Terry, Has your colleague considered having the moles removed, perhaps by electrocautery? My daughter always picked at a "cherry" angioma on my breast, a few zaps by a dermatologist reduced it in size enough that it became less of a target. I can sympathize with this dilemma, getting that child to sleep becomes all important, and we are often willing to put up with a lot. A few nights of consistently removing the baby from the breast whenever she picks would be tough, but has more chance of being effective... Some 18 month olds can understand a "big girl" conversation before bedtime about not hurting mommy when nursing. It might help to talk about this throughout the day, in hopes that it will some day get through! It might also help your friend to know that all primate mothers have to put up with contralateral nipple tweaking, breast pinching, and other indignities from our nurslings. I have this on good evidence - that of my own two eyes in years of membership in the NY wildlife conservation society - (formerly zoological society). Yes, I'm a fanatic, I go to the zoo to watch the other mammals nurse! Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC