>[Nipple shields] are handed out like candy here, too, with no 
>instructions for weaning off, or even putting them on correctly.

I was visiting a relative in a small, get-there-by-plane town in Alaska, and a nurse at the hospital asked my opinion of nipple shields.  I started my spiel about cautious use, IBCLCs, careful supervision and follow-up... and then I had the good sense to ask what *their* experience is.  "Well, a lot of the native women will tell us their baby won't latch, they want a shield, they use it a few times, then they say it's a nuisance and just stop using it."

These are women from a breastfeeding culture, and it sure sounds as if a nipple shield, like a diaper or a receiving blanket, is just a casual tool they use, neither central to their breastfeeding nor destructive of it.  It sure reminded me never to say never; apparently there are places where you really *can* hand them out like candy!

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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