Catherine and all others interested in the non-LC issue:
I had an interesting call today.  A mom who has a 3 day old baby and is a
memeber of a large HMO called our pump rental station to ask to buy a nipple
shield.  Our policy is that when someone calls for a nipple shield, I speak to
them.  The mom told me that though she had good nipples, they had flattened out
when her milk came in.  The *lactation nurse* at the hospital gave her a nipple
shield and told her that she should use it to feed her baby.  The mother was
now panicked, because she had only 1 nipple shield and what would she do if
something happened to it.  The problem here is that this hospital has now
Lactation Consultant.  In fact, I recently heard that they are thinking about
looking for one to hire.  So here we have a mom who thinks she got the correct
info from a knowledgeable professional, when indeed, she did not.  I encouraged
her to get help to get her baby correctly latched on w/o using a nipple shield,
citing the research about what can go wrong when using one.  It becomes
frustrating to keep hearing these stories over and over again.
Yaffa


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        Yaffa Stark, MA, IBCLC    Los Angeles, Calif., USA
        "We must identify and reduce barriers which keep women
       from beginning or continuing to breastfeed their infants."
       C. Everett Koop, M.D., ScD. Former Surgeon General
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