New mom here of a 5 day old. We had an exceptionally long, traumatic labour so my little guy slept most of the first few days. Latching was a little tricky and the lactation consulant we saw at the hospital had me use a nipple shield to encourage latching. I now wish we would have just been given a bit more time for him to learn latching. It was maybe 5 min before she just had us go to the shield. The first few days were I imagine what most first time moms struggle with. Trying to encourage latching and prevent baby from falling asleep. There were concerns about jaundice and once my milk came in, I was told I needed to supplement with expressed milk between feedings. I’ve managed to do a couple feeds without the shield but he’s starting To get really frustrated anytime I dont use it. I’m worried this is going to create a dependency on the shield. I really want to encourage latching without the shield, especially cuz bottles are also being used (another thing I wanted to wait on until we had latching down but was told getting him fed was more important at the time) but am really struggling as he fights it and screams whenever I take it away. Any tips on weaning him off the shield? I know it’s still early so I don’t want to turn this into a habit. The shield is easy for getting him fed but I’d love to not have to use it.