>Now, I have one question re: the old nipple shields.  One of our members
>talked about a shield that had the baby quite a distance away from the
>mothers actual nipple.  HOW did this baby the milk from the breast???  If
>the baby was never actually ON the breast, how did this work?  Did the baby
>suck like crazy on the shield and create suction that was enough to draw the
>milk out of the breast???

You know, maybe the old, rigid shields weren't all that different from the
rigid shield that goes with a breast pump.  As I understand it, with a
breast pump the sinuses get rhythmically dragged over the angle between the
flange and the neck, so that it isn't just suction that pulls the milk out
but an actual milking action as well.

Could it be that the baby's rhythmic suction was enough to draw the breast
in across that angle, stripping milk out as well as suctioning it out?
Because you're right;  *some* milk *did* get thru them, or the design
wouldn't have persisted thru the centuries.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  pondering in Ithaca, NY