Cockleshells for sore breasts
An old household remedy finds its way to nursing women via Smallegades Pharmacy and a special subject at Danmarks Farmaceutiske Universitet. It is fun and giving that my special subject can help in a concrete way, says student Maria Aarestrup Larsen.
A small brochure explains
shortly the use of seashells for sore breast in connection with nursing.
You get the brochure when buying seashells at Smallegades Pharmacy. Its
demand has increased to other pharmacies, Danish hospitals and lately
in Norway.
The brochure refers to a user survey showing that most nursing women with
sore breasts have had good experiences by using seashells. 8 out of 10
thinks that the shells were a good choice and 2 out of 3 women who have
tried other remedies are convinced that the shells were a better choice.
Behind the three hinged brochure, lies a special subject by a pharmacist
student Maria Aarestrup Larsen who has examined the use of seashells by
nursing women. On top of getting a grade 10 on the Danish 13 scale (similar
to an A-) for her project, Maria Aarestrup Larsen has been part in broadening
the knowledge of the old household remedy. The sale has exploded in a
few years.
Got curious
Over some years you have been able to buy seashells at Smallegades Pharmacy.
It is the shell of a snail called Patella Vulgata which is living mainly
in the Faroe Islands and Norway. The snail lives on rocks in shallow waters.
It can be found in Denmark but it is rare.
We collected the shells in a drawer in the counter when a customer asked
for them. It made me wonder that we sold them when I started working here.
I knew the pharmacy got them home from the Faroe Islands through friends
of a former studenttrainee who had been stationed in the Faroe Islands.
Maria Aarestrup Larsen thought that it was funny that the old household
remedy from Norway and the Faroe Islands was demanded and sold from Smallegades
Pharmacy and gradually she became more and more curious. It became the
ground for her special subject that she finished in January 2003 at the
Institute for Social Pharmacy at Pharmaceutical University of Denmark.
From mouth
to mouth
The seashells keep the nipples moist and can prevent and treat soreness
and chaps in the nipples at nursing women. The shell is put over the nipple,
which is first damped with a little mother’s milk and thereby kept
moist by the vacuum that occurs. The shells are held in place by the bra
but should not be squeezed into the skin.
Before the shells are sold from the pharmacy they have been cooked and
just needs a little grinding and polishing with a nail file or sandpaper
so it doesn’t irritate the skin.
Patella Vulgata are up to 6 cm in diameter and it is important that they
can cover the nipple. The shells are cleansed by scalding. They last long
and can be reused.
It was the staff at the maternity ward at Frederiksberg Hospital that
prepared the way for the shells to the drawer in the counter at Smallegades
Pharmacy.
- The staff had asked our pharmacist Ingrid Warming if she would take
in such shells for sale, and Ingrid is eager to help the customers so
she examined the possibilities, Maria says.
At the maternity ward
at Frederiksberg Hospital they had been inspired by an examination from
Sweden where the old Household remedy had been taken up and since the
remedy has been known again a long row of maternity wards in Danish hospitals
have followed up.
It simply goes from mouth to mouth between nursing women and coworkers.
The customers
took part
Maria Aarestrup Larsen asked customers who bought the seashells to participate
in a user survey and likewise she carried out a survey of the use of the
shells in Danish maternity wards.
The users are very satisfied, the survey shows, and the old household
remedy has gained footing.
- Since the survey a lot of women has contacted me to tell about their
experiences. I get a lot of personal feedback on my special subject and
that is very positively. One can contact me via the e-mail I have put
in the brochure and many choose to do that.
It’s extremely satisfying to do something that can be used –
that’s also pharmaceutical care, says Maria Aarestrup Larsen.
Today widely
spread
To thirds of the maternity wards at Danish hospitals use the shells
against soreness and chaps on the nipples at nursing women. Thereby
the shells have become the most widely spread remedy in prevention and
treatment of sore breasts. Woollen nursingpads, niplettes and ointment
with lanolin as well as E-vitamin. Also cod-liver oil and boiled cloths
are among the ways of treatment at the maternity wards.
Some choose to use shells from cockleshells (Cerastoderma edule) instead
of the Patella Vulgata because they are more common in Denmark. Men
the shell from the cockleshell does not have the same symmetry as the
Patella Vulgata. That can give nuisance.
Maria Aarestrup Larsen has in her special subject been looking at what
significance it has to take in new technologies – like in this
case an old household remedy. Often welleducated people with many resources
be the first to take in a new technology. Technologies also spread through
networks – in this case through periodicals, experts, the internet,
friends and more.
- We are very open to take in old remedies. For example a Norwegian
woman was interviewed about what she thought about the shells Patella
Vulgata. They were a natural choice for her, because she had heard of
them from her grandmother, Maria Aarestrup Larsen says.
Ulla Nygaard, journalist
Farmakonom Nr. 15/2003