Should I add silverettes to my hospital bag?
- jaimiezaki
- Sep 16
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 20
Should I Put Silverettes in My Hospital Bag?
Silverettes are trending everywhere right now—but are they really a must-have breastfeeding product for your hospital bag?
In this episode of The Breastfeeding With Confidence Podcast, Jaimie, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and mom of five, shares her honest hot take on Silverettes. While these little silver nipple covers can support healing, most moms don’t actually need to pack them for the hospital.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
Jaimie dives into:
What Silverettes are and why they’re so popular among new moms
Why most women don’t need Silverettes in their hospital bag
The problem with cheap knockoff brands that aren’t even real silver
How overusing Silverettes can cause maceration (skin breakdown from too much moisture)
Why Silverettes are expensive, easy to lose, and not always practical
Affordable alternatives for nipple healing, like Motherlove salve, breast milk, and hydrogel pads
Why a good latch is more important than any product for preventing nipple pain
Jaimie’s Hot Take on Silverettes
At the end of the day—sure, bring Silverettes if you want. But instead of stressing about packing trendy products, Jaimie recommends focusing on:
Learning how to support a good latch
Fixing latching issues quickly
Using simple, effective healing options
Because when you have the right skills and support, you won’t feel like you need to spend hundreds on every product marketed to new moms.
BREASTFEEDING RESOURCES
FREEBIE: 5 Breastfeeding Mistakes to Avoid https://littlebearlactation.myflodesk.com/breastfeedingpodcast
Breastfeeding Resource Library (PODCAST50 to save now!) https://littlebearlactation.com/library
Get Breastfeeding Help https://littlebearlactation.com/support
Episode Timeline
00:00 – Welcome & Intro
00:45 – What Silverettes Are & Why They’re Popular
02:00 – Knockoff Silverettes: Why They Don’t Work
03:00 – Overuse & the Risk of Maceration
05:00 – Cost and Practicality Issues
06:00 – Affordable Alternatives for Nipple Healing
07:30 – Jaimie’s Final Thoughts on Silverettes
08:15 – Why Preparation Matters More Than Products
Topics Covered
Silverettes breastfeeding
Should I put Silverettes in my hospital bag
Hospital bag essentials for breastfeeding moms
Nipple pain remedies for breastfeeding
Breastfeeding hospital bag checklist
Alternatives to Silverettes
Confident Mama Breastfeeding Academy
Avoid Mistakes that Sabotage Breastfeeding
Transcript:
Hey Mama Bear. Welcome to the Breastfeeding With Confidence podcast. Do you dream of bonding with your baby through exclusive breastfeeding, but worry about breastfeeding pain or low milk supply? Maybe you're struggling with breastfeeding and no one seems to have any answers. I'm Jamie Doula, international Board certified lactation consultant, and Mom of five, and I have been where you are after working through painful latches, milk supply worries, and postpartum depression, and.
Supporting countless mothers through their breastfeeding journeys for over eight years. I'm here to tell you breastfeeding doesn't have to be perfect to be positive. Each week I'll share breastfeeding tips to help you prevent and overcome unexpected breastfeeding challenges so you can actually enjoy bonding with your baby.
If you are ready to shut out the toxic whispers of the world, embrace your God-given intuition and release your inner fierce Mama bear. Grab some coffee or your favorite herbal tea and let's dive in.
Welcome back to the Breastfeeding with Confidence podcast. I'm your host, Jamie, an international board certified lactation consultant and Mama of five. And today we are talking about something I know is always all over Instagram and TikTok as a must have for the hospital bag for breastfeeding to protect your nipples.
And that is ettes. So today we're going to answer, , should you pack them in your hospital bag? Are they worth all the hype or are they just another expensive new things moms are told they have to have? Let's break it down. Okay, so if you are not familiar with ettes, they are these little silver nipple covers.
They kinda look like, , little discs. Kinda like a quarter, honestly, with like a little. Cut out like so that it's like the shape of a nipple ish. And they are marketed to breastfeeding moms. And the idea is that the silver has natural antimicrobial and healing properties. You wear them in your bra, they're supposed to help prevent cracks, soothe soreness, and speed up nipple healing.
That all sounds great. I am a huge fan of using silver for healing, like I use colloidal silver all the time. The ettes can be useful in some cases, but here's my hot take. Most of y'all don't actually need ettes, especially not in your hospital bag. Let me lay out why. All right, so reason number one is it a lot of moms actually like end up getting knockoffs by accident, and they're not even real silver, so they look the same, they're cheaper.
It's like, oh yeah, I'll get that. But then they don't even actually have the same healing properties, so you buy them literally it, it's fake, it's nothing. You are doing nothing. And so if you are gonna get them, you need to make sure you're getting the real deal and they're not cheap. So that brings me to a second thing that's not all that important, but worth mentioning is they're expensive and they're small, which means it's really easy to lose them.
, Especially if you're traveling out and about, they can kind of be a pain in the rear. And so a lot of times they just really are not worth the cost If you're somebody who loses things easily, like. Easy to lose and expensive is not a great combination in my life. However, I mean, if you're more organized than I am, then more power to you.
, But here's the biggest problem that I see with silver ats, is that I see them being overused all the time. I see moms wearing them around the clock thinking they're doing their nipples a fever. And here's the thing, if your skin is constantly being kept moist, now moist wound healing is good. But if it's constantly being kept moist, like we have to have a balance and that constant moistness can actually cause something called maceration.
And maceration is when skin actually breaks down from being too wet for too long. So think about when you're in the bathtub for too long and your skin gets all soft and wrinkly. Um, that softer skin is more fragile and more prone to damage. So. Overusing Ettes can actually delay healing and make things worse.
So what do you do if ettes are not the way to go, but you wanna make sure that you are preventing your nipples from being in pain and being cracked and bleeding? All right, well, number one, if you've been here for a minute, you know what I'm gonna say? The most important thing you can do is make sure you've got a good latch from the start.
No product in the world can replace that. If you are dealing with soreness though, and, and you, you are working on fixing latching issues but need something else, then I recommend using Mother Love Nipple Cream. It is my favorite go-to this is not being sponsored by them, like it is literally my favorite go-to for nipple healing.
Mother love nipple cream is my favorite. Or you can use another natural healing salve or balm that has herbal infusions, but that mother love is some good stuff. Y'all. Breast milk itself has antimicrobial and healing properties, so you could just let breast milk air dry it when your nipples that is shown to help hydrogel pads for short term relief.
If you're really sore, it can also help as well. But again, we wanna make sure that we are not leaving them on long term because we can cause that maceration again. So these are some more affordable and slightly, I don't wanna say necessarily more effective, but they're effective and more affordable than Silver Reds.
At the end of the day, if you wanna bring silver rights with you to the hospital. That's fine. It's not going to hurt anything. , It's not a bad thing to have if you are careful with them and using them correctly, but I really, really, really want you to be focused on. Making sure that you are working with your baby to support a good latch, that you are spotting red flags early, and that you are fixing latching issues early, and that we only need to use simple healing methods.
We don't need to use these crazy, expensive little gadgets. Okay, so. If you want to be prepared for nipple pain and you don't just want to have a response, but you wanna be proactive, you are the person I created the breastfeeding resource library for. You don't need to feel like you have to rely on gadgets and gimmicks to succeed at breastfeeding.
Alright, inside the breastfeeding resource library, you will find the tools and guides and workshops that prepare you for real life breastfeeding challenges and help you feel confident from day one. So before you run out and buy all of the gadgets for your hospital bag, make sure you have the right knowledge and support.
First, you can check it at littlebearlactation.com/library and use code podcast 50 to save today. Thanks for tuning in, mama, and I'll see you in the next episode.
Alright, mama bear. That is a wrap for today. If this episode helps you feel a little more confident or a little more prepared for breastfeeding, can I ask you a quick favor? Go ahead and leave me a review. It helps other moms find this podcast and join us in this amazing community of fierce and confident Mama bears.
And hey, if you know a friend who could use some encouragement or real talk about pregnancy, breastfeeding, and all things motherhood, share this episode with her. You've got this Mama Bear Trust your instincts, stay fierce, and I'll catch you in the next episode.
Jaimie Zaki is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and mom of 5! Jaimie has volunteered as a La Leche League Leader, worked as a nurse, doula, and birth photographer, and is the host of the Breastfeeding With Confidence Podcast and founder of the Confident MamaBear Society. Jaimie provides holistic breastfeeding advice for pregnant & new moms, helping them overcome unexpected latching trouble and milk supply issues. She empowers mothers to make informed decisions from a place of confidence and intuition.
Breastfeeding Resources Available:
