Getting started

The first weeks with silver cups: a routine, not a project

A new pair of silver cups arrives in a week when a hundred other things are also new. So the honest first advice is this: the cups should cost you almost no attention. If they do, something about the fit or the routine is off, and both are fixable.

What the routine looks like

The cups go on between feeds, under the bra you were wearing anyway. Some mothers express a few drops of milk into each dome before placing it; the listing instructions describe this and it takes seconds. The dome sits over the nipple, the turned rim rests on the skin around it, and the bra holds everything in place. That is the whole mechanism. There are no straps, no adhesive, nothing to position twice.

At the next feed the pair comes off and goes to the sink or the nightstand. A rinse under plain water, a pat with a soft cloth, and they wait for the next round. On a full day this loop runs many times, which is exactly why we keep the loop short.

What we will not tell you

You have probably read strong claims about what silver does for skin. We are metalworkers, not clinicians, and we make no claims of that kind. What we can speak to is the object: solid silver, a polished surface that rinses clean under running water, a rim folded back so no raw edge touches you, and a shape that stays put under ordinary fabric. Questions about your body belong to you and the people who look after you, not to a catalog.

Small things that help

• Keep the pair in one place. An open dish by the bed beats a pocket, a diaper bag and the windowsill taking turns.
• Warm the metal in your palm for a moment before wearing. Silver takes body heat fast, but the first touch of a cold dome at three in the morning is avoidable.
• If the rim leaves a pressed line in the skin, the width is wrong for you. Read our note on width before assuming the cups are not for you.
• A thin nursing pad over the cup keeps the outline quiet under a fitted shirt. Under a sleep bra most mothers skip it.

The pair that suits the first weeks best is usually the softer metal. Our fine silver domes give a little in the hand, and plenty of mothers tell us that is the version they reach for while everything is still settling into place.