>Lisa writes:
 >am a practicing Lactation Consultant at a Boston Hospital.  I have been
>in private practice for the past two years and this postion is a new one
>for me.  I am caring for a pregnant patient that is concerned about the
>return of nipple sensitivity for sexual stimulation after weaning.  Does
>any one have any references on this.

"Nipple sensitivity for sexual stimulation" is in the BRAIN.  It is a
*learned response*.  Is your patient concerned about lack of nipple
sensitivity for sexual stimulation when her OB/GYN does a check for breast
cancer?  Probably she does not become sexually aroused during the doctor's
exam.  But she can go home and have sex with her husband and become aroused
when her husband does the same thing that the OB/GYN did.  The context is
all important.  Her nipples will not lose their "sensitivity for sexual
stimulation" during breastfeeding or after weaning -- she will still be able
to receive sexual pleasure from them in sexual contexts, and she will
receive maternal pleasure from them in maternal contexts.  She might want to
read "Beauty and the Breast" from the book "Breastfeeding: Biocultural
Perspectives."

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.