I thought I read somewhere that nipple shields should not be used until
there's a decent milk supply, because of the risk of not developing a milk
supply in the first few days. Breastfeeding: A guide for the medical
profession, page 285 states, "The thin latex shield reduced milk by 22% but
had no effect on sucking patterns." If this is the case, how can the staff
offer them at all? If your moms stay for over 4 days, that would be an
interesing concept in an American hospital. 

Oh, and relating to the conversation regarding prescription rights? Here's
what they state on the same page, "Nipple shields should not be used unless
prescribed because it often becomes hard to wean the infant back to the bare
breast." Does your staff have prescription rights?

As a LLLL, I was thrilled when the "hard line" nipple shield statement came
out. It used to be, around here, that anyone could give out a nipple shield.
Nearly every issue I had with latching came out of one particular hospital,
and they all related to mother/baby separation which led to the nipple
shields. 

Good luck!
Sam Doak
Avoiding going to work...


<<Fellow Lactneters, Does anyone have a hospital policy for Nipple shield
use? I looked in the archives and have a lot of information from the JHL
articles, but really wanted to find a policy or protocol that others are
using and couldn't find any in my searches.  Specifically, at the hospital I
work, only the LC gives out a nipple shield when needed, they are not
available on the unit for staff to give to moms. Therefore the patient would
have an LC consult first. We use nipple shields only if other methods have
been tried, based on the situation. >>

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]