Oh Those Personal Questions on our Internet Order Form!!!

"You want me to answer what?? My bra size? My cup size? -- wayyyyy too personal!!"

I'm smiling as I write this blog. Once in awhile we receive an email from a mom who's uncomfortable with the questions we ask when ordering from our website. So I thought I'd take a minute and explain why we ask them.

Our Super Shields are very different from any flange on the market. The current standard sizing protocols are based on nipple diameter. When we first designed our Super Shields, we assumed we'd be using the same sizing protocols. However, since ours are tapered, nipple diameter alone wasn't an effective way for us to accurately size them. We wondered if it was actually based on bra/cup size. We tried that for awhile. No, that wasn't the ticket. Then we started combining both parameters -- bra/cup size and nipple diamater. Our accuracy rate skyrocketed.

We followed up with every single mom who ordered from our website, gathering information on bra and cup sizes, nipple diameter, and what size Super Shield was the most comfortable and produced the most breast milk. Using this information, we put together our Sizing Chart.

Some moms with the same parameters (bra/cup size and nipple diameter) actually found different sizes more comfortable (that's why there are overlaps on our chart). And some moms wrote in to tell us that at different times of the day they prefer different sizes. We also had moms who use one size on one breast and another on another breast.

At that point, we began to offer combo packages (M/L and L/XL) so that moms whose sizes overlapped wouldn't have to pay full price for two different sizes. Our duo packs (two pair of the same size) soon followed -- again as a courtesy so that moms who wanted to order two pair of the same size could receive the same pricing as moms ordering the combo packs.

But with that said, there are still many moms who choose the size based on what they're currently using. For example, a mom who wears a 34B bra and has very large nipples may be using an extra-large in another brand so she may order our XLarge. We know from the vast amount of information we've gathered our XLarge will definitely not work for her. We can then contact her prior to shipping and help her choose the correct size so that she can start using them immediately upon receiving her order.

And why do we ask how you heard about us? For a couple reasons: We like to thank hospitals and lactation consultants when they refer moms to our website. Also, many lactation consultants (LCs) refer moms to our website regularly after fitting consults. We know that if a LC refers a mom after a fitting, the mom is definitely choosing the correct size.

We are very limited in the information we can print in our shopping cart -- hence, I'm writing this blog to explain in more detail. It's all about doing our very best to provide excellent customer service so that moms can pump comfortably from the minute they open their shipment.