My name is Carina Ludvigsen and I am a second semester junior nursing student at University of North Dakota. I am from Norway and it is common practice to use a certain seashells on sore nipples for breastfeeding at all the hospitals and birthing clinics. I have been doing some research online to see if I could find any research about this practice, but there is not much to find. The seashell is moistened with breast milk before put on as a protector of the nipple. The seashell is reusable after being boiled to be sterilized. Some people think that the seashell gives of Zink and Magnesium or vitamin E, and when it mixes with the breast milk it gives a healing effect to the sore nipple. Breastfeeding is important for both you and the baby so that is why I am interested in how to avoid sore nipples. The most common reason for discontinuing breastfeeding is sore nipples according to Hill & Morland-Schultz. (2005). We have been taught in our OB class that sore nipples are related to the baby’s incorrect latch and that most mothers would not have sore nipples if the learn how to get their baby to latch on correctly. According to Albright (2003) sore nipples from breastfeeding come from an ineffective suckling of the baby. It is important to have the child latch on correctly for better suckling and decrease the incidence of soreness of nipples. In a study by Mass (2004) cold compression might help to relieve the pain and swelling for the nipples and the breast. Have anyone heard or used seashells for sore nipples? What would you as specialists recommend for sore nipples? References Albright, L. M (2003) Sore nipples in breastfeeding mothers: Causes and treatments [Electronic version]. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, 6, 426 -435 Hill, P. D., & Morland-Schultz, K. (2005) Prevention of and therapies for nipple pain: A systematic review [Electronic version]. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing. 34, 428-437 Mass, S. (2004) Breast pain: Engorgement, nipple pain, and mastitis [Electronic version]. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 47, 676-682 *********************************************** 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