Ilene,
My motto is "if it isn't coming out, it isn't going in".  Get this baby
observed by someone who really knows suck, pronto.  I may get linched by the
neonatal nursing crowd for saying this, but I firmly beleive that SORE NIPPLES
ARE NOT NORMAL.  They are extremely rare in unmedicated, unseperated mom &
baby births.  Those, admittedly are so rare in American hospitals that we
consider nipple soreness normal, but I am convinced that it is a sign of poor
sucking.  A suck:swallow ratio of 1:6 throughout the feeding confirms this
impression, the baby could be swallowing it's own saliva only at this rate.  A
normal pattern is about 1:3 while baby is eliciting the MER, then 1:1
thereafter until baby has had enough.  Baby may continue to suck for other
reasons, getting a smaller flow of milk.  Basically, the rate of sucking is
inversely proportional to the rate of milk flow.  This is why you see those
nice long, drawing sucks once the MER has taken place, and the shorter faster
sucks to elicit an MER.
My 2 cents.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC