Pearl:
My gut feeling is that this mother is experiencing an overactive letdown reflex, without the MER. I remember
having such pains during the first few weeks pp with each of my children, but not to such an extreme degree.
I coped by nursing on the "first" breast for just a while and then switching to the other side when the pain
grew too strong. This helped by encouraging the MER: as the milk flowed, the pain gradually left.
I would have replied to this before, but I thought that this was a fairly common concern and that others
would jump in. We all experience breastfeeding in different ways, so what is taken for granted by one person
may be unusual for another. Please let me know if this helps.

Norma Ritter, IBCLC, LLLL                  "If not now, when? If not us, who?"
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 11/13/95
Time: 07:15:22