As to how to judge what pain is 'normal', asking the mother how it affects
her is a good idea.  If the woman is dreading the next feed because it is so
uncomfortable, or watching the clock because 'after the first x minutes the
baby's gotten all the food it needs and the rest is just wanting to suck'
(meaning, she can take baby off the breast after the requisite number of
minutes to spare herself some misery), it definitely isn't normal.
Breastfeeding shouldn't be so uncomfortable that it keeps you from thinking
about anything but the pain.  It is an essential bodily function and like
all such functions, obtrusive pain while it is going on should prompt a
thorough investigation, just like with breathing, eating, peeing, walking,
you name it.

Here, many women do put up with a lot of discomfort before asking for help,
but none match the woman from a country in southern Africa in my post of a
few weeks back.  She only reported on being asked directly, that BF was very
painful.  In fact, she cried when baby latched and throughout the feed, but
never considered not breastfeeding him.  (She had open, purulent sores
infected with S. aureus which responded well to an antibacterial ointment
applied directly to the sores.)  She was the one who had breastfed her
previous child with the same sores during her flight from her homeland and a
stay in refugee camps, for an entire 8 months and didn't seem to know that
there was help available here.

There are very very few cases where pain as described above, does not
decrease, usually dramatically, with better latch, and the difference
between good latch and painful latch can be very small.  It's always worth a
try, no matter how many children the mother has BF before and no matter how
many other staff have assured her that the latch with this baby is 'fine' or
'correct' (arrghh).

Another kind of pain that isn't normal, is the pain in my heart tonight as I
mentally spent the day outside a school in North Ossetia, but that's another
story, and a sad one too.
Rachel Myr
in peaceful, sleepy Kristiansand, Norway

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html