I frequently found that pain and visible damage around the base of the nipple with pumping wasn't necessarily a case of too small a flange. When a mom is pumping comfortably, I would notice some "movement" of the skin just beyond her nipple. A mom experiencing pain would not always show this. It was as if the pump flange was "grabbing" the skin and not allowing the gentle in and out movement of her breast tissue. This led to too much pulling (stretching) at the base of the nipple, thus the "ring around the nipple" type of soreness Usually just a few drops of water or EBM on the flange before applying would relieve this problem as it "lubricated" the skin and allowed this movement. When the flange size looks OK, trying this first often solved the problem without resorting to the cost of extra flanges. If it didn't work, then we went to larger flange openings. Winnie *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html