I have decided it's time to try to "tame" my inbox. I found this "note to myself" to "send to Lactnet" 
(from several years ago;-(  


I have no idea why I just didn't send it in in the first place?????? Because so many of today's mothers have grown up in a bottle-feeding culture, I think this sort of falls into the category of "Wiessingerization" in my mind;-)


<One thing I disagree on is the terminology used in some well-known texts and articles and talks to describe how nipples "stretch" to 3 times their length with suction. The UK literature, and Michael Woolridge's article on the Anatomy of Sore Nipples uses the word "teat". (They even use the term for rubber nipples.)  It does not equate to the American idea, where we are used to considering "teat" a veterinary term and culturally assume that any U.S. woman would actually find it insulting to hear her nipple-areolar complex being called a "teat". 


I think it is a mistake to assume that "nipple" is an effective synonym. "Teat" describes the whole nipple-areolar complex, presuming it's in its extended position as in response to suckling. The actual quote from Woolridge says that the TEAT is what stretches to 3 times it's length, and this does not mean that just the nipple is stretching to 3 times it length as I have heard many assume that it means. For that matter, few people realize that nothing really actually stretches- - it simply "reorganizes" its same volume into a longer, thinner shape.


In our thought process, it actually means a soft enough areola changing shape from what seems flat and circular and one-dimensional, to it's "active" anatomical reality, three-dimensional, compressed, thinned and extended so that the nipple attached to it can be thrust further back into the baby's mouth by positive forces generated by the tongue and other positive pressures to neutralize negative pressure of vacuum .> 


Again, I agree with Diane. We need to "watch our language". Problem is, "nipple-areolar complex" seems appropriate for professionals who are supposed to know the anatomy and physiology. But that doesn't "cut it" with moms. So I find myself giving simple explanations, using a demo breast if possible: "There is very little milk in the tiny tubes inside your nipple, different from what you are used to seeing with a bottle. The milk is in very tiny little tubings under the circle; they act a lot like toothpaste tubes, and we all know that starting pressure at the back of the toothpaste tube helps get more to come out." And then I go on to tell them how important is to soften their "circle" before latching if necessary, so the baby can "make it work".


What kind of terminology do others find effective? Or am I "overthinking" this, as I have sometimes been told that I do?? 


K. Jean Cotterman RNC-E, IBCLC
WIC Volunteer LC    Dayton OH

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