Dear all: I find huge differences in milk transfer depending on the size and how the nipple shield is placed. For some breasts, particularly the really elastic breasts that babies have difficulty grasping, it really helps to invert the shield to slightly longer than moms resting nipple so that it pulls more tissue inside when you smooth down the sides. I find that babies typically have an easier time getting their lower lip deeper into the areola when you do this for very elastic breasts. And I have measured better milk transfer when they can get their bottom lip into the areola rather than nipple sucking on the nipple shield. Usually when they resort to nipple sucking with a shield, I don't use it because neither mom nor baby learn how to latch in a way that helps the baby get milk. Of course now, I'm going to start paying as much attention to what the nipple looks like after the feeding as I do when I watch women pumping to see what happens with various size breast shields. I'm sure there are variations in how the nipple expands within the shield once the baby is feeding. Best, Susan Burger *********************************************** 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