Dear Lactnetters, At a midwive's study day yesterday, here in beautiful Perth, Western Ausralia, a paper was presented by the researcher, Elizabeth Duffy. She has been concerned about sore nipples and nipple trauma and her research looked at the effect of one hour of prenatal education about positioning and attachment at 36 weeks of gestation on subsequent breastfeeding. Her subjects were all matched for demographics (they were all low socio economic class - a group associated with low rates of breastfeeding here in Australia). The women were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. Both groups of women were assessed on day one to four post natally for nipple soreness (subjective using a VAS - visual analogue scale) and nipple trauma using a tool developed by the researcher and a lactation consultant and at six weeks, to assess the incidence of breastfeeding. The person who assessed the women postnatally was 'blind' to the allocated group. The two groups were investigated concurrently, same ward staff, same ward, same time. The results were stunningly clear and overwhelmingly supported the intervention. The incidences of nipple soreness, trauma and rate of breastfeeding were dramatically in favour of the intervention, that of specific position and attachment prenatal education. The research was clear and unequivocal. A wonderful piece of work. It is to be published in Midwifery. Another aspect of the nipple trauma issue being looked at here in Perth is the use of low wattage laser (30 milliwats) to promote tissue healing when nipples are traumatised. This technique is in the preliminary stages of talking about investigation of its efficacy by physiotherapists. Does anyone have any experience with this technique? If so, can you point me in the direction of any research concerning the use of laser in this way. Thank you for any assistance you may be able to give me on this matter. By the way, I love this group, I have learnt so much since I started accessing it. warm regards, Carolyn Hastie