Jeanette,
Living in a country where most nurses would tell a woman with flat nipples
not to bother trying BF (which happens often) and to just give 'em a
bottle, I find the pump
suggestion a .... miracle.  It is only necessary for a
few days; once the baby is nursing every few hours, the nipple stays out by
itself.  (I think it also satisfies the staff's urge to tell mothers to use
all
sorts of gadgets to do things that should be "natural")
Which is why I suggest just a hand pump.  They're cheap.

Very often we have to deal with staff that want to get out by doing what's
easiest for themselves, and not neccessarily what's best for mom and baby;
some of these "shortcuts" may not be the best, but sometimes we have to
take what we can get and hope that one day it will be different.

"The snail is jogging" "One small step for BF one large step for babykind"

Since the staff isn't willing to sit with a mother and help her, the pump
is much more preferable than no BF at all, which is the result in many a
case.  A mother would be lucky if she didn't get the nurse that said "You
can use the pump to draw out the nipple, but why bother?"  Which is what
happened to a very good friend of mine.  And now she has five children, so
when I try to talk  to her about trying BF, it seems like too much of a
chore.

Nofia Altman
Human Milk Advocate
LC-in-Training
Beit El, Israel