Bouchet-Horwitz, J. (2011). The use of supple cups for flat, retracting, and inverted nipples. Clinical Lactation, 2-3, 30-33 Eligible pregnant women will be recruited from the Women’s Health Center and the Delivery Suite of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon. An inverted nipple is defined as a condition in which the nipple is pulled inward into the breast instead of pointing outward, classified according to Han and Hong [ 12]. During regular working hours, a trained research assistant will recruit eligible women after explaining the trial’s objective and procedures and verifying inclusion criteria. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. Randomization

At your appointment, remind your piercer that you have inverted nipples. They’ll likely want to make the room colder to help draw out the nipple. Your piercer may also use nipple clamps to help pull the nipple out. The diary will be collected at 30 and 40 days during the participant’s postpartum visit to her obstetrician. We will also administer the Postpartum Quality of Life instrument, and collect data on the infant’s weight at month 1 from the infant’s health record. The eversion of the nipple will also be assessed by the research assistant during this visit. Leff EW, Jefferis SC, Gagne MP. The development of the Maternal Breastfeeding Evaluation Scale. J Hum Lact. 1994;10(2):105–11. I'd recommend using Aquaphor or something similar to help with suction and possibly a bit of dryness around new skin exposure. Also be aware that sensitivity increases right after treating so if you have a significant other give them fair warning. I've had minimal discomfort with the application of suction, but sometimes wearing them for the extended time frame causes mild itching or dull ache around the areola.

It’s important that your nipples are completely drawn out before piercing. If they aren’t, your nipples may invert even after the jewelry is in place. This change of mind return policy is in addition to, and does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law including any rights you may have in respect of faulty items. To return faulty items see our Returning Faulty Items policy.

Nipple piercing is sometimes done to draw out inverted nipples. This is because jewelry worn in the piercing can help keep your nipple in an erect position. This change of mind return policy is in addition to, and does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law including any rights you may have in respect of faulty items. Not everyone finds piercing effective. It’s important that you weigh your options before getting pierced. Talk to your doctor and potential piercer about the benefits and risks.I got pregnant again and I didn't want to do this again, but I wanted my second baby to have breast milk too. HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS.... With my second baby, my baby was delivered and was breastfeeding within a minute! This is thanks to this product and Medela SoftShells(tm) for Inverted Nipples. Chakrabarti K, Basu S. Management of flat or inverted nipples with simple rubber bands. Breastfeed Med. 2011;6(4):215–9. The American Academy of Pediatrics. Policy statement. Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics. 2012;129(3):e827–41. I have severly inverted nipples. I have tried this product in the past for cosmetic reason and it works.....temporarily. I used the product daily for many hours/day in the 20's for many months (I am now in my 30's). I would say that once you have stretched your nipple out after long term use (months if you have severely stubborn nipples like me) you don't have to wear it as long or often, but you will always need some occasional wears to get it to come out again. It is like fitness and exercise. You can work out and get very fit after many months. But, if you stop exercising, it will eventually stop working with time. Binns C, Lee M, Low WY. The long-term public health benefits of breastfeeding. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2016;28(1):7–14.

On the first day postpartum, the following information will be collected: exclusive breastfeeding (yes/no), use of artificial milk (number of feeds in 24 h, justification), sore nipple (yes/no), pain while breastfeeding (yes/no), compliance with the use of the syringe technique before each breastfeed (experimental group only), and the use of other conservative methods to pull out the nipple (in both groups). You may only experience inversion in one nipple, or even different grades of inversion in each nipple. There are two different types of surgeries: surgery that preserves the milk ducts and surgery that doesn’t. Surgery with partial preservation of milk ducts Victora CG, Horta BL, Loret de Mola CL, Quevedo L, Pinheiro RT, Gigante DP, et al. Association between breastfeeding and intelligence, educational attainment, and income at 30 years of age: a prospective birth cohort study from Brazil. Lancet Glob Health. 2015;3(4):e199–205. While still attached, the nipple and areola are both lifted from the breast and sewn into a protruding shape.Eligible subjects are healthy pregnant women, at or above 18 years of age, with grades 1 or 2 inverted nipples. Inclusion criteria are gestation at 37 weeks or more, intention to breastfeed, and residing in Lebanon for 6 months after delivery. We will exclude women with grade 3 inverted nipples, previous breast surgery affecting the breast anatomy, high risk pregnancies, medical conditions that may interfere with breastfeeding, including a critical maternal condition, newborns with congenital malformations such as esophageal atresia, cleft lip, and/or palate, and women choosing artificial milk as their preferred infant nutrition. Women with term twin gestation will not be excluded. Recruiting process This procedure is more common. Women undergoing this procedure won’t be able to breastfeed because of the removal of the milk ducts. You shouldn’t experience a change in nipple sensation. So, these things work. After washing them, attach the syringe, rub a little water along the rim, place on your nipple, hold in place with one hand and pull the plunger to the desired suction. They will stay on. I just put a bra on over the niplettes, and they stay in place for hours. I have tried sleeping in them though, and even with a bra, I manage to dislodge them. Men are typically pierced with a 14-gauge needle, and women are typically pierced with a smaller 16-gauge needle. This can vary from person to person, though. Be sure to talk with your piercer about the right size for you.

Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy. Grade 2: This grade means it may be more difficult to pull out the nipple than a grade 1 inversion. When released, the nipple retracts inward. If you’re interested in getting your nipples pierced, do your research. You’ll want to be sure any piercer you choose has a license and experience piercing inverted nipples. Your best bet is to call piercing parlors in your area and let them know what you’re looking for. What’s the procedure like? We will randomly allocate eligible women to one of two parallel groups (experimental and control) in a 1:1 ratio according to a computer-generated random sequence. An independent statistician will prepare a set of sequentially numbered opaque sealed envelopes of the allocation group according to the generated random sequence to preserve randomization concealment. A participant’s group allocation will be revealed after verifying that the inclusion/exclusion criteria are met, and after written consent is obtained on the first day postpartum. This will avoid any selection bias introduced by the investigator knowing the allocation of the next subject. Description of the interventions Control groupIn our recent breastfeeding support trial [ 21], the attrition rate was 40%. Since women with inverted nipples face more difficulties in breastfeeding than women with normally everted nipples, we hypothesize that 50% attrition rate would be a reasonable assumption for the proposed study. To account for a potential attrition rate of 50%, we inflated the sample size to become 100 women in total. Statistical methods