ABA Professionals Featured Articles
Nipple Shield use — where are we up to in 2019? Dr Kate Naylor MBBS (Monash), FRACGP, IBCLC, Cert IV Breastfeeding Education
There is reference to mothers using nipple shields as far back as 1550. The original nipple shields were made of bone, cow skin, pewter, glass or tin. These early shields were conically shaped with several holes in the tip; they provided a physical barrier between the mother’s breast and the baby’s mouth, therefore decreasing pain with latching. By the 1850s they were made of rubber and, in the 1950s, they were made of latex (Powers, 2012).
Breastfeeding and Diabetes, Gemma Macdonald, BSc (Hons)
Diabetes is increasing worldwide and as a consequence is having a greater impact on mothers, revealing concerns for breastfeeding outcomes. Diabetes is a complex condition, combining genetic and non-genetic causes. People with diabetes need a genetic predisposition and do not get diabetes simply because they ‘gained weight’ or ‘ate too many sweets’. There are three main types of diabetes: • type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) • type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) • gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). All types of diabetes result in increased sugar (glucose) in the blood due to a lack of or an insufficient amount of insulin (hormone that moves sugar from our blood to our cells so it can be used to make energy), or a resistance to the normal effects of insulin.
