Dear Joanne Hamilton,
I read with interest your post of a mother with very large nipples. I
remember encountering one such case about nine years ago.  A friend of
mine has this same problem, except that in Singapore, I call her nipples
"fish ball" nipples as they were shaped round and big.  Her new born baby
could not get his mouth beyond her nipples and attach to the aerola at all.
She was terribly engorged and in tears when I reached her after her
discharge from the hospital and she was struggling with breastfeeding. She
took my suggestion and started pumping regularly and persisted daily to get
her baby close to her breasts whenever she could.  She persevered for
about a month until her baby finally opened his mouth big enough to
breastfeed and never looked back.  He went on to breast feed for more
than a year.  He is now a healthy boy.  With her second boy, she had the
same problem, but this time she knew what to do and persevered for about
one and a half months of pumping before she could manage to get him
attached to her breasts.  I asked her why did she persevere for so long and
she could have just pumped her milk.  She said she wanted to do what was
right for her babies.  And so she did and is such an inspiration to those with
such a challenge.  So encourage your friend- keep on trying- until the
baby's mouth gets big enough to attach.  Best wishes.
Doris Fok
lactation consultant
K.K. Women's and Children's Hospital
Singapore