Hi Ladies,
NONE of the nipples currently on the market resemble anything close to what the nipple does in the baby's mouth. When the baby latches effectively, your nipple and surrounding tissue is drawn in to form a "teat" that goes as far back to where the hard and soft palates of the roof of the mouth meet.
Those short stubby nipples that are often seen in advertisements are meant to persuade you into thinking they are more breastlike but they're not. They are often made by the same companies that produce artificial infant milk and their goal is to sell more of their product. What better way to do that than to get your baby onto those short stubby nipples and off the breast!
To get baby from bottle to breast we tend to use the nipple baby is used to over the mother's own nipple with supplementary feeding tube threaded through. Then gradually over several days we exchange that nipple for a nipple shield such as the Medela Newborn Small with the tubing threaded through and continue until the baby is on the breast with the tubing and eventually just on the breast.
It helps to contact a board certified lactation consultant to assist you with this process. You can find one here:
www.ilca.org Just click on the "Find a Lactation Consultant" button at the top of the page.
Best,