Two unrelated questions-- 1. My colleague went to a session last summer at ILCA done by Linda Kutner who recommended using olive oil to reduce friction when pumping. We've since started recommending this to moms who were getting sore from pumping (primarily with non-nursing newborns) and the feedback has been very positive. My question for those of you who recommend this is: does the kind of oil matter or will any vegetable oil do? We thought we'd get some small containers of oil to give out when we start these moms pumping but you all know how cheap hospitals are and olive oil is a lot more expensive than safflower or something. Is there something special about olive oil for this use? 2. Yesterday at the hospital I saw a mother whose one-day-old was leaving compression lines on her nipples after every feeding. She tells me the same thing happened with her first baby and her nipples came out pinched-looking the entire four months she nursed him. This baby's latch looked beautiful--wide mouth, fish lips, chin into the breast, more lower areola than top, and lovely swallowing. I even tried latching him on to make sure that he was latched on deeply and the results were the same. Mom's nipples are of average length and width, no tongue tie, no recessed chin, no traumatic birth. The only thing I noticed when he sucked on my finger was that the palate was more flat than usual--I did not feel any biting or overly strong suction. Is it possible that his flatter palate (and maybe his brother's) could be responsible for the nipple compression or am I missing something? If this may be the cause, is there anything to be done about it? Thanks for any opinions from you wizards out there! Becky Krumwiede, RN, IBCLC [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] (like a person could ever get on aol lately)