Dear Zena

I am catching up with my mail and see no responses to your question of
letdown with headache.
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> I have a mom that has already nursed a daughter for a year and is now
> nursing a 3 wk old son.  she has very painful let-downs this time and when
> she let-downs she also gets a headache at the back of her head as well as
> profuse sweating and body odar.  She said that is so severe that she is
> considering weaning soon.  Does anyone have any suggestions to help this
> mother?
> Thanks.

I have an article byAskmark and Lundberg, 1989, in which the authors
describe a single case studied where the mother had pulsating headache late
in pregnancy (with more than one pregnancy) and then within 2minutes of
beginning nursing and for 5 -7 mins duration. The headaches disappeared
after weaning. It was speculated that the headache was due to this rise in
oxytocin associated with the nursing episode, and not some vascular type
mechanism as is associated with migraine headaches. The NMAA TAlkabout March
1999 also cites an story of lactation headache, where there was a family
history of them.  They worsened with letdown, and the mother eventually
decided to wean because of the distress they were causing her. A comment was
included that breastfeeding management which lessens the impact of both
prolactin and oxytocin on the mother may positively influence the severity
eg reducing the length of feeds, minimising other breast stimulation, maybe
limiting feeds to nutritive suckling only, and possibly restricting feed
frequency as well . In any case the mother needs heaps of cupportive input,
and encouragement as well as information about how she can best meet her
baby's needs within the confines of the situation.
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