Kathy,
        Your description of the world's most horrible nipple shield
brought back memories.  I used one of those with my oldest daughter, now
23, in a hospital in Washington, DC.  Catherine was jaundiced and I was
horribly engorged and was given this shield to use.  It worked
beautifully and I was so relieved--emotionally and physically.  Luckilly
my daughter was the kind of infant that would suck on a doorknob and it
did not interfere with latch once the breasts became softer.  She went on
to nurse for several years.  I am always amazed that things worked out as
well as they did--this shield really was almost like having a bottle at
the breast!  A short session with a breast pump (or hand expression) to
soften the breast would have worked well--who knew?--and the only pump I
remember seeing at the time was the old bicycle horn!

Ruth DeRosa, Frederick, Maryland