To : Diane Kemp Re : Vitamin E oil on nipples In 1984, about 38 infants died in Neonatal intensive care units across the US following IV injections of 25-50 IU/day of Vitamin E. Vitamin E traffics to the liver and some to the spleen. These infants died of heptosplenomegaly and liver failure. We are still not certain why. Further, there is no good documentation that Vitamin E on the nipple works any better than any other lubricant, although many people seem to think it does. I would like to suggest the following: If a mom wants to use vitamin E on her nipple, make sure the dose is very small like 25 IU and then only infrequently during the day so that the dose an infant would ingest would be minimal. NEVER use the pure vitamin E oil. It contains approximately 700-1000 units of Vitamin E per gram. This is very very concentrated stuff and a mom using this 5-10 times daily would provide a massive dose to her infant in the thousands of units per day. This could be potentially dangerous. Tom Hale