Dr. Wansbrough's Metallic Nipple Shields
notes: label: Description
content: Round, red cardboard box with paper label (black print.) Box contains two metal nipple shields and aE paper insert. label reads: "Dr. Wansbrough's / Metallic / Nipple Shields / For the Prevention & Cure / Of / Sore Nipples."
label: Description
content: T. W. W. Wansbrough of Chelsea (London) introduced his nipple shields to the medical profession in the July 23, 1842, issue of <i>iThe Lancet</i>. He wrote: "Among the modes of treatment published in The Lancet for this painful and distressing affection, I have been surprised that no mention is made of the leaden shield. I have recommended it for the last thirty years with invariable success, even where half the nipple has sloughed away before I saw the patient. It is moulded by the plumber from thin sheet lead, over a wooden nipple, and forms a receptacle for the natural one, which, from the oozing of the breast, is constantly immersed in a solution of lactate of lead, and speedily effects a cure."
label: Description
content: Wansbrough's shields were frequently advertised in England through the latter half of the19th century. Their distribution and popularity in the United States is less evident. However in the 1930s, the FDA seized and condemned numerous lots of Wansbrough's shields distributed by United States medical supply companies. The articles were judged misbranded and dangerous to health when used as described, particularly because of the "failure of the labeling to reveal the material fact that fatal lead poisoning might result in infants fed from breasts of mothers using the appliance." (See: FDA Notices of Judgment Collection, 1908-1966, at the National Library of medicine, https://fdanj.nlm.nih.gov/)
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Pediatrics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-11457
label: catalog number
content: M-11457
label: accession number
content: 260557
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Nipple Shields
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.5 cm x 2.5 cm; 19/32 in x 31/32 in