A small, shallow cut on the finger can be sensitive.  Let it get
contaminated with some bacteria and the cut will be REALLY PAINFUL. Healing
will be impaired until the cut is cleaned out, kept cleaned, and perhaps
treated with a topical.  If wounds at the nipple pore become contaminated,
not only won't they heal, they will get increasingly painful, and latch
problems that might be tolerable become excruciating.  Further, because (per
Donna Ramsey's ultrasound images) milk refluxes back up into the ducts when
letdown subsides on the un-used breast, the refluxing milk may pull bacteria
up into the interior of the breast.  If the immune system is weak or the
milk removal is not efficient, milk stasis and the presence of infiltrated
bacteria is a set-up for mastitis.  I think that sub-clinical mastitis is
probably common in these scenarios and that the draggy, depressed,
overwhelmed-seeming moms are half-sick and either not aware of it or are
masking symptoms with postpartum pain meds or ibuprofen.


Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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