I still harbor the hope that somewhere there is research from an
> >institution of Baby-Friendly status to prove that nipple damage is NOT
> >UBUQUITIOUS!

Well I haven't got any research to hand but as an LC/midwife in an Baby
Friendly maternity unit, I can safely say that we hardly ever see nipple
damage in women who give birth in our unit. But we see more than our fair
share in women who transfer back to our care from the two consultant units.
We hardly ever see real engorgement either, sometimes a bit of overfullness
on 3rd day when we encourage hand expression to soften the nipple to aid
attachment. We provide antenatal workshops on skin-to-skin and positioning
and attachment at around 36 weeks and peer support groups and mentoring
postnatally. We don't provide formula for the bottle feeders and we don't
use nipple shields EVER.
The Ten Steps really do work if you stick to them. But then you never
doubted that did you?

Hilary Myers in Somerset

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