Hello Came across my first nipple piercing at a homebirth yesterday and the mom, who removed it herself right after the birth and before first latch on that breast, had this question: Will the piercing holes affect breastfeeding? I said I didn't think that they would, but I thought I'd ask the experts. I've combed the archives about nipple piercings, and they all seem to deal with whether to nurse or not on pierced nipples. What I'm looking for is what the effect of taking them out permanently would have on nursing. Does jewelry removal itself cause a higher incidence of any infections for mother or baby (barring any other reason for infection like pinkies, binkies, etc)? If so, what infections specifically and how much higher? This mom's piercing holes are at the base of the nipple. Any special precautions she should take (beyond massaging the bm into her tissue and air drying)? I'm assuming there aren't since the immunilogical properties of bm are so wonderful and her body would seem to try to heal itself and prevent infection....but I'm sleep deprived and not thinking straight. Any resources to point me to? Please advise. Thank you wise ones. Kristine Owens CLD CD CLE http://www.kristineowens.com CAPPA Washington State Representative Asst. Director, CAPPA Lactation Education Programs http://www.cappa.net *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html