Hi Lactnet-- it's late, and I haven't even written you a note-- today for me started with me barely getting out of bed in time to hear Paula Meier on bf multiples-- those so smooth pneumograms bf and such disorganized pneumograms w bottle, interesting to think about nurses trying to get those little ones to close their mouths down around a rubber nipple; I can just picture the way the nurses kind of pinch that jaw shut, as the premie is trying to take a nice big mouthful, and that big mouth and jaw excursion is considered, for bottle feeding, "dysfunctional". Reminder-- in postioning premies they need mom's help w head control so cross cradle and football are better, with head in mom's hand for control, not in the crook of her elbow. Wonderful data demonstrating how much more physiologic (duh) bf is over bottle-- Between sessions I made it down to the exhibits briefly and got a demo of the "W----R----" pump, the one that generates prolactin levels in the same range as suckling does-- I talked with the woman who invented it-- a working mom who was unhappy w her pumps, did her homework, got echos of infant suckling, etc, to help her design it; as she was telling me all this, me watching video, etc., Miriam Labbock walked by, author of the prolactin article in Peds (sorry I'm not looking up the reference right now), and cautioned her not to use the word "equivalent" ("similar" is okay) re prolactin levels, and then, as ML walked away, a LLL leader showed up to give feedback re her trial last night of this pump-- she and several other leaders all tried it last night at a two hour WR pump party; she had comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Anyway, I would love to hear, by email again, any of your comments re experience any of you have with this pump-- I was quite impressed, but wonder about the experience of real moms really using this pump and not just a few leaders trying it without benefit of anyone there with them last night at 1 am. Next session was Jan Riordan and Susan Huml on sore nipples; bottom line from JR is that research to date is not too good and conflicting-- warm water seems to be as good as anything-- go with do no harm and within that what mom culturally expects to work; from SH-- work in wound healing literature supports moist (not wet) wound healing rather than dry, i.e. covering to hold in skin's own moisture, allows reepithelialization to occur more easily and quickly because it is not blocked by dry scabbed area-- if it weren't so late I'd explain this better, anyway, bottom line is while there are multiple products out there that provide this kind of occlusion for traditional wound healing, shape of nipple, dealing with both mom and baby, topical and oral, etc, solution is that hospital grade (no name brands here) lanolin can provide this kind of occlusion; should be used after every nursing, small but not scant amount. Dramatic anecdotal testimony from audience supports this conclusion-- report from one mom with pain for three months disappeared in 2 hrs and wound healed in 24, and woman from Iceland who says that in her country "where everyone is fair haired and fair skinned and sore nipples and cracked niipples were very very common" in past 2- 3 yrs, since introduction of use of this product theyno longer see sore nipples much at all. Afternoon session was Lennart Righard on Bf which turned out to be repeat of part of what I had seen in phys seminar-- of course worth seeing again-- Evening was a social International thing where every country and state LLL had a little booth with various goodies for sale or giveway-- fun. Then schmoozed and socialized, and here I am again, late to bed. Goodnight, Tina