Since we are telling funny nipple sheild stories......
My children grew up with lots of funny breastfeeding aids hanging around the house.  I would get all sorts of samples and teaching aids and always would check them out before using them.  So, my kids would sometimes find nipple shields lying around and would lick them and stick them on to the sliding glass doors in my dining room.  Their friends would come around and they would explain that they were "little sumbreros".  Sometimes we would even draw little faces on them.

Fast forward 10 or so years when my youngest daughter, now a nutrition student in college was doing a summer internship at the WIC agency where I work was sitting in, as all interns do, on a consult (with the client's permission) when I took out a nipple shield to give to the mom.  My daughter politely excused herself and went outside to burst into laughter.  We weren't sharing with the clients that she was my daughter but in this case, when she came back in, with tears streaming down her face, we explained to the client what was so funny and my daughter said "so THATS what they are used for".    The client just LOVED the whole story and it really broke the ice in a difficult situation, and my daughter just loved seeing this little device in action. 

On a more serious note: In the climate where I work, nipple shields are often a breastfeeding-saving tool.  Used carefully, they often make the difference between breastfeeding and not.  Our clients are often not going to pump long term if the baby won't latch, and nipple shields often make the whole difference.  But I agree that they should not be used during the first few days.  

It's great to have a group of people to share my funny nipple shield story with!  Who else would get it?

Barbara Leshin-Zucker, IBCLC, RLC
Breastfeeding Coordinator
Morrisania WIC Program
Bronx, NY 

             ***********************************************

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