All of the discussion about things moms do that can cause problems (using
phone at work, purse straps, etc) in breastfeeding made me think I should
maybe mention a problem that I've been having that turns out to be somewhat
breastfeeding related.  For the past month or so, I've been having pain in
my jaw joint.  It has been getting progressively worse, to the point that
when I got up on Friday I could hardly open my mouth to eat breakfast.  In
talking to one of the dental faculty on campus here about the problem, she
said it certainly sounded like temporomandibular joint syndrome.  She asked
if I had been sleeping on my side more than usual.  Well, Timothy has been
sleeping in our bed since he was born 22 months ago, so I've been sleeping
on my right side almost all of that time.  Apparently the mandible bone
gets misaligned while sleeping in this position, so she suggested that I
try sleeping on my back, which would allow it to go back into place.  I
have done that for a couple of nights now and the pain is almost completely
gone.  (Of course Timothy is getting primarily the right breast now, so I
may end up a little lopsided!).  I just thought you might want to pass that
on to any moms that begin complaining of jaw pain.

 Donna J. Spannaus-Martin, Ph.D., MT (ASCP)
 Assistant Professor, Clinical Lab Sciences,
 University of Tennessee, Memphis
 http://www.utmem.edu/allied/CLS.html