Dear Friends:
Thank you, Diane for opening this topic for discussion.
With my first baby, we just breastfed. I had no help............nor
hindrance. None of the nurses that I saw in my 2 days in the hospital said
anything to me about breastfeeding. No one ever looked at our latch. I knew
nothing, and was blessed with the desire, easy anatomy (small areolas,
longish nipples and firm pliable breasts.....now you'll all be able to
recognize me in a sauna!!) and a healthy baby.
The only pain I ever had with her was the first minute latch-on pain, that
felt like a knife going through my breasts and went away after a minute or
so. And after a week or two, that was gone. We breastfed for over 3 years,
even through separation and divorce and moving. Breastfeeding became as much
a part of my mothering as keeping her from walking in front of cars:
instinctive, integrated, and easy.
With my second baby, I had been working in breastfeeding for 14 years. The
planned homebirth turned into a transfer at 6 cms, and the delivery of a
baby intubated and deep suctioned for thick meconium. We came home 6 hours
after delivery, after having breastfed several times.
I had sore nipples for 2 weeks. I assumed it was because she'd been injured
in her throat by the intubation, and was using her mouth in a different way
as a result. She also liked to nurse lying flat on her back, with her head
turned to the side. (Obviously, she hadn't read any of the books!) Short of
nailing her to the futon, there was no way to change her style. I just got
through it from determination. ( I don't know what I would have done if I
had had nipple damage or bleeding.) And after those few weeks, the soreness
went away. I remember being amused that I, the LC, had sore nipples, and
accepted the soreness as a life lesson.
Fast forward to 2006, when Cathy W. Genna did a conference in Pennsylvania.
I brought my daughter............and as part of the activities at that
conference, we ended up learning that Clelia had a high arched palate, like
a trough, that a pinky fits in perfectly. That was probably the reason for
the soreness. Who knew such things in 1990? Certainly not me.
Luck and persistance are key factors, along with being determined, paying
attention to the baby, and good genes.
warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, BSN, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com
www.myspace.com/adonicalee
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