My 12 week old daughter decided one day to stop using the nipple shield - all on her own! She was born 2 weeks early and needed help with latching since her mouth was so tiny. At each of our weigh-in appointments, LCs and pediatricians kept urging us to stop using the shield as soon as we could, but she just would not latch on without it.

One special LC told us “There are no rules. Just do whatever works for you.” That helped take a lot of the stress out of it. I kept trying to feed for weeks without the shield, and gave in to the idea that maybe my baby just needed it. It did help taking a bottle very easy! Finally a couple days shy of 12 weeks, my little girl just decided she didn’t want it anymore! She would wiggle her head around until the shield came off and she could latch all on her own, like she knew what to do.

Posting this to encourage other mamas out there stressed about “weaning” off the shield - there may come a day when your LO just decides they don’t need it anymore. Just keep doing what works best for you <3