This is something that was suggested to me, 14 years ago, when I was trying to get Julia to the breast. Julia was six months old at the time of adoptive placement, anti-social, and very resistant to anything new. I wasted several expensive shields, trying to do it. Cutting the silicone shields left a very sharp edge. Julia tried it once, but didn't like it, and my nipple didn't fare too well, either! A friend, in Germany, did find a method for cutting down a shield, in the process of getting an older adopted baby to the breast, but it was a latex shield, and she cut it from the outside, leaving the nipple part intact, and cutting progressively more around it, kind of like cutting and removing pieces of a pie. This actually increased the amount of breast that was in contact with the baby's mouth, alot more efficiently, where cutting from the middle would initially uncover only the part of the nipple that is positioned at the back of the tongue. Darillyn *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html