trouble. I was lucky – another day without her help would have landed Lily in the doctor’s office, dehydrated and probably would have resulted in a formula-fed baby.

Filed under: Expressing, Flat nipples, Mastitis, Nipple pain, Nipple shields

Comments

2 Responses to “Flat Nipples, Shields, Pumping . . . Success! – Cristina’s Story”

Charndra at Part Time EC! on August 15th, 2009 12:08 pm

Oh Cristina!
This is a truly inspiring story – that last couple of paragraphs about how you felt when everything finally ‘clicked’ for you both.

Wonderful,
congratulations!

Charndra
Annie on February 16th, 2010 9:13 pm

Hi Cristina,
I am so happy to read your real life incident, i am a mother of 3months old boy ( 16 Nov 09 ) and i have same problem as u had, but unfortunately i live in a place where we donot have a lactation consultant , but now that i stopped even trying to breas feed. but from today i am going to start all over again, i am at work now, going to buy nipple shield and a pump and going to try with a “I Will” Attitude, thank you so much for sharing your experience, it has given me so much of encouragemnet, Wish me good luck, will write my success story Soon, Take care.