Cathy reminds us of those awful plastic and rubber thingies issued as a bf
'aid' to mothers - yes I remember them, and they were 'old fashioned' 19
years ago when the mother in the next bed to me got one. I got one, too,
but my daughter gagged on it, as far as I remember, and I was given a
Mexican hat instead - it didn't help my soreness one little bit and I
abandoned it (I remember taking it off and seeing it full of blood....!)

But would you believe it, just three days ago I was talking to another bfc
and she said a mother she was helping had been given one of the horrible
ones just a couple of weeks ago...so they are still out there, in Scotland
anyway, where the bfc was working.

Some day, I'm going to start a museum of breastfeeding, and have a glass
case full of dreadful stuff, like the lead piping contraptions illustrated
in Milk Money and Madness and similar books (think it's in there - Valerie
Fildes' work has some hair-raising pix, too).

We keep saying shields are 'just a tool' - true. Maybe you should have
special licence to use one, awarded after specific training. And there
should be a health warning on the boxes.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK