Mary writes:
More than one mother mentioned that hearing a nurse say,"It is not
supposed to hurt" was unhelpful. These others had seen lactation consultants in
the early days for latch assistance and infants were thriving and nipples
showed minimal signs of damage,if any. I had been schooled in the theory
that no nipple pain is ever normal.
Mary and all,
I've heard this too. Although I agree that when a baby breastfeeds, it
should not be an overall painful experience, I do think that when the
inflammatory aspect of breasts revving up in Lactogenesis 2 is happening, there can
be tenderness, and a good deal of it, for a few days. Certainly I know my
nipples hurt, from hormonal shifts that happen monthly, and I have no damage
and haven't had a baby breastfeeding there for about 15 years. Couple that
with damage that may have already happened, overfull fluid-stretched
tissues, and/or lack of follow-up from others who say "breastfeeding always
hurts, don't let anyone lie to you and say it doesn't" ( from other
nurses, HCPs, friends and/or family) and you have some very angry, confused moms.
When moms are in that phase, I tell them they are in the "days of breast
tenderness", so they know there should be a change within a short amount of
time, and/ or we need to look further. And as others said, mothers may be
in a different hormonal state, or have different pain responses these days
if they live where their birth has been heavily pharmacologically managed
with little patience for mom's natural responses to the work of birth to
manifest.... just some thoughts...
Peace,
Judy
Judy LeVan Fram, PT, IBCLC, LLLL
Brooklyn, NY, USA
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