Kathy D pontificates on sore nipples:

<< So, there are sore nipples, and then there are sore nipples.  And it isn't
 accurate to say that your nipples should never hurt, any more than your
 muscles should never hurt after you start an exercise program.  And there is
 pain -- pleasantly sore muscles that remind you that you're doing a good
 thing by going to the gym, and then there is PAIN, that tell you you've done
 something wrong, or overdone it.
  >>

And I want to say thank you for a great post.  Yes, moms have sore nipples.
And no, it isn't all r/t incorrect positioning.  I too talk about
"unaccustomed activity" -- and use the analogy of learning to play the piano,
when your hands get sore and tired -- or learning to play the guitar where
your fingers actuallyy develop calluses over time -- or running, or doing
anything that you haven't done before.  The sad part of it is that so many
moms assume that because it hurts (whatever their definition of that is),
they are DOING SOMETHING WRONG.  It's turned into another "blame the mother"
issue...because they've been told IT SHOULDN'T HURT if you are doing it
right.  So they take the baby off and on and off and on and off and on
waiting for the pain to disappear -- and of course, by that time, it really
truly does hurt because there is nipple damage.  Hey -- if there is true
nipple damage, a la cracks/bleeding/candida -- then yes, we need to correct
something there.  But if it is "latch on pain" that goes away after 20 or so
seconds, leave it alone.

In my experience (no, this is not evidence based lactation), I have found
that mothers who have tender nipples throughout pregnancy, lovemaking, or
their periods tend to have nipples that are much more sore than women who
don't.  And I've found that women whose nipples and areola didn't change very
much during the pregnancy -- went from light pink to a very slightly darker
pink, or from brown to very slightly darker brown, tend to have nipples that
are much more sore than women who had a lot of change in color.

I find mothers at our hospital are obsessing over whether or not the baby's
lower lip is flanged out.  "Does it pinch?" I'll ask.  "No, not really."
Then leave it alone -- it's fine.  And I talk about rolling the baby up onto
the breast tissue so he is on asymetrically with more of the bottom areola
being covered than the top which sort of automatically pulls out the lower
lip....

Mothers do guilt really well.  My mother has been known to apologize for the
weather, for pity's sake!  Let's not give them more to feel guilty about --
or to blame themselves for.  There's enough out there -- let's not add sore
nipples to the pot.

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
Wheaton, IL  - where there was a wonderful column by Dr. Wm Sears in the
Chicago Tribune this morning in which he decried "cookbook training manuals"
for children.  Hmmm....wonder just which writer of popular parenting books
might fall under the "cookbook training manual" genre???

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