Hi Lisa,   I have a Nipplet set I obtained as a sample from Avent.  It
is at my office so I can't double check some of what I am going to say
here but I think I am recalling correctly.   I have not had occasion to
use one with a client and haven't actually looked at it in a year or
more, so I hope I am accurate in my recall of information here.

It is interesting, a little thimble sized cup hooked to a thin tube
ending in a valve which can be hooked to a syringe.   You pull back on
the syringe, creating suction in the cup.  The syringe can be removed
and the suction holds the cup on the nipple.  The little tubes are left
dangling.   Their literature states they can be used safely in early
pregnancy but I am not aware of any research to back up this claim.   I
think their best use would be while not pregnant and they certainly
would  not be effective while lactating as the milk expressed would
cause the suction to be diminished to ineffective or zero.

They come with a video (I think) and as I recall the literature or the
video talking about helping women to achieve normal nipples implying
this would allow "a more normal sexual expression".  That is a
paraphrase, but there was a cultural bias to long nipples being
essential to sexuality.   I don't recall breastfeeding in the
literature/video.  I do think the Nipplet has potential value as a
lactation aid but would not share their literature/video with a client
because of this cultural bias toward "normal" nipples and sexuality.   I
have heard they were designed by a plastic surgeon in France (where
supposedly nipples showing under clothing is a fashion).  I'm  not sure
if that is true.   I hope I am not causing my own cultural offenses
here.   I just want to point out that there is a strong cultural bias in
the instructions related to sexuality, not lactation.

Supposedly they work by a theory of growth following stretch, i.e. you
stretch tissue for long enough and it will grow longer.

An acquaintance of mine with a partially inverted nipple (not pregnant
nor lactating) tried them briefly but didn't want to continue.   I put
them on briefly (I had to try it, just as I tend to test run all pumps)
and they felt much like a breast pump but gentler and of course
constant.  Only the nipple is drawn out, no areolar tissue as the cup
was a good fit for a small to moderate diameter  nipple, in fact many
larger nipples would not fit.   They are meant to be used for (again, I
think) 8 hours at a time.

Another thing I found in my reading that I think is interesting was an
illustration of a suction cup that looked very much like the nipplet and
was used to obtain nipple secretions for analysis by breast surgeons.

Carla

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