06/07/2025
Silver ni**le cups. Sometimes called silver ni**le shields (not to be confused with the silicon ni**le shields that can help a bottle fed baby latch, you wont get much milk out of a silver ni**le shield as there are no holes!)
So what are they designed for?
The answer is to aide healing when you have damaged ni**les from breastfeeding.
Now I am an evidenced based account and there is actually no research into how effective these gizmos are. It is true that silver has been used for healing for a very long time. But us in the lactation world have also seen a worrying side effect which is important to discuss before you shell out your hard earned cash.
The risk of using these, and especially if you leak, is that the ni**le sits in a pool of milk for an hour or two at a time. Just like when we have been in a long luxurious bath for over an hour (remember those times when you could do that?), when we get out our skin has absorbed water, it looks a bit soggy and wrinkly and more importantly, it is more sensitive and easier to damage! I have seen this with ni**les where a silver ni**le cup has been used a lot in between feeds. The skin is macerated, is sore and easier to damage. In one recent case the ni**les actually looked grey and soggy. Like they were developing trench foot.
Pros and cons of using silver ni**le caps
Pros
Silver possibly aides healing
Stops ni**les rubbing on clothing
Cons
Can cause skin to macerate which makes it more easily damaged
They are expensive
They won't treat the cause of the sore ni**les, make sure to seek breastfeeding support to work out what is going on.
So, yes some people love them. But do use with caution and for short periods, especially if you leak a lot.
