Thank you, Jane Lowe, for a lucid, calm contribution on a very loaded topic.
Would that all mothers had access to such help as yours when they end up
with nipple shields!  Even a small folder in the package, clearly describing
correct application, would be a big improvement.  *sigh*

I can't help noticing that much of the grief you have to deal with in your
work seems to be a result of what Doris Haire describes as 'the cultural
warping of childbirth'.  We really need to keep focused on the start of
breastfeeding as the next stage in labor, after/around expulsion of the
placenta.  When all that has gone before has been meddled with for whatever
reason, we need to be aware of it, and do what we can to counteract it.

Prevention is the best strategy, IMO.  Keeping childbirth normal, and
hanging on to the normal parts of every woman's childbearing experience, and
building from there.  I am seeing an increase in many types of labor
interventions where I work and the effects on breastfeeding are cropping up
as expected.  We aren't equipped to meet these effects, at all, and I fear
for the fate of breastfeeding here over the next few years.

Rachel Myr
worried in Kristiansand, Norway

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