Pat, you are correct about this research, although I'm not sure if it's
Niles Newton, or some other researcher back in the days before you and I
were in practice. Anyway, the researcher found that the nipple soreness
peaked somewhere around--I want to say--78 times. (Not hours.) In my early
days, I always used this study as the basis for telling moms that they
shouldn't skip feedings, because then they were only delaying, not
preventing, the pain.
You can see I'm speaking from memory here, but I think this figure is more
or less on target.I regret I can't remember the name of the researcher.
I haven't read the entire thread on this topic because I've been away, but
after reading several posts, it seems to me that no one has mentioned what
Mavis Gunther studied in the 1940s. She showed that nipples were most sore
when the baby exerted continuous (well, almost continuous) negative
pressure because he was not *swallowing*. So if you think about this just
from a common-sense standpoint, it is illuminating: if the baby doesn't
have a suck-release, suck-release pattern (he must release in order to
swallow) then you have to wonder if this is the explanation for the early
soreness. The study was in Lancet, 1945, Volume 249, p. 590-593. If you
don't want to spend as many hours sitting in the History of Medicine
Library as I did, you can see my summary of Gunther's work in my own book
on pg. 252. I find her work facinating, and it does not contradict any of
our current research. It just helps us to better understand why limiting
suckling time doesn't help sore nipples (as Carol L'Esperance showed us
nearly 20 years ago and recently reminded us) and why good positioning
*does* help sore nipples.
>
>I believe Niles Newton did research to this effect eons ago. The gist of
>it was it takes a certain # of hours for nipples to become accustomed to
>being nursed. If you nurse off and on for first few days then it begins to
>back off. If you nurse 5 min on one side every 4 hours (as I did in 1959)
>then of course the discomfort lasts longer! Does anyone else remember this
>research? My Niles Newton book of research "walked."
>
--
Marie Biancuzzo
Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist
[log in to unmask]
Resources to simplify breastfeeding management are available at
http://www.wmc-worldwide.com
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
