I'd like to add my voice to the others: nipple shields in very selected cases, and don't let the staff nurses see them. I don't know WHAT happened at my local hospital, but I had a mom some months ago who was using shields and wanted to put the baby right to breast. She opened the conversation with "I don't have any nipples", and I thought, Oh dear, some weird congenital malformation. When I actually saw her nipples a few days later, I frankly got annoyed (NOT at her!) and asked the poor thing who told her that she had no nipples (they were perfectly normal - in fact, they were typical!). She said the nurses in OB. OOOOF! Judy K.