[ozmidwifery] Are nipple shields increasing rates of bottlefeeding???

[Julie Clarke]

Hi fellow listers, Happy Queen’s Birthday to you all, Yesterday I held a reunion (private independent pre-natal classes) for a group whose babies were about 8-12 weeks old. It is normal for me to notice 100% breastfeeding rates at reunions – only rarely would someone be bottle feeding. 5 couples out of the total 7 couples attended, and of the 5, 2 were bottle feeding which surprised me.  As they relayed their stories to each other I was also surprised that 4 out of the 5 women had been guided to use nipple shields.  They all reported great difficulty in weaning their babies off the nipple shields, yet they were all convinced that the nipple shields were essential.  They all reported very limited assistance, from health professionals, with weaning the nipple shields. Only 1 of the successful mothers had contacted Australia’s Breastfeeding Assoc. The 2 who were bottle feeding had the greatest difficulty with successfully weaning the baby off the nipple shields, hence gave up and reported extreme disappointment. These women had birthed at 4 different hospitals and only 2 of them had received their nipple shields from hospital staff the others from chemist and clinic sister.  One woman said that ALL the mothers at her clinic had nipple shields.   Are other educators or midwives finding that nipple shields are becoming very popular?   What are others thoughts on my statistics above, is this now normal and commonplace or could this just be a sad reflection on my home region “Hobbitville” The Shire? (As is the case with some other stats).   hug   Julie Clarke Childbirth and Parenting Educator Transition into Parenthood 9 Withybrook Pl Sylvania  NSW  2224 T. (02) 9544 6441 F (02) 9544 9257 M. 0401 265 530 email [EMAIL PROTECTED]